Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing on the $51.42 billion Department of Energy FY2025 budget request, which has a 9% increase in defense spending and a 5% increase in non-defense spending from FY2023.

• Budget in brief

Witness:

• Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

The Budget includes $10.6 billion in DOE climate and clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs, including over $1 billion to improve technologies to cut pollution from industrial facilities, nearly $900 million to commercialize technologies like sustainable aviation fuel and zero-emission trucks to cut emissions from the transportation sector, and over $2.4 billion – a majority of which is included in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Program – to improve carbon pollution-free electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and storage technologies for reliability, resilience, and decarbonization. Specifically, within the EERE Program, the budget includes $502 million for Vehicle Technologies Office, $280 million for Bioenergy Technologies Office, $318 million for Solar Energy Technologies Office, $199 million for Wind Energy Technologies Office, $179 million for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, and over $500 million for Advanced Materials/Manufacturing and Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonation Offices. In addition, the Budget invests in advancing climate modeling within the Biological and Environmental Research Program in the Office of Science. By investing $966 million in discretionary DOE industrial decarbonization activities, the Budget reflects the importance of supporting U.S. industrial decarbonization through innovation, targeted investment, and technical assistance. The Budget includes $8.5 billion across DOE to support researchers and entrepreneurs transforming innovations into commercial clean energy products, including in areas such as: offshore wind, industrial heat, sustainable aviation fuel, and grid infrastructure. Across DOE, the Budget provides over $325 million to support the research, development and commercialization of technologies and processes to increase the domestic supply of sustainable critical minerals and materials essential for several clean energy technologies. The Budget supports $76 million to advance technologies that can enable earlier detection of methane leaks and integrate across a network of methane monitoring sensors for more reliable measurement and mitigation and $150 million to make small quantities of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) available for ongoing advanced nuclear reactor demonstrations. The Budget also assumes enactment of the Administration’s request for $2.16 billion in FY 2024 supplemental funding to procure low-enriched uranium (LEU) and HALEU, which coupled with a long- term ban on imports of LEU and HALEU from Russia, would prompt sufficient private sector investment to reinvigorate U.S. uranium enrichment and reduce our current dependence on Russian imports for roughly 20 percent of LEU used in civilian nuclear power reactors. The $8.5 billion also includes $845 million for a Department-wide initiative to accelerate the viability of commercial fusion energy, coordinating academia, national laboratories, and the private sector, which supports the Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy. The Budget funds eight crosscutting DOE Energy Earthshots™ initiatives which could substantially reduce the cost of energy for the American consumer through innovations in clean energy generation, energy efficiency, and storage. In addition, the Budget provides $30 million to accelerate commercial demonstration projects through a new National Laboratory Demonstration Support Program.

The Budget provides a historic investment of $25 billion in the Nation’s nuclear security enterprise to implement the President’s National Defense Strategy and the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), including $19.9 billion for Weapons Activities.

The Budget includes $141.7 million for the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

Subcommittee hearing on the FY2025 Department of Health and Human Services budget request.

Witness:

• Xavier Becerra Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

The HHS budget includes the The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income households access home energy and weatherization assistance, vital tools for protecting vulnerable families’ health in response to extreme weather and climate change. States administer the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, typically making payments to utility companies and other home energy vendors on behalf of eligible households. Preliminary FY 2022 data shows an estimated 5.7 million households received heating assistance and nearly 60,000 households received weatherization assistance funded by federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program dollars. Common weatherization measures include sealing air leaks, adding insulation to walls and attics, and repairing heating and cooling systems. Since the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program expired at the end of FY 2023, the budget proposes to expand the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to advance the goals of both programs. Specifically, the budget proposes giving states the option of using a portion of their Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds to help low-income households pay their water bills. The budget includes $4.1 billion, an increase of $111 million over FY 2023. This is in addition to $100 million available for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of the Justice40 initiative, ACF plans to continue its efforts to prevent energy shutoffs and increase support for households with young children and older people or high energy burdens.

Centers for Disease Control

CDC addresses emerging environmental health risks and responds to environmental health emergencies by developing tools, guidance, and trainings; disseminating best practices; and providing expertise and requested technical assistance on environmental health concerns. CDC provides expertise and guidance relied upon by other federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial partners, including extreme heat, wildfires and hurricanes; cancer cluster investigations; chemical exposures related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; potential chemical, radiological, nuclear or explosive mass casualty events; and ensuring drinking and recreation water are free from contaminants that can cause waterborne illness. The FY 2025 Budget includes an increase of $10 million for Climate and Health to pilot the provision of portable High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration systems in homes and communities most affected by wildfire smoke.

Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (+$10.000 million)

Lead exposure can cause adverse effects in nearly every system in the body and seriously harm a child’s health. Even at low levels, lead exposure has the potential to affect growth and development, hearing and speech, IQ, academic achievement, and behavior. Public health approaches to reducing lead exposure have protected millions of Americans since the 1970s. However, nearly 29 million U.S. homes contain at least one lead hazard, and over 10 million U.S. homes rely on lead-containing service lines to carry water from municipal sources into family dwellings, putting large numbers of children at risk for lead exposure. CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) reduces the number of children exposed to lead and eliminates blood lead level disparities. CDC funds 62 states and localities to conduct blood lead testing and reporting, use data to track trends and identify risks, lead-exposed children to services, and implement tailored, community-based interventions. CDC also conducts lead poisoning prevention research to continuously improve programs and services. CDC operates the Blood Lead Surveillance System and the Flint Lead Exposure Registry, a model for the nation’s first lead-free city and support for the Flint community.

As the only federal program that directly funds health departments to address the health impacts of climate-related extreme events, CDC’s Climate and Health program is building capacity throughout the nation to prepare for and respond to weather-related health risks. In FY 2023, CDC funded 11 health departments and three tribes to prepare for and respond to extreme weather health impacts by following CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework. The BRACE framework helps communities anticipate weather impacts, assess vulnerabilities, project disease burden, assess public health interventions, develop adaptation plans, and evaluate the impact and quality of health interventions.

CDC also develops tools that jurisdictions can use to inform decisions about how to protect people from weather-related health impacts, such as CDC’s Heat & Health Tracker. Through a collaboration with CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, the tracker provides real-time local-level heat and health data that can be used to inform decisions and public health actions related to heat.

CDC maintains expertise to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires and wildfire smoke events. As the wildfire crisis continues to increase in size, duration, and intensity, millions of people are at increasing risk from wildfire and wildfire smoke. Smoke inhalation following a wildfire is linked to increases in respiratory conditions like asthma, heart disease, and cancer. Additionally, higher levels of dissolved organic matter, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals in community water systems following wildfires can overwhelm traditional water treatment capabilities and reduce access to safe drinking water. CDC experts develop guidance and communication materials for public health departments and others and conduct research about the public health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure that are used to develop evidence-based strategies to reduce wildfire smoke exposures. CDC activated an emergency response unit to assist the Hawaii Department of Health following the August wildfires on the island of Maui and provided technical assistance on a range of environmental health issues related to the wildfires.

National Institutes of Health

As climate change continues to be an ongoing crisis, the risks to human health will grow, exacerbating existing health threats and creating new public health challenges. Global climate change is already directly and indirectly affecting human health in the United States and around the world. Impacts occur through changes to climate systems such as temperature, air and water quality, and extreme weather events, as well as through changes to the geography and timing of exposures. Climate change contributes to or exacerbates a wide range of health impacts, including non-communicable diseases, injury and trauma, and infectious diseases. Although climate change affects everyone, certain populations are especially vulnerable to various impacts due to social determinants of health, including life stage, sex, underlying health status, access to health care, education, and economic, racial, and ethnically driven disparities. In this way, the climate change and health agenda are inextricably linked to health equity. Climate change impacts are the concern of NIH as a whole and are often at the intersection of multiple NIH ICOs. For this reason, NIH has developed an “all of NIH” approach to building a solutionsdriven climate change and health strategic framework that will build on past research investments. The NIH strategic framework will seek to understand the health impacts and factors that contribute to individual and community susceptibility, strengthen capacity for needed research and the development of a transdisciplinary workforce, and promote community-engaged research, translation, and dissemination to maximize efforts and outcomes among the United States and global communities most urgently affected. The FY 2025 budget request of $40.0 million sustains the FY 2023 Final increase to boost research on the human health impacts of climate change.

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

The FY 2025 President’s Budget Request directly supports ASPR’s mission to help the country prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies and disasters. We are living in an increasingly interconnected world where diseases and other threats can travel quickly, unnoticed for days. In addition, infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent and natural disasters more deadly as a result of the increasing changes to our climate. ASPR Policy and Planning manages a variety of White House policy engagements to ensure appropriate representation and coordination of ASPR’s equities in preparedness and response policy actions, and tracks ASPR-wide implementation of Executive Orders. Additionally, Policy and Planning established and uses a hub to coordinate climate change and health equity policy and activities across ASPR.

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Theresa McKenney, Director Of Sustainability And Government Affairs, NEMO Equipment
• Hilary Hutcheson, Outfitter
• Gus Schumacher, American Cross-Country Skier, Olympian
• Dr. Joao Gomes, Howard Butcher III Professor Of Finance; Professor Of Economics, And Senior Vice Dean Of Research, Centers, And Academic Initiatives, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• [Minority Witness] Scott Walter, President, Capital Research Center

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Kate R. Bowers, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division, Congressional Research Service
• Scott Faber, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group
• James Kenney, Secretary, New Mexico Department of Environment
• Michael D. Witt, General Counsel, Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (testifying on behalf of the Water Coalition Against PFAS)
• Robert Fox, Partner, Manko Gold Katcher Fox, Limited Liability Partnership (testifying on behalf of the National Waste and Recycling Association & Solid Waste Association of North America)

Subcommittee field hearing entitled: Victims of Regulatory Overreach: How the SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule Will Harm Americans

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Whitney Hermandorfer, Director of Strategic Litigation Unit, Office of Tennessee Attorney General
• Renea Jones, Co-Owner, Jones & Church Farms, Inc.
• Alex Scott, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Location: Made in Tennessee Building, 945 E. Baddour Parkway, Lebanon, TN 37087

CERAWeek, the United States’s largest oil and gas conference, runs from March 18 to the 22nd in Houston, Texas.

Day One Agenda

Day Two Agenda

Day Three Agenda

Day Four Agenda

Day Five Agenda

Monday

09:30am – 10:10am (CST) / 10:30am- 11:10am (EST)

DOE R&D Overview

Overview of DOE early to mid stage R&D activities. Panelists from Labs, ARPA-e, EERE

Speakers:

• Vanessa Chan, Chief Commercialization Officer for the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions
• Steven Ashby, Director of the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

11:00am – 11:40am (CST) / 12:00pm- 12:40pm (EST)

The “Capital Transition” Funding the Energy Transition

Energy has reemerged as a great driving force in finance, unlocking capital for the sector and underpinning rising investment. Energy remains the lifeblood of national economies, and in a newly competitive era, both legacy fossil fuel and new cleantech assets are being funded despite higher interest rates. How this new energy era plays out will be determined by how the “capital transition” unfolds, and the availability of private and public capital for existing and emerging technologies. How does the renewed focus on energy attract capital and shareholders’ interest?  How do capital markets, companies and governments manage a “capital transition”?  

Speakers:

• Roger Diwan
• Jigar Shah, Department of Energy
• Marcel van Poecke
• Christian Bruch

11:30am – 12:15pm (CST) / 12:30pm- 1:15pm (EST)

DOE Continuum – Carbon Management

Speakers:

• Darien Sturges, Senior Advisor, United States Department of Energy, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations
• Noah Deich, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Carbon Management in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Department of Energy
• Katheryn Scott, United States Department of Energy, Office of Technology Transitions

12:40pm – 01:55pm (CST) / 1:40pm- 2:55pm (EST)

Luncheon & Keynote Address

Speakers:

• Daniel Yergin
• Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy

02:05pm – 02:45pm (CST) / 3:05pm- 3:45pm (EST)

Energy: The impact of competition and rivalries in a multipolar world

Governments around the world are competing to win the clean energy industries of the future. Some countries are relying on incentives, others are using regulation to accelerate clean energy deployment while also bringing green supply lines close to home. How will energy competition reshape economic ties? What are the energy transition security drivers and how do companies navigate this new landscape? 

Speakers:

• Carlos Pascual
• Amos Hochstein, Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security
• Catherine MacGregor
• Kadri Simson

03:30pm – 04:10pm (CST) / 4:30pm- 5:10pm (EST)

Enabling Critical Technologies through Public-Private Partner Partnerships

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) can play a crucial role in facilitating the expansion of clean energy. Energy transformation requires coordinated, holistic, whole-systems solutions across our full energy economy to accelerate new technologies, integrate energy systems and implement solutions at scale. What needs to be done to secure financial support, foster collaboration and promote mutual understanding between the private and public sectors?

Speakers:

• Shin Kim
• Vyshi Suntharalingam, Chief Technology & Engineering Officer (CTEO) for the United States Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital
• Vanessa Chan
• Hans Kobler

04:00pm – 04:30pm (CST) / 5:00pm- 5:30pm (EST)

Hydrogen Policy Post IRA: What is the status of the American hydrogen hubs?

Hear from America’s newest hydrogen hub to hear how this historic investment of clean energy through hydrogen will help the United States meet its energy security goals. Diverse regions will enjoy federal support to help regional economies and with a large investment in clean energy jobs and manufacturing. These diverse regions will kickstart the United States energy economy with large scale production projects, transportation networks and decarbonizing industry. Hear directly from the hubs to get the latest updates.

Speakers:

• Noah Feingold
• Kelly Cummins, Acting Director for the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) at the U.S. Department of Energy
• Eric Guter
• Manka Khanna

04:30pm – 04:55pm (CST) / 5:30pm- 5:55pm (EST)

Spotlight | How U.S. Policy Can Accelerate the Energy Transition

The year 2024 is pivotal for U.S. ambitions to drive climate action and sustain energy security. The U.S. legal foundations are in place through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. COP28 created a framework for transitioning away from fossil fuels. How will climate ambitions translate into an agenda that drives investment nationally and globally to accelerate emission reductions? How quickly can IRA incentives be incorporated into the tax code? Can permitting reform keep pace with infrastructure demands? What are the strategies to leverage private capital, especially for developing countries? Will industry be welcomed as a partner in innovation and decarbonization? Join a dialogue with the new U.S. Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change to understand how he is shaping the U.S. agenda for 2024 and preparing for future challenges.

Speakers:

• Carlos Pascual
• John Podesta, Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change

04:30pm – 05:10pm (CST) / 5:30pm- 6:10pm (EST)

Hydrogen: How to grow a market

Countries are providing incentives to develop new hydrogen markets, with the U.S. leading the way on the scale of government funding available to the emerging industry. Yet there are still questions about how hydrogen can be produced cleanly at scale, and how new end-user markets will develop, creating uncertainties about the hydrogen business’ pace of growth and ultimate size. Where will supply come from? Which use case segments are most promising for hydrogen demand? Where can hydrogen compete with traditional fuels without government support? 

Speakers:

• Shankari Srinivasan
• David Crane, Department of Energy
• Seifi Ghasemi
• Marco Alverà
• Stéphane Michel

4:55pm – 05:15pm (CST) / 5:55pm- 6:15pm (EST)

Spotlight | Energy Present and Energy Future

Speakers:

• Daniel Yergin
• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

05:00pm – 05:30pm (CST) / 6:00pm- 6:30pm (EST) Solutions to Decarbonize Hard-to-Abate Sectors Carbon Management/Decarbonization Hard-to-abate sectors have many decarbonization approaches available to consider. These include changing manufacturing processes and operations to reduce costs and emissions; waste heat integration; utilizing lower-carbon materials and feedstocks; electrification; energy efficiency; using renewable power; as well as participating in low-carbon hubs with CCUS and hydrogen. How are different industries selecting viable solutions? Which solutions can save costs or boost revenue as well as cut emissions? What emerging solutions could transform some of these harder-to-abate sectors?

Speakers:

• Deb Ryan
• Kendall Dilling
• Kai Guo
• Katheryn Scott, United States Department of Energy, Office of Technology Transitions

5:15pm – 05:35pm (CST) / 6:15pm- 6:35pm (EST)

Spotlight | Energy Security and National Security

Speakers:

• Daniel Yergin
• Sen. Daniel Sullivan (R-Alaska)

07:30pm – 09:00pm (CST) / 8:30pm- 10:00pm (EST)

Climate Policies Post COP28

Climate change has become a top-tier agenda item for governments around the world and at international forums like the UN and G20. What are the different approaches that governments are taking at home to tackle climate change? How is climate ambition reshaping the global energy system, political alliances and trade? Can international initiatives still rally a consensus or must new strategies emerge to address the combined challenges of energy security, transition and affordability?

Speakers:

• Anna Mosby
• Charlotte Wolff-Bye
• Joshua Volz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Europe, Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East in the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy
• Julien Perez
• Alisa Newman Hood
• Paul McConnell

The 2024 Global Methane Forum is a premier global event that will bring together global thought and industry leaders in Geneva, Switzerland from 18-21 March 2024 to promote replicable methane mitigation successes and mobilize action to achieve ambitious methane emission reductions. This event will be organized jointly with the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s Group of Experts meetings – the 19th Session of the Group of Experts on Coal Mine Methane and Just Transition, and the 11th Session of the Group of Experts on Gas.

The goals of the 2024 Global Methane Forum are to:

• Convene and inspire high-level international participants to advance action to achieve ambitious global methane mitigation targets;
• Highlight methane mitigation activities, including to achieve the goals of the Global Methane Pledge;
• Share information about technical, policy, financing, and regulatory issues related to methane policy and project development; and
• Engage and enhance private sector participation in methane mitigation.

The Forum will be hosted by the Global Methane Initiative (GMI) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in partnership with the Global Methane Hub and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

Day One Agenda

Day Two Agenda

Day Three Agenda

Day Four Agenda

Get ready to laugh your way to climate action with The Comedy Show for Climate Defiance, brought to you by Grassroots Comedy! Join us for an evening of hilarity and activism as we team up with the fearless youth-led group, Climate Defiance, to make the powers-that-be quake…with laughter!

When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, Climate Defiance doesn’t just go along to get along. They block doors, crash galas, and shut down speeches faster than you can say “carbon footprint.” Because let’s face it, when our very lives are on the line, it’s time to bring the fight AND the funny.

Featuring double headliners Robert Mac (Comedy Central, Dry Bar) and Reem Edan (Sirius XM, Laugh After Dark), this show is guaranteed to have you rolling in the aisles while we elevate environmental concerns straight to the political spotlight and raise funds that make this work possible. Chelsea Handler herself raves about Climate Defiance as “the best new, nonpartisan group that goes after politicians on both sides in the U.S.”

So grab your tickets, gather your friends, and get ready to laugh, cheer, and maybe even join the movement. Because when it comes to saving the planet, we believe laughter is not just the best medicine—it’s the best form of defiance!

At Busboys & Poets, 450 K St. NW

7:00 PM

Doors Open

7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Show Begins

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C.
• Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense
• Michael Schiffer, Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia, U.S. Agency for International Development

Full committee hearing.

Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich)

Witnesses:

• Lori Moore-Merrell, Administrator, U.S. Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• David W. Fogerson, Chief, Division on Emergency Management and Office of Homeland Security, Department of Public Safety, State of Nevada
• Jamie Barnes, Director, Forestry, Fire and State Lands, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah
• Lucinda Andreani, Deputy County Manager and Flood Control District Administrator, Coconino County, State of Arizona
• Christopher P. Currie, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office