The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following
bills: S.2259/H.R. 813, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and
Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to participate in the Prado Basin Natural Treatment System
Project, to authorize the Secretary to participate in the Lower Chino
Dairy Area desalination demonstration and reclamation project, and for
other purposes; H.R. 31, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and
Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to participate in the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
Wildomar Service Area Recycled Water Distribution Facilities and
Alberhill Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation Facility Projects; H.R.
716, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and
Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate
in the Santa Rosa Urban Water Reuse Plan; H.R. 786, to amend the
Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Los
Angeles County Water Supply Augmentation Demonstration Project, and for
other purposes; H.R. 1140, to authorize the Secretary, in cooperation
with the City of San Juan Capistrano, California, to participate in the
design, planning, and construction of an advanced water treatment plant
facility and recycled water system, and for other purposes; H.R. 1503,
to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities
Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the
Avra/Black Wash Reclamation and Riparian Restoration Project; H.R. 1725,
to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities
Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the
Rancho California Water District Southern Riverside County
Recycled/Non-Potable Distribution Facilities and
Demineralization/Desalination Recycled Water Treatment and Reclamation
Facility Project; H.R. 1737, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and
Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to participate in the design, planning, and construction of
permanent facilities for the GREAT project to
reclaim, reuse, and treat impaired waters in the area of Oxnard,
California; and H.R. 2614, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and
Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to participate in certain water projects in California.
Witness
- Mr. Kris Polly , Deputy Commissioner for External & Intergovernmental
Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, DOI
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Water and Power Subcommittee
04/07/2008 at 05:36PM
Key lawmakers are now promoting California’s energy and global warming
policies as a model for the federal government and other States to
follow. Thomas Tanton’s talk will review California’s policies and show
that they have had significant costs as well as other detrimental
effects and are likely to have even higher costs and even worse effects
in the future. California’s policies have led to the highest electricity
and gasoline prices in the continental U. S. and contributed to the
de-industrialization of California.
Mr. Tanton’s talk is based on his new White Paper for the Competitive
Enterprise Institute, California Energy Policy: a Cautionary Tale for
the Nation. Copies will be available at the event and online at
www.cei.org.
Please RSVP by e-mail to Julie Walsh at
[email protected]. Please give your name and office or organization.
For more information, please call Myron Ebell at (202) 331-2256
Competitive Enterprise Institute
1324 Longworth
04/04/2008 at 12:00PM
The hearing will focus on international fisheries issues, including
Regional Fisheries Management Councils (RFMO’s), compliance reporting
and enforcement on the high seas.
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
253 Russell
04/03/2008 at 10:00AM
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
366 Dirksen
04/03/2008 at 09:30AM
Witnesses Panel I: Status of Surface Transportation Trust Funds and
Impact on Federal Spending
- James S. Simpson, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S.
Department of Transportation
- James D. Ray, Administrator (Acting), Federal Highway
Administration, U. S. Department of Transportation
- John F. McCaskie, Chief Engineer, Swank Associated Companies
(Transportation Construction Coalition)
- William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation
Association
Panel II: Future Outlook and Budgetary Needs for
AMTRAK
- Joseph H. Boardman, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration
- Donna McLean, Chairman of the Board, National Railroad Passenger
Corporation-AMTRAK
- Alexander Kummant, President & CEO, National
Railroad Passenger Corporation-AMTRAK
- David Tornquist, Assistant Inspector General, United States Department
of Transportation
- Joel M. Parker, International Vice President & Special Assistant to
the President, Transportation Communications International Union
Senate Appropriations Committee
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
138 Dirksen
04/03/2008 at 09:30AM
Senate briefing on “Climate Change and the Midwest,” a discussion of the
impacts of climate change on Midwestern states.
Panelists Include:
- Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Director of the School of Earth, Society, and
Environment at the University of Illinois, who will summarize the
potential impacts of global warming on the Midwestern states. Dr.
Wuebbles developed the concept of Ozone Depletion Potentials used in
the Montreal Protocol and the U.S. Clean Air Act. He contributed to
all of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change) assessments on climate change, and coauthored both an
assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes region
and, more recently, a similar assessment of the U.S. Northeast.
- Dr. Jonathan Pershing, Director of WRI’s
Climate, Energy and Pollution Program, who will focus on how proposed
federal legislation might be tailored to address Midwest-specific
concerns through allowance allocation or complementary policies,
including policy options that can mitigate economic impacts of a
federal program. Dr. Pershing is active in U.S. and international
climate policy design; he serves on the CA Market Advisory Committee,
was the facilitator for both the Northeast states’ emissions trading
initiative (RGGI) and the Illinois state climate advisory group, is a
regular participant in international UN climate negotiations, and was
a lead author for the IPCC.
- Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
who will present a summary of the actions taken to date by Midwestern
states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Scott chairs Governor
Blagojevich’s Climate Change Advisory Committee.
If you have any questions, please contact Senator Klobuchar’s office or
Senator Lugar’s office.
World Resources Institute
410 Dirksen
04/02/2008 at 03:30PM
On Wednesday, April 2, 2008, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is holding a
hearing titled, “From the Wright Brothers to the Right Solutions:
Curbing Soaring Aviation Emissions.” The hearing will take place on
April 2, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 1310 of the Longworth House Office
Building. Witnesses will be by invitation only.
At this hearing the Committee will also vote to subpoena
documents
from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showing what progress
that agency has made in response to Supreme Court decision,
Massachusetts v. EPA, which was delivered
April 2, 2007.
As Congress examines all causes and impacts of heat-trapping emissions,
the Select Committee is assessing aviation’s present contribution to
greenhouse gasses and the potential to curb such emissions in the
future. Aviation emissions generate 12 percent of U.S. transportation
carbon dioxide emissions and three percent of the United States’ total
carbon dioxide emissions. The FAA estimates
that demand for passenger and cargo aviation in the United States will
double or triple by 2025. As the European Union is poised to extend its
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to all airlines, it is imperative for
Congress to consider how aviation can contribute to or curb
heat-trapping emissions through operations, technology and fuel.
Witnesses
- Dan Elwell, FAA Assistant Administrator for
Aviation Policy, Planning, and Environment
- Bob Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of
Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Tom Windmuller, Senior Vice President, International Air Transport
Association
- James May, President and CEO, Air Transport
Association
House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee
1310 Longworth
04/02/2008 at 01:30PM
EPA Leaves Behind Wake of Broken Promises,
Inaction as Anniversary of Landmark Global Warming Case Approaches
State Officials, Environmental Groups to Discuss Steps to Compel
EPA Action
On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down a watershed decision in
the case of Massachusetts v. EPA. Despite
promises from EPA Administrator Johnson and
even President Bush himself, EPA has willfully
chosen to ignore the Supreme Court’s instructions. Indeed,
EPA has instead proposed action consistent
with the wishes of polluters and other special interests.
The petitioners in Mass v. EPA have repeatedly
and publicly warned EPA that continued
inaction on the so-called “endangerment finding” and promised
regulations for global warming emissions from vehicles would force the
petitioners to take steps to compel action.
EPA’s brazen refusal to act has left the
petitioners no choice but to take the agency back to court to force it
to comply with the High Court’s decision.
This press teleconference will review developments over the past year,
outline the Bush administration’s broken promises relating to this case,
and outline the legal action that the petitioners are being forced to
take in order to prevent EPA from continuing
to ignore the Supreme Court.
- G. Edmund Brown, Jr., Attorney General of California
- James Milkey, Chief of Environmental Protection, Massachusetts
Attorney General’s Office
- David Bookbinder, Sierra Club Chief Climate Counsel
- Joe Mendelson, Legal Director, International Center for Technology
Assessment (ICTA)
The ICTA brought the original petition that
led to this case. James Milkey argued the case before the Supreme Court.
Conference ID: 41865683
Dial-in: (888) 228 – 9795
Contact: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384 (w), 202.679.7570 (m),
[email protected]
Sierra Club
District of Columbia
04/02/2008 at 01:00PM
Dirk Kempthorne has not confirmed attendance.
Witnesses
- The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary, U.S. Department of the
Interior (INVITED)
- Dr. Douglas B. Inkley, Senior Scientist, National Wildlife Federation
- Kassie R. Siegel, Director of the Climate, Air, and Energy Program,
Center for Biological Diversity
- William P. Horn Esq., Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
406 Dirksen
04/02/2008 at 10:00AM