Hill Heat

On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 2925 (Rep. Amodei), “Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2023”, to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s Rosemont decision protecting sacred sites from mine waste, allowing mine operations to use, occupy, and conduct operations (including construction of roads and other mining infrastructure activity) on public land regardless of whether a mineral deposit has been discovered on the land so long as the claimant makes timely payments of required claims maintenance fees;
• H.R. 6862 (Rep. Lamborn (R-Colo.)), To amend the FAST Act to include all mineral mining activities as a covered project granted fast-track approval, overturning the Biden administration’s rule which limits it to critical minerals;
• H.R. 7003 (Rep. DelBene), “National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024”; and
• H.R. ­­­7004 (Rep. Curtis), To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to amend references of gilsonite to asphaltite.

Witnesses:

• Dr. Steven Feldgus, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior [H.R. 2925, H.R. 6862, H.R. 7003, and H.R. 7004]
• Craig Mueller, President & CEO, American Gilsonite Company [H.R. 7004]
• Rich Haddock, Senior Advisor, Barrick Gold, Bountiful, UT [H.R. 2925 and H.R. 6862]
• Dr. John Metesh, President, Association of American State Geologists [H.R. 7003]
• Jeffrey Stiffarm, President, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT [Minority Witness; H.R. 2925 and H.R. 6862] Hearing memo.

On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 674 (Rep. Newhouse), “Root and Stem Project Authorization Act of 2023”, to authorize industry-run environmental impact approvals for “healthy forest” logging;
• H.R. 4297 (Rep. Neguse), “Bolts Ditch Act”;
• H.R. 5443 (Rep. Lee of NV), “Accelerating Appraisals and Conservation Efforts Act” or “AACE Act”, to allow non-federal land appraisers who are appropriately credentialed in one state or territory to perform appraisal and valuation services on DOI’s behalf in any state or territory;
• H.R. 6994 (Rep. Kim of CA), “Restoring Our Unopened Trails for Enjoyment and Safety (ROUTES) Act”, to require federal land managers to prioritize reopening trails, campsites, recreation areas, and roads within two years of a closure caused by a natural disaster, and give them emergency authority to do so without environmental reviews;
• H.R. 7072 (Rep. Tiffany), “Wabeno Economic Development Act of 2024”, to convey a 14-acre parcel of Wisconsin forest to the concrete company to Tony’s Wabeno Redi-Mix, LLC.

Witnesses:

• Greg Smith, Associate Deputy Chief – National Forest System, U.S. Forest Service [All bills]
• Tom Tallier, Supervisor, Forest County Board of Supervisors – District 8, Wabeno, Wisconsin [H.R. 7072]
• Hannah Downey, Policy Director, Property and Environment Research Center [H.R. 674]
• Dan Munsey, Fire Chief, San Bernardino County Fire Department [H.R. 6994]
• Siri Roman, General Manager, Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, Vail, Colorado [H.R. 4297] (Democratic witness)
• Sandy Adomatis, President, The Appraisal Institute, Chicago, Illinois [H.R. 5443] (Democratic witness)

Hearing memo

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Tia Scarpelli, Ph.D., Research Scientist & Waste Sector Lead, Carbon Mapper
• Tom Frankiewicz, Subject Matter Expert, Waste Methane, Rocky Mountain Institute
• Anne Germain P.E., BCEE, Chief Operating Officer & SVP of Regulatory Affairs, National Waste & Recycling Association

The purpose of the hearing is to review federal natural hazard research and development (R&D) programs, specifically, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of the interagency effort, and to receive recommendations for future reauthorization of the programs.

Hearing charter

Witnesses:

• Jason Averill, Deputy Director of the Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Edward Laatsch, P.E., Director, Safety, Planning, and Building Science Division, Risk Analysis, Planning and Information Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Dr. Gavin Hayes, Earthquake Hazards Program Coordinator, United States Geological Survey
• Dr. Susan Margulies, Assistant Director for Engineering, National Science Foundation

On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. (ET) in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing entitled, “Fighting the Misuse of Biden’s Green Bank Giveaway.”

Hearing memo

Witness:

• Zealan Hoover, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Enacted on August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) provides more than $27 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to launch its new Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). This law appropriated $7 billion to the EPA to make grants to States, municipalities, Tribal governments, and eligible nonprofits to provide loans, other financial assistance, and technical assistance to deploy zero-emission technologies in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The EPA also received nearly $12 billion to make grants to eligible nonprofits to provide financial and technical assistance to projects that: (1) reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution with private-sector investment; or (2) assist communities in reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution (collectively, qualified projects). Finally, the IRA provided $8 billion for the EPA to give to eligible nonprofits for providing financial and technical assistance to qualified projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The IRA specified that the EPA must award this funding by September 30, 2024.

The IRA’s GGRF provisions contain elements associated with entities known as “green banks,” or financial institutions designed to mitigate market barriers and generate investment in low-carbon technologies. However, the EPA acknowledged this is a “first-of-its-kind” program and sought public comment on how it should design and implement the program through an October 21, 2022, Request for Information. The EPA’s Office of the Administrator also requested advice from the Environmental Financial Advisory Board, which provides advice to the EPA on strategies to lower costs and increase investment in environmental protection. On February 14, 2023, the EPA announced initial guidance on the design of the program and subsequently released its implementation framework on April 19, 2023.

As part of this April 19, 2023, update, the EPA announced it would hold three separate funding competitions to distribute the GGRF program’s $27 billion. These included the following:

1. National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) ($14 billion): The EPA stated it will provide grants to two to three national nonprofit financing entities to establish “national clean financing institutions” that can partner with the private sector to provide financing for clean energy technology projects nationwide.
2. Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA) ($6 billion): The EPA plans to provide grants to two to seven “hub” nonprofit organizations to provide funding and technical assistance to networks of community lenders to deploy clean energy projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
3. Solar for All (SFA) ($7 billion): The EPA will award up to 60 grants to states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits to expand existing programs for low-income and disadvantaged communities or design and deploy new programs.

The EPA released Notice of Funding Opportunities for all three programs in the summer of 2023. For all three programs, the EPA plans to notify organizations selected for awards by March 2024. By July 2024, the EPA anticipates the performance period for the NCIF and the CCIA will begin, and SFA recipients will receive their awards. Within the Office of the Administrator, the EPA established an Office of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to develop, implement, and oversee the GGRF funding competitions.

The hearing will provide the EPA with a chance to update the Committee on its efforts to stand up this program. Questions discussed at the hearing may include:

• What factors influenced the EPA in designing the programs, and how did the EPA choose the current structure?
• How will a new program spend $27 billion in such a short timeframe, and how is EPA addressing the associated risks for waste, fraud, and abuse?
• As the EPA will use grantees as intermediaries to distribute funding to subrecipients, how will the EPA oversee the use of these funds?
• What type of and how many staff does the new Office of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund include, and what expertise do they possess?
• What type of projects will this program fund, and what type of organizations is the EPA considering as recipients?

On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security will hold a hearing entitled “Exposing President Biden’s Plan to Dismantle the Snake River Dams and the Negative Impacts to the United States.” The hearing will examine the management and operations of federal dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries, and actions taken by the Biden administration to plan for the removal of the Lower Snake River dams.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel I

• Brenda Mallory, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality
• John Hairston, Administrator and CEO, Bonneville Power Administration
• Michael L. Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), U.S. Army
• Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Jeremiah Baumann, Senior Advisor, Director of Policy and Implementation, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Panel II

• Jim Matheson, CEO, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
• Casey Chumrau, CEO, Washington Grain Commission
• Neil Maunu, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA)
• Jeremy Takala, Member, Yakama Nation’s Tribal Council

Nomination hearing.

Nominees:

• Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, of Connecticut, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Indonesia
• Courtney Diesel O’Donnell, of California, former Director of Global Partnerships at Airbnb, to be United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, with the rank of Ambassador
• Andrew William Plitt, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (Middle Eastern Affairs)

The Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will meet in open session, hybrid format to conduct a hearing entitled, “Reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program: Local Perspectives on Challenges and Solutions.”

Witnesses:

• Dr. Daniel Kaniewski, Managing Director, Public Sector, Marsh McLennan
• Michael Hecht, President & CEO, Greater New Orleans, Inc.

Business meeting to vote on nominations.

Nominees:

• Kurt Campbell, of the District of Columbia, the current Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council, to be Deputy Secretary of State
• Cardell Kenneth Richardson, Sr., of Virginia, the current inspector general of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, to be Inspector General, Department of State
• Robert David Gioia, of New York, former President of Buffalo’s John R. Oishei Foundation, to be a Commissioner on the part of the United States on the International Joint Commission, United States and Canada
• Nicole Shampaine, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as United States Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
• Sean Patrick Maloney, of New York, to be Representative of the United States of America to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the rank of Ambassador
• Jeffrey Prescott, of the District of Columbia, current Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to be U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, with the rank of Ambassador
• Charlie Crist, of Florida, to be Representative of the United States of America on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, with the rank of Ambassador
• Joann M. Lockard, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Burkina Faso

There will be a hearing of the Committee on the Budget on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 10:00 AM in Room SD-608 to consider: “Warming Seas, Cooling Economy: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Ocean Industries”.

Witnesses:

• Kyle Schaefer, Fishing Guide And Lodge Owner
• Dr. Andrea Dutton, Helen Jupnik Endowed Research Professor, Department Of Geoscience, University Of Wisconsin-Madison
• Dr. Rashid Sumaila, University Killam Professor, Institute For The Oceans And Fisheries, University Of British Columbia
• Dr. Thomas Frazer, Professor And Dean Of The College Of Marine Science, University of South Florida
• Dr. Phil Levy, Chief Economist, Flexport Inc.