The Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security has scheduled a
hearing on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in 2123 Rayburn
House Office Building to examine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s
(NRC) Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and its licensing and regulation of
commercial power plants, advanced nuclear technologies, and other uses
of nuclear materials.
This
briefing
will highlight the immense scope and scale of the environmental
devastation Russia has wrought in Ukraine during its war of aggression,
estimate the still-unfolding impacts on the people of Ukraine and its
natural environment, and consider the multifaceted challenges to
ensuring Russian accountability.
Panelists:
Eugene Z. Stakhiv – Retired Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University
Maryna Baydyuk – President and Executive Director, United Help Ukraine
Kristina Hook – Assistant Professor of Conflict Management, School of
Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development, Kennesaw State
University
In the ten years since Russia launched its war of aggression against
Ukraine, Ukraine estimates that Russia has inflicted some $60 billion in
damages to Ukraine’s natural and man-made environments and pushed
Ukraine to the brink of ecological collapse. Vast swaths of Ukraine are
contaminated with landmines, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. Hundreds
of thousands of square miles of agricultural lands are decimated,
groundwater contaminated, and nature reserves consumed by fire.
In June 2023, the catastrophic destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam
alone killed or displaced hundreds of Ukrainians, limited the
availability of water for irrigation and sanitation purposes, and
increased the risk of a nuclear disaster at the nearby Zaporizhzhia
power plant. While the full scale of Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s
environment is both ongoing and difficult to assess, it is sufficiently
vast that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has initiated investigations not
only into possible war crimes but also willful acts of environmental
destruction, or “ecocide,” punishable under Ukrainian law.
It is clear that the havoc wrought by Russia’s actions will endure for
decades and that Ukraine will require both international and
intergenerational support to adequately address it.
Joint Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
The purpose of the
hearing
is to consider the nomination of Shannon A. Estenoz to be Deputy
Secretary of the Interior.
Witness:
Shannon A. Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and
Parks, Department of the Interior
Estenoz is currently Assistant
Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Previously, Shannon served as
Interior’s Director of Everglades Restoration Initiatives and Executive
Director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.
Shannon’s twenty four-year career in conservation includes roles with
the World Wildlife Fund and the National Parks Conservation Association,
and appointments by three Florida Governors including to the Governing
Board of the South Florida Water Management District. Shannon is a fifth
generation native of Key West, Florida, and holds degrees in
International Affairs and Civil Engineering from Florida State
University.