Hill Heat

Full committee business meeting to consider:

• S. 1898, the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2023
• S. 2088, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act

Full committee hearing on industrial decarbonization.

Witnesses:

• Dr. Abigail Regitsky, Senior Manager, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, Breakthrough Energy
• Dr. Leah Ellis, CEO and Co-founder, Sublime Systems, Inc.
• Shannon Angielski, President, Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition

On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Committee on Financial Services will hold a hearing titled “Oversight of Prudential Regulators.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses

• Michael Barr, Vice Chairman for Supervision, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Martin Gruenberg, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Todd Harper, Chairman, National Credit Union Administration
• Michael Hsu, Acting Comptroller, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Proposed rulemakings and final rules announced since the last hearing include:

• Principles for Climate-Related Financial Risk Management for Large Financial Institutions

Subcommittee hearing on wildlife migration corridors.

Witnesses:

• Charlton “Chuck” Bonham, Director, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Madeleine West, Director, Center for Public Lands, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
• Richard King, Chief Game Warden, Wyoming Game and Fish Department

The Committee on Rules will meet Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 2:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 5893 – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024
• H.R. 5961 – No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act

For 2024, H.R. 5893 provides $58.7 billion, a <a href=’https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/republicans-advance-bill-to-defund-law-enforcement-hurt-communities-advantage ‘>decrease of $25 billion – 29 percent – below 2023. The operating budget of the National Weather Service is cut by 15 percent below the current level. Nearly $1 billion is cut from NOAA, while more than $400 million is cut from the NASA Science account, and nearly a quarter of a billion dollars is cut from the National Science Foundation STEM Education account.

Section 554 prohibits funding in the Act for:

• the NIST Center of Excellence in Climate Change
• climate change fisheries research
• NSF for the U.S. Global Change Research Program or Clean Energy Technology Program; or
• to enforce Executive Order 14008 (Jan. 27, 2021), entitled, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”.

On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 4235 (Rep. Kim of CA), “Wildfire Technology Demonstration, Evaluation, Modernization, and Optimization Act” or the “Wildfire Technology DEMO Act”;
• H.R. 4353 (Rep. Salinas), “Civilian Conservation Center Enhancement Act of 2023”;
• H.R. 4717 (Rep. Lamborn), “Locally Led Restoration Act of 2023”;
• H.R. 5582 (Rep. Barr), “White Oak Resilience Act”;
• H.R. 5665 (Rep. Stansbury), “Promoting Accessibility on Federal Lands Act of 2023”;
• H.R. 6070 (Rep. Amodei), To amend the Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 1999 to clarify the authority of Department of Defense to conduct certain military activities at the Nevada test and training range, and for other purposes; and
• Discussion draft of H.R. ___ (Rep. Westerman),“Biochar Innovations and Opportunities for Conservation, Health, and Advancements in Research Act” or the “BIOCHAR Act”.

On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. EST in room 1334 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 4219 (Rep. Graves of Missouri), “Southwestern Power Administration Fund Establishment Act”, to establish the Southwestern Power Administration Fund;
• H.R. 5770 (Rep. Neguse), “Water Data Improvement Act”, to reauthorize certain United States Geological Survey water data enhancement programs;
• H.R. 6107 (Rep. Simpson), “Urban Canal Modernization Act”, to authorize certain extraordinary operation and maintenance work for urban canals of concern; and
• H.R. 6127 (Rep. Moore of Utah), “Modernizing Access to Our Public Waters Act” or “MAPWaters Act”, to standardize mapping of recreation al boating and fishing access to federal waterways

On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing entitled “Clean Power Plan 2.0: EPA’s Effort to Jeopardize Reliable and Affordable Energy for States.” The hearing will examine State perspectives concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for the power sector and the reliable delivery of electricity.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• L. David Glatt, Director, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
• Chris Parker, Director, Utah Department of Commerce Division of Public Utilities
• Michelle Walker Owenby, Director, Division of Air Pollution Control, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
• Serena McIlwain, Secretary of the Environment, State of Maryland

On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 10:15 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Abandoned Mine Lands and Active Mining Programs.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Glenda Owens, Deputy Director, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
• Kyle Wendtland, Administrator, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division
• Dustin Morin, Director, Mining and Reclamation Division, Alabama Department of Labor
• Benjamin McCament, Chief, Division of Mineral Resources Management, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Peter Morgan, Senior Attorney, Sierra Club Legislative Office

The two programs under Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulating active coal mining and AML reclamation are Title IV and Title V, respectively. Title IV of SMCRA establishes the AML Reclamation Program, which is funded by a fee on each ton of coal produced. This fee has been reauthorized eight times, most recently in 2021 under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which lowered the fee level by 20 percent and reauthorized it through September 30, 2034. The funds raised by these fees are disbursed through a pre-set formula to states and tribes to reclaim coal mines on their lands that were abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA in 1977.4 The IIJA also provided $11.3 billion in additional funding for reclamation grants, distinct from the funds raised by the preexisting SMCRA fee on coal production. For active surface mining, SMCRA has Title V, which regulates production and details requirements for states to receive delegated authority to regulate coal mining in their state. As Title IV funding is exclusively used for AML reclamation, coal sites regulated under Title V are ineligible for grants from the AML Reclamation Fund.

Full committee hearing to examine innovation in American agriculture, focusing on leveraging technology and artificial intelligence.

• Dr. Mason Earles, Assistant Professor, Viticulture & Enology; Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Co-PI and Lead of Agricultural Cluster, AI Institute for Next-Generation Food Systems, University of California, Davis
• Sanjeev Krishnan, Chief Investment Officer & Senior Managing Director, S2G Ventures
• Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, President, Dakota State University
• Dr. Jahmy Hindman, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Deere & Company
• Todd J. Janzen, President, Janzen Schroeder Agricultural Law LLC, Administrator, Ag Data Transparent Organization