Hill Heat

The Committee will hold a Member Day hearing on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 9:00 AM in 1100 Longworth House Office Building.

Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit written comments for the hearing record can do so here: [email protected]. Please attach your submission as a Microsoft Word document in compliance with the formatting requirements, by the close of business on Thursday, September 28, 2023. For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-3625.

For the first time ever, the federal government will pay tax-exempt entities like local governments, Tribal governments, houses of worship, schools, hospitals, public housing administrators, public utilities and community organizations to build renewable energy projects like solar, wind or weatherization through the direct pay program in the Inflation Reduction Act. This is a historic chance to build sustainable energy, clean up our air and water and create good green jobs. Join our webinar to find out how to bring Direct Pay to YOUR community.

Speakers

• Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Climate Policy Program Director, Roosevelt Institute. As director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute, Rhiana Gunn-Wright leads the think tank’s research at the intersection of climate policy, public investment, racial equity, and public power. Rhiana aims to create a body of work that examines the role of economic policy and large-scale economic transformation in catalyzing just and rapid responses to the climate crisis.
• Princess R. Moss, Vice President, National Education Association. Princess R. Moss, an elementary school music teacher from Louisa County, Va., is vice president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest professional organization. Previously, Princess was NEA secretary-treasurer and had primary responsibility for managing and maintenance of the Association’s multimillion dollar budget.
• Katie Thomas, Energy And Environment Program Director, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center. Katie Thomas brings a decade of experience working on energy and environmental policy and legislation, having most recently served as Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment for Rep. Ro Khanna. Prior to that, she spent more than five years as Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment to Senator Bernie Sanders.
• Greg Akerman, Northern Virginia Director, Baltimore-D.C. Building Trades Council. Greg Akerman serves as the Northern Virginia Director for the Building Trades Council. With experience in political campaigns and legislative advocacy, Greg oversees the Building Trades’ political and government affairs programs for Northern Virginia, and works closely with union construction affiliates to pursue favorable legislation and work opportunities.
• Jillian Blanchard, Climate Change Program Director, Lawyers for Good Government. Jillian Blanchard is the Director of Lawyers For Good Government’s Climate Change Program and a nationally recognized attorney in energy and natural resources law. She currently runs a program at L4GG to provide legal resources and hands-on guidance to states, local governments, and communities regarding direct pay and other layering tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Taylor Cranor, Attorney Advisor, Tax Law Center at NYU Law. Taylor Cranor is an Attorney Advisor, Climate Tax Project at the Tax Law Center at NYU Law. Cranor’s work currently focuses on the implementation of the climate tax provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, and she also contributes to the Center’s work across a range of other issue areas.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) announced a hearing titled “Making the Grade?: Audit of the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.”

Witness:

• Sean O’Donnell, Inspector General, Environmental Protection Agency

On Wednesday, September 13, 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 Methodology and Structure of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Critical Minerals List.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Dr. Nedal Nassar, Chief of Minerals Intelligence Research, U.S. Geological Survey
• Dr. Roderick Eggert, Research Professor of Economics & Business and Coulter Foundation Chair in Mineral Economics, Colorado Schools of Mines, Golden, CO
• Reed Blakemore, Director of Research and Programs, Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council
• Brian Somers, President, Utah Mining Association
• Dustin Mulvaney, Professor, Environmental Studies Department, San José State University

A full committee hearing examining the effects of extreme heat and weather on transportation.

Witnesses:

• David Hondula, PhD, Director of the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, City of Phoenix
• Travis Parsons, Director of Occupational Safety and Health, Laborers International Union of North America
• Aimee Flannery, PhD, PE, Global Principal, Transportation Risk and Resilience, Jacobs, Solutions & Technologies

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) announced a legislative hearing titled “Keeping the Lights On: Enhancing Reliability and Efficiency to Power American Homes.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel One:

• Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for Electricity, Office of Electricity, U.S. Department of Energy;
• David Ortiz, Director, Office of Electric Reliability, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Panel Two:

• Kevin Messner, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
• B. Robert “Bob” Paulling, President and CEO, Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative, on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association
• Ben Lieberman, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Andrew deLaski, Executive Director, Appliance Standards Awareness Project

Legislation to be discussed:

• H.R. 4167, Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act (Rep. Richard Hudson), to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from strengthening energy conservation standards for distribution transformers for 5 years
• H.R. ___, DOE Appliance and Equipment Standards Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Rep. Debbie Lesko), to place increased restrictions on new energy efficiency standards for appliances and other products
• H.R. ___, GRID Act (Rep. Jeff Duncan), to to require coordination between the FERC and any Federal agency that promulgates a regulation that could have a “significant negative impact” on the reliable operation of the bulk power system, as determined either by FERC or a state commission

The Committee on Rules will meet Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 4365 – Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024
• H.R. 1435 – Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, to protect fossil-fuel automobiles from state-level standards under the Clean Air Act

Coinciding with this year’s 50th anniversary of the ESA, the symposium is being organized by Defenders of Wildlife and cosponsored by thirteen other organizations. The symposium will bring together members of Congress, administration officials, Tribal leaders, academia, policy experts, and wildlife supporters from around the country, to examine the importance and successes of the Endangered Species Act and review critical issues facing imperiled species at an important moment in the history of this essential wildlife law.

Invited speakers include

• Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)
• Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams
• NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit
• Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark

Please RSVP.

Full committee hearing on “Oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”

Witness:

• Gary Gensler, Chair, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

From Utility Dive:

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said Tuesday that the agency has not yet released a final rule requiring disclosure on climate risk partly because of public concern that companies would need to report so-called Scope 3 carbon emissions across their supply chains.

The SEC has received more than 16,000 public comment letters about the climate risk disclosure rule that it proposed in March 2022, with many asserting that Scope 3 reporting will prove onerous for small businesses, Gensler said. “We got a lot of comments around what’s called Scope 3 disclosures, and that’s what we’re trying to move forward on,” he said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.

Gensler declined to estimate when the SEC will adopt a final regulation, while noting that rule revisions can take from 12 to 24 months. “We try not to do things against the clock,” he said, adding “it’s really when the staff is ready and the [five-member agency] commission is ready.”

Referring to the proposed requirement that companies report carbon emissions and climate risk, Gensler said, “many U.S. issuers are already disclosing climate risk information and investors are making investment decisions” based on the information. The SEC, for the sake of investors, aims to ensure the reports are consistent and comparable, he said.

“We have no climate agenda whatsoever,” he said. “We’re not climate regulators.”

Gensler came under fire from the other side of the aisle, as Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticized him for not pushing through the disclosure rule sooner.

“When you were nominated two and a half years ago, you said the giant corporation should not be able to hide their climate risks from investors,” Warren told Gensler. “Without a strong climate risk disclosure rule, that is exactly what companies will continue to do.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Brian Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State
• Marcela Escobari, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, United States Agency for International Development
• Todd Robinson, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, United States Department of State