Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the U.S. Forest Service. The budget request is $8.9 billion; $6.5 billion for base programs and $2.39 billion for the wildfire suppression cap adjustment in the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund.

Witness:

• Randy Moore, Chief, U.S. Forest Service

The request includes:

• $58 million for recreation, heritage and wilderness (+$18M from 2024)
• $33 million for vegetation and watershed management (+$3M from 2024)
• $207 million for hazardous fuels reduction (+$31.55M from 2024)
• $315.6 million for forest and rangeland research (+$15.6M from 2024)
• $25 million to address the urgent need for maintenance of employee housing.

The purpose of this hearing is to examine the federal and non-federal role of assessing cyber threats to and vulnerabilities of critical water infrastructure in our energy sector.

Witnesses:

• Terry Turpin, Director, Office of Energy Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• Virginia Wright, Cyber-Informed Engineering Program Manager, Idaho National Laboratory
• Scott Aaronson, Senior Vice President, Security and Preparedness, Edison Electric Institute

Subcommittee hearing on the $186 billion Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the United States Army.

Witnesses

• General Randy A. George, Chief of Staff of the Army, Department of the Army
• Christine E. Wormuth, Secretary, Department of the Army

To prevent disruption to operational plans and maintain mission readiness, the Department is investing $3.6 billion to adapt military facilities to withstand increasingly challenging climate and extreme weather conditions.

On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight hearing titled “The National Wildlife Refuge System at Risk: Impacts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Proposed BIDEH Rule.”

On February 1, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to both revise the existing Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health (BIDEH) policy and implement a new rule that will guide management of national wildlife refuges.

The Service did not anticipate the extent of climate change impacts on refuge species and habitats or the need to clarify in regulations our interpretation of and authority to implement the BIDEH mandate. However, in the nearly 25 years since enactment of the Improvement Act, refuges have begun to experience the effects of climate change while continuing to contend with the myriad of other anthropogenic stressors affecting fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. Climate change is transforming historical species composition and ecological function of habitats, creating new challenges to traditional wildlife management strategies that were based on stable, stationary baseline conditions. As the Refuge System becomes increasingly vital to addressing the dual threats of biodiversity loss and climate change, the Service recognizes the need to codify both existing and new practices for maintaining BIDEH to assist refuges in responding to these contemporary conservation challenges. Therefore, the Service has identified the need to propose new BIDEH regulations and updates to the existing BIDEH policy to accomplish these goals.

Language in the proposed rule includes:

Within the Refuge System, we will manage species and habitats affected by climate change and other anthropogenic change by using climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies when necessary to meet statutory requirements, fulfill refuge purposes, and ensure biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health.

Full committee hearing.

Witness:

• Samantha Power, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Today, heavy industry contributes 24% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest source of climate pollution. Unlike other climate sectors, the industrial sector does not have long-term power build (yet).

Join Industrious Labs’ Field Building department to talk in depth about industrial decarbonization and transformation. In this 90-min interactive webinar, Industrious Labs’ Dominique Thomas and Lee Helfend will cover what industrial decarbonization and transformation, what movement building looks like and tangible examples at Industrious Labs.

Following this webinar:

• Participants leave the webinar understanding industrial decarbonization and why movement building is integral
• Participants will learn more about movement building at Industrious Labs and how they can get involved
• Participants will met other folx interested in industrial transformation and ways to stay engaged

All of these materials can now be produced using cleaner and greener energy that drives good paying jobs, arrests climate change, and anchors a healthy regenerative economy that helps local communities thrive. We look forward to seeing you!

Subcommittee hearing

Subcommittee hearing entitled “American Nuclear Energy Expansion: Spent Fuel Policy and Innovation.”

Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Department of Homeland Security. The budget request is $107.9B, of which $62.2B is net discretionary funding.

Witness:

• Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

The budget includes a $56.0M and 34 FTE increase to support a variety of FEMA climate resilience initiatives, including the Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program, FEMA’s Building Codes Strategy, Climate Adaptation, and Environmental Planning and Historical Preservation process improvements.

Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

The Department of the Navy’s FY 2025 President’s Budget request is $257.6B, an increase of $1.8B/0.7% from the FY 2024 request.