On Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth
House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee
on Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight
hearing
titled “Examining Systemic Government Overreach at
CEQ.”
Brenda Mallory, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality (Invited)
Mario Loyola, Director, Environmental Finance & Risk Management
Program, Research Assistant Professor, Florida International
University—Institute of Environment
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.”
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
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.”
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
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
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.
Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
