Hill Heat

The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a full Committee markup on Monday, September 13, at 11 a.m. (EDT) in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, on legislative recommendations for its budget reconciliation instructions, which were passed last month by the House and Senate.

The Committee will consider the following Committee Prints:

• Subtitle A: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Air Pollution – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle B: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Hazardous Materials – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle C: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Drinking Water – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle D: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Energy – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle E: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Drug Pricing – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle F: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to the Affordable Care Act – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle G: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Medicaid – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle H: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to CHIP – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle I: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Medicare – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle J: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Public Health – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle K: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Next Generation 9-1-1 – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle L: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Wireless Connectivity – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle M: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Distance Learning – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle N: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Manufacturing Supply Chain – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle O: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to FTC Privacy Enforcement – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute
• Subtitle P: Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Department of Commerce Inspector General – Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute

The Committee’s Memorandum includes a section-by-section for each of the Committee Prints and a fact sheet on key provisions is available.

Grid Decarbonization Standard: $150 billion in a Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) at the Department of Energy (DOE) The CEPP, which complements tax incentives for clean energy, will issue grants to and collect payments from electricity suppliers from 2023 through 2030 based on how much qualified clean electricity each supplier provides to customers.

• An electricity supplier will be eligible for a grant if it increases the amount of clean electricity it supplies to customers by 4 percentage points compared to the previous year. The grant will be $150 for each megawatt-hour of clean electricity above 1.5 percent the previous year’s clean electricity.
• Electricity suppliers must use the grants exclusively for the benefit of their customers, including direct bill assistance, investments in qualified clean electricity and energy efficiency, and worker retention.
• An electricity supplier that does not increase its clean electricity percentage by at least 4 percent compared to the previous year will owe a payment to DOE based on the shortfall. If, for example, the electricity supplier only increases its clean electricity percentage by 2 percent, the supplier will owe $40 for each megawatt-hour that represents the 2 percent shortfall.
• The CEPP gives electricity suppliers the option to defer a grant or a payment for up to two consecutive years.
• Eligible clean electricity is electricity generation with a carbon intensity of not more than 0.10 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt-hour [i.e., renewable and nuclear].

Other Energy and Climate Provisions:

• $13.5 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure
• $7 billion in multiple loan and grant programs at DOE to support development of innovative technologies and American manufacturing of zero emission transportation technologies
• $9 billion for grid modernization
• $17.5 billion in decarbonizing federal buildings and fleets
• $18 billion in home energy efficiency and appliance electrification rebates
• $27.5 billion in nonprofit, state, and local climate finance institutions that support the rapid deployment of low- and zero-emission technologies. At least 40 percent of investments will be made in low-income and disadvantaged communities
• $2.5 billion for planning and installing solar facilities and community solar projects that serve low-income households or multi-family affordable housing complexes
• $30 billion for the full replacement of lead service lines in drinking water systems
• $10 billion for the cleanup of Superfund sites
• Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants: $5 billion to community-led projects that address environmental and public health harms related to pollution and climate change
• methane fee on pollution from the oil and gas industry above specific intensity thresholds

Health:

• $5 billion in replacing certain heavy-duty vehicles, such as refuse trucks and school buses, with zero emission vehicles Health
• dental, vision, and hearing coverage for seniors under Medicare
• expands Medicaid eligibility to millions of Americans
• $190 billion to expand access to quality home-based services and care for millions of older adults and people with disabilities
• permanently extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• ensure that all pregnant women on Medicaid will keep their health insurance for the critical first year postpartum
• ensure that Medicaid coverage begins automatically 30 days prior to an individual’s release from incarceration
• $2.86 billion in funding for the World Trade Center Health Program
• $3 billion in funding to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
• $35 billion in investments to rebuild and modernize public health departments
• $15 billion in targeted investments for pandemic preparedness

Other:

• $10 billion in grants for the implementation of Next Generation 9-1-1 services
• $4 billion to the Emergency Connectivity Fund to ensure students, school staff, and library patrons have internet connectivity
• $10 billion to monitor and identify critical manufacturing supply chain vulnerabilities

Filed amendments:

• Amendment (SUB-I-AMD-SCHRADER_01), to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute filed by Rep. Schrader (D-OR) to Subtitle I: Medicare
• Amendment to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (Amdt NCB_1), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (ARMSTRONG_01), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_05), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_06), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_07), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_08A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_09A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_10A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_11A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_12A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_13), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_14), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B1_16A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B2_11), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_02), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_07), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_09), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_11), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_13), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_22), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (B3_25), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (Burgess_01), filed by Rep. Burgess (R-TX) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (CURTIS_01), filed by Rep. Curtis (R-UT) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (Guthrie_01), filed by Rep. Guthrie (R-KY) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (Inflation Amdt to Subtitle A), filed by the Minority to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (LATTA_01), filed by Rep. Latta (R-OH) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (LATTA_02), filed by Rep. Latta (R-OH) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (LATTA_03), filed by Rep. Latta (R-OH) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (LATTA_032), filed by Rep. Latta (R-OH) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (scalise_01), filed by Rep. Scalise (R-LA) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (scalise_02), filed by Rep. Scalise (R-LA) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution
• Amendment (JOHNOH_018A), filed by Rep. Johnson (R-OH) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution;
• Amendment (B3_01), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (B3_04), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (B3_15), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (B3_16), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials;
• Amendment (B3_17), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (B3_18), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (Inflation Amdt to Subtitle B), filed by the Minority to Subtitle B: Hazardous Materials
• Amendment (CARTER_01), filed by Rep. Carter (R-GA) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution.
• Amendment to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (PETECA_036), filed by Rep. Peters (D-CA) to Subtitle E: Drug Pricing.
• Amendment (Burgess_03), filed by Rep. Burgess (R-TX) to Subtitle A: Air Pollution

13/09/2021 at 11:00AM

Join us for a webinar to learn more about the 2021 legislative and administrative landscape on climate change and health. Our team from the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health will discuss the agenda outlined by the Biden Administration, prospects for Congressional action, and upcoming ways to engage.

28/04/2021 at 07:30PM

Register at www.ametsoc.org/cb

While weather extremes, melting glaciers, and crop failures dominate the public discourse on global warming, human health risks from climate change are of growing concern to both the public and health professionals. This briefing will provide an overview of these health risks and health system responses.

Speakers

• Rita Colwell, Ph.D. Distinguished University Professor both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Senior Advisor and Chairman Emeritus, Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and President and CEO of CosmosID, Inc.
• Howard Frumkin, M.D., Dr.P.H. Special Assistant to the Director for Climate Change and Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH. Professor & Director of Global Environmental Health at the University of Wisconsin in Madison

Moderator

• Paul Higgins, Ph.D. Senior Policy Fellow, American Meteorological Society

First, Dr. Rita Colwell (University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) will review major health threats, including heat waves, weather and hydrologic extremes, reduced air quality, rising allergen exposures, infectious diseases, reduced agricultural output, mental health consequences, and civil disruption such as population displacement. She will draw particularly on her research on infectious diseases, including both vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria, plague, and many viral diseases) and water-borne diseases (e.g. cholera), explaining recent scientific advances in understanding the links between environmental change and disease risk.

Second, Dr. Howard Frumkin (CDC) will discuss the public health response to these threats, drawing on a framework developed at CDC and now being implemented at the Federal, state, and local levels. This response involves longstanding core public health activities, such as disease surveillance, outbreak investigations, vulnerability assessments, health communication, and preparedness planning. He will also emphasize the importance of assessing the health consequences of mitigation strategies, so decision-makers can choose the most health-protective approaches.

Finally, Dr, Jonathan Patz (University of Wisconsin) will introduce the concept of co-benefits, a key strategy in both addressing climate change and promoting health. For example, transportation strategies that reduce travel demand and favor walking, bicycling, and transit over automobiles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote physical activity as well as improve air quality. The net result is a steep drop in cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma and other ailments. Dr. Patz will cite recent analyses in the US suggesting that climate change mitigation could offer a substantial opportunity to improve the health of the public and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs and worker productivity.

05/02/2010 at 11:00AM

On Friday, November 20, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will host a Clean Energy Economy Forum focused on the public health benefits of a clean energy economy with business, medical, public health, policy, environmental, and community leaders from around the country.

HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, other Administration officials, and featured speakers at the forum will also discuss the ways in which transitioning to a clean energy economy will yield immediate and lasting public health benefits. Advances and use of clean energy will help to reduce soot, smog, and toxic pollution, which are major causes of health problems including asthma attacks, heart attacks, and premature death.

In addition to addressing the public health benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving toward clean energy, speakers will focus on the need for comprehensive energy and climate legislation, that will put America back in control of its energy future and strengthen the nation’s economy, environment, and national security by breaking its dependence on oil.

Federal officials will exchange perspectives with public health experts and community leaders who have worked to limit negative health impacts of energy sources and improve the built environment, community resilience and health through clean energy choices.

20/11/2009 at 10:00AM

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing to examine the public health impacts and costs associated with transportation in the United States. The briefing will address how federal transportation infrastructure policies can improve public health and mitigate climate change at the same time. Panelists will include:

• Lawrence Frank, PhD, Professor, Sustainable Transportation Program, University of British Columbia
• Patrick Kinney, ScD, Associate Professor, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
• Thomas Gotschi, PhD, Director of Research, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
• Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, PhD, Professional Staff, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
• Susan Abramson, MHS, Director, Public Health Policy Center, American Public Health Association

The transportation sector is associated with multiple public health risk factors – adding billions of dollars to our national healthcare bill – while accounting for approximately 28 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This briefing will explore an emerging body of research documenting local, regional and national health impacts from transportation and implications for addressing transportation-related impacts on climate change.

Exposure to air pollution from vehicles has been linked to premature deaths, cancer, asthma, and other lung ailments. Time spent driving and limited options to walk or bike have been shown to be significant risk factors for health problems associated with physical inactivity, such as stress and obesity, which have reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Many of these impacts, asthma and obesity in particular, disproportionately affect children. Recent studies suggest that climate change will exacerbate many of these impacts, however, transportation strategies to address these public health concerns have proven effective measures to help mitigate climate change.

Federal economic stimulus legislation as well as anticipated federal transportation, climate, and energy bills are all important opportunities to address the public health impacts and costs associated with transportation as well as energy security and climate protection goals. Key questions to be addressed include:

• What are the public health impacts associated with transportation?
• What are the opportunities to simultaneously address climate change and different public health impacts associated with transportation?
• What transportation policy options would be most appropriate and effective to address both public health and climate change goals?

This briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. For more information, contact Jan Lars Mueller at (202) 662-1883 or [email protected].

14/01/2009 at 01:30PM

• Jonathan Patz, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Environmental Studies & Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• Kristie Ebi, Ph.D, M.P.H.., President, ESS LLC
• John Balbus, M.D, M.P.H.., Chief Scientist and Program Director, Environmental Defense Fund
• Ambassador John W. McDonald, Chairman and CEO, Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy

10/04/2008 at 04:30PM

This Wednesday, April 9, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will take a look at the health of our warming planet, and how climate change affects the health of her citizens. During a week where major public health bodies are calling attention to the links between an unhealthy planet and an unhealthy people, the hearing’s panel of scientists, practicing doctors, and public health professionals will describe the various ways climate change poses a serious public health threat.

Despite the international and national scientific consensus that climate change impacts public health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has refused to state that heat-trapping carbon dioxide is a threat to public health.

The witnesses will also address whether the United States has an unlimited capacity to adapt to this growing public health concern, or whether the only true preventative medicine is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and stop global warming.

According to the World Health Organization, climate change is a significant and emerging threat to public health. The WHO estimates that changes in the Earth’s climate may have caused at least five million cases of illness and more than 150,000 deaths in 2000, and predict these impacts are likely to increase in the future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determined that climate change contributes to the global burden of disease, premature death and other adverse health impacts due to extreme weather events, changes in infectious disease patterns, air quality, quality and quantity of water and food. Adverse health impacts of climate change also include increases in heat stress, asthma, allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

• Howard Frumkin, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Center for Disease Control, Director of National Center for Environmental Health, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• Jonathan Patz, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Director of Global Environmental Health, University of Wisconsin at Madison
• Georges Benjamin, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.E.P. (Emeritus), Executive Director, American Public Health Association
• Mark Jacobson, Ph.D., Director, Atmosphere and Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University
• Dana Best, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.P., American Academy of Pediatrics

09/04/2008 at 10:00AM

13/12/2007 at 02:30PM

In a story reported by Associated Press (see Washington Post, ED, WattHead, CQ), Barbara Boxer revealed that CDC director Julie Gerberding’s written testimony (uncensored version) at Tuesday’s EPW hearing on global warming impacts on health was dramatically cut by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget after questions were raised by John H. Marburger III, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Six of the deleted pages detailed how global warming might affect Americans and they included a section with the title, “Climate Change is a Public Concern.”

On Wednesday, House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Brad Miller sent a letter to Marburger formally requesting all documents related to the matter by next Monday:

We expect our government researchers and scientists to provide to both Congress and the public the full results of their taxpayer-supported work without the filter that those of opposing views might like to impose. Otherwise, we cannot have a full and free scientific debate.

Marburger released a statement today (from Andy Revkin’s NYT Dot Earth blog), claiming:

Those commentators have missed or ignored several nuanced but important differences between the I.P.C.C. report’s findings and the draft testimony.

Barbara Boxer responsed:

Dr. Marburger’s statement is a lame defense of the White House action to censor information the American people deserve to know about the dangers of global warming.

DeSmogBlog shows what was cut from the report, saying:

These were not minor edits the White House PR spin machine would like us to believe. The word-count for the CDC Director’s Senate testimony went from 3,107 to 1,500 after the White House got through with it.

Whole sections on health related effects to extreme weather, air pollution-related health effect, allergic diseases, water and food-borne infectious diseases, food and water scarcity and the long term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects were completely wiped out of the testimony.

Contact Bettina Poirier, Democratic Staff Director at 202-224-8832

Witnesses

• Julie Louise Gerberding – director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Howard Frumkin – director, National Center for Environmental Health, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• Susan R. Cooper – commissioner, Tennessee Department of Health
• Michael McCally – executive director, Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Don Roberts – professor emeritus, The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Archive Webcast

Update: Geberding’s written testimony was censored by the White House; see this post for more.

23/10/2007 at 10:00AM