FY23 Budget: National Nuclear Security Administration and Environmental Management

Posted by Brad Johnson Wed, 11 May 2022 18:15:00 GMT

Hearing page

Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)

Witnesses
  • Dr. Marvin Adams, Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
  • Admiral James “Frank” Caldwell, Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
  • Corey Hinderstein, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
  • Jill Hruby, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
  • William “Ike” White, Senior Advisor, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy

The FY2023 DOE budget request includes $21.4 billion for the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration to pursue five major national security endeavors: maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear weapons stockpile; reduce global nuclear threats and keep materials out of the hands of terrorists; strengthen key science, technology and engineering capabilities in support of certification, assessment, and current and weapon modernization programs; provide safe and effective integrated nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy; and modernize the Nuclear Security infrastructure. The request also includes $7.6 billion for the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management to continue cleanup of sites resulting from six decades of nuclear weapons development and production and Government-sponsored nuclear energy research. This sustains our investment in the EM mission to clean up World War II and Cold War nuclear sites.

FY 2023 Budget Request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Posted by Brad Johnson Wed, 11 May 2022 14:00:00 GMT

Hearing page

Chair David Price (D-N.C.)

Witness
  • Marcia L. Fudge, Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development

The 2023 President’s Budget requests $71.9 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), approximately $11.6 billion more than the 2022 annualized continuing resolution (CR) level, to support underserved communities and equitable community development, increase access to and production of affordable housing, promote homeownership and wealth-building, advance sustainable communities, climate resilience, and environmental justice, and strengthen HUD’s internal capacity.

The budget includes:
  • $1.1 billion in targeted climate resilience and energy efficiency improvements in public housing, tribal housing, and other assisted housing;
  • $400 million to remove dangerous health hazards from homes, including mitigating threats from fire, lead, carbon monoxide, and radon
  • The President’s 2023 Budget supports authorizing the Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. For more than twenty years, the Congress has appropriated emergency supplemental funds to HUD in response to major disasters to address the unmet long term disaster recovery needs of States, territories, local governments, and Tribes. Authorization would improve the transparency and predictability of CDBG-DR funds for impacted communities.

FY 2023 Budget Request for the Department of Transportation

Posted by Brad Johnson Tue, 10 May 2022 17:00:00 GMT

Hearing page. Chair David Price (D-N.C.)

Witness:

In Fiscal Year 2023, we are now poised to build on early progress with a President’s budget for the Department of Transportation that totals $142 billion, including $36.8 billion in advance appropriations provided by BIL in that year.

  • Safety remains our top priority, and the budget includes funding to help address the crisis of deaths on America’s roadways, as outlined in our National Roadway Safety Strategy. That includes $3 billion for the Highway Safety Improvement Program.
  • With $4 billion for RAISE and the new Mega program, we will rebuild century old infrastructure and lay the groundwork for America to compete and win in decades ahead.
  • With $23.6 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration, we will further enhance aviation safety, combat the effects of aviation on the climate, and improve airport infrastructure.
  • With $4.45 billion in Capital Investment Grants, we will advance 15 major transit projects that shorten commutes, increase access to jobs, and reduce congestion on the road for millions of Americans.
  • We will invest $17.9 billion to reverse decades of underinvestment in intercity passenger rail and make fast, reliable train service available to more people.
  • We will provide $1 billion to build out a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers, so that Americans in every part of the country have access to the lower monthly costs of electric vehicles. We will also begin implementing our ambitious new fuel efficiency standards, which are projected to save the typical household hundreds of dollars in gas costs and prevent 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from reaching our atmosphere.
  • And to keep making progress on supply chains to help move goods faster and fight inflation, we will invest a total of $680 million to modernize ports, $3 billion to improve the roadways that carry the majority of America’s freight, and a total of $1.5 billion for CRISI grants to improve freight rail.

Climate Action Down on the Farm: Food and Climate Nexus Opportunities in China and the US

Posted by Brad Johnson Tue, 10 May 2022 13:00:00 GMT

Food systems account for 31 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions arise along the whole food supply chain, from production, processing, and packaging to transport, consumption and disposal. Power and transport systems receive the lion share of attention in the global dialogue and response to climate change, while the nexus between food and climate has been largely absent from the climate conversations. To date, very few countries take a comprehensive view of the food system in their climate action plans.

The United States and China, the two largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, both face similar climate change threats to agriculture—from extreme weather patterns, stronger floods, extended droughts to greater pests and diseases. Climate impacts threaten economic and food security. As food market superpowers, the United States and China are well positioned to lead efforts in green agriculture to address climate change. Notably, green and climate resilient agriculture were priorities highlighted in the U.S.-China Climate Crisis Statement and the U.S.-China Glasgow Declaration in 2021.

At this May 10th CEF meeting, panelists will give an overview of the global food-climate challenge and delve into opportunities for China and the United States to target the food system to help reach their carbon neutral and short-lived climate pollutant reduction goals.

David Sandalow, (Center for Global Energy at Columbia University and co-founder of the Food Climate Partnership) will set the stage, discussing the food system and climate change. Next, Sally Qiu and Hörn Halldórudóttir Heiðarsdóttir will share insights on China’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

The next two speakers will turn the conversation to the farms with Zhenzhong Si (Waterloo University) offering some insights into the government’s policies and bottom-up agroecological initiatives in China that respond to the social and environmental challenges facing the food system while creating new problems for sustainability. And Karen Mancl (Ohio State University) will examine success in sustainable agriculture in the United States and China and explore policies needed to incentivize farmers.

Patty Fong (Global Alliance for the Future of Food), whose CEF Green Tea Chat laid out the urgency for global food system transformation to address climate change, will be the commentator at this session.

RSVP

State Department Authorization: Strengthening U.S. Diplomacy for the 21st Century

Posted by Brad Johnson Tue, 03 May 2022 14:00:00 GMT

Hearing page

Witness
  • Brian McKeon, Deputy Undersecretary for Management and Resources

The FY 2023 budget request has $2.3 billion to support U.S. leadership in addressing the existential climate crisis through diplomacy; scaled-up international climate programs that accelerate the global energy transition to net zero by 2050; support to developing countries to enhance climate resilience; and the prioritization of climate adaptation and sustainability principles in Department and USAID domestic and overseas facilities. This total includes over $1.6 billion for direct programming for climate mitigation and adaptation and over $650 million for the mainstreaming of climate considerations across development programs. Our goal is to deliver climate co-benefits and outcomes in sectors such as agriculture and food security, water and sanitation, and global health.

FY2023 Budget Request for the Environmental Protection Agency

Posted by Brad Johnson Fri, 29 Apr 2022 13:00:00 GMT

Hearing page

Witnesses
  • Faisal Amin, Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency
  • Michael Regan, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Nominations of Dr. Kathryn Huff to be Asst. Secretary of Energy (Nuclear), Dr. David Applegate to be USGS Director, Carmen Cantor to be Asst. Secretary of the Interior (Insular and International Affairs), Dr. Evelyn Wang to be ARPA-E Director

Posted by Brad Johnson Thu, 28 Apr 2022 14:00:00 GMT

The first business meeting will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., immediately preceding the previously scheduled hearing in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the business meeting is to consider the nomination of Dr. Kathryn Huff to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Nuclear Energy).

Following that, the next hearing will be held.

The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nominations of:
  • Dr. David Applegate to be Director of the United States Geological Survey;
  • Ambassador Carmen G. Cantor to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior (Insular and International Affairs); and
  • Dr. Evelyn Wang to be Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Department of Energy.

Briefing on the SEC Climate Disclosure Rule, with Keynote by SEC Chair Gary Gensler

Posted by Brad Johnson Tue, 12 Apr 2022 18:00:00 GMT

Ceres will host a briefing with Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler about the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just released a proposed rule requiring climate disclosure from all U.S. public companies, called the Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors. Public comments will be accepted until at minimum, May 20.

The mission of the SEC is to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. With this proposed rule, the SEC is responding to the need by investors for clear, consistent and comparable reporting from companies to produce useful investment insights and ensure financial markets can properly price and act on the physical and transitional risks and opportunities of climate change.

Participants will:
  • Hear keynote remarks from SEC Chair Gary Gensler
  • Gain insight from Ceres’ high-level summary of the rule
  • Listen to reactions of the rule from a panel of distinguished investors

Keeping 1.5 C Alive: Responding to the IPCC Report on Mitigating Climate Change

Posted by Brad Johnson Tue, 12 Apr 2022 14:30:00 GMT

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III report underscores the urgency for rapid, deep and sustained cuts to greenhouse gases for the world to have a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). This seminal report offers new insights on possible pathways for policymakers, business leaders and others to ramp up their efforts to tackle the climate crisis at the scale and urgency required.

Join World Resources Institute experts and IPCC authors on April 12 for an overview of the IPCC report and learn about the transformative actions across sectors (including energy, transportation, food, forests and much more) needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This event will be hosted in English with simultaneous interpretation in French and Spanish.

Speakers
  • Chukwumerije Okereke, Director, Centre for Climate Change and Development, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Nigeria; IPCC Coordinating Lead Author
  • Taryn Fransen, Senior Fellow, Climate, World Resources Institute
  • Craig Hanson, Vice President for Food, Forest, Water & the Ocean, World Resources Institute
  • Jennifer Layke, Global Director, Energy, World Resources Institute
  • Preety Bhandari, Senior Advisor, Global Climate Program and the Finance Center, World Resources Institute (Moderator); IPCC Lead Author

Register here

Atmospheric methane continues to rocket up at record rates

Posted by Brad Johnson Fri, 08 Apr 2022 17:34:00 GMT

Atmospheric methane continues to rocket up at record rates, NOAA reported yesterday. As fracking booms, methane levels increased by 17 parts per billion in 2021, breaking the 2020 record of 15.3 ppb. Concentrations of this powerful greenhouse pollutant are now 162 percent of their pre-industrial levels, as the Biden administration pushes for more natural gas production and export.

I will take this moment to remind readers that the EPA is undercounting methane pollution by 77 percent.

The essential Kate Aronoff castigates the incoherence of Democrats in Congress who claim to care about the climate crisis begging oil CEOs to increase fossil-fuel production, instead of acting to take their billions in windfall profits and stop their greenhouse pollution:

Appealing to these CEOs’ better angels is pointless. Although they hand fossil fuel companies billions in subsidies each year, American policymakers mostly confine themselves to begging or berating them into doing what they want.

As Adam Tooze writes in his review of three recent books by Andreas Malm:

To harp on the climate crisis while doing nothing about it is, in the long run, intolerable. Liberals’ failures make Trump look honest. He may deny the science, but at least he’s true to himself.

Older posts: 1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 ... 90