Hill Heat

The following nominations will be considered:

• Bartholomew H. chilton, to be Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Walter Lukken, to be Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Scott O’Malia, to be Commissioner of the Commodity Ftures Trading Commission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008 H.R. 6063.

The Senate will convene at 9:30 am.

Speakers:

MORNING BUSINESS

• Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)
• Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
• John Cornyn (R-Texas)
• Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
• Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
• Tom Carper (D-Del.)
• George Voinovich (R-Ohio)
• Kit Bond (R-Mo.)
• David Vitter (R-La.)
• Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex.)

11:30 AM: Other business.

Morning business resumes at 12:15 PM.

• Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
• Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)

The Senate will convene at 10am.

Morning business until 11am. The first 30 minutes will be under Republican control; the next 30 minutes will be under Democratic control.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume post-cloture consideration of the motion to proceed to the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 (S. 3036).

The Senate will recess for the Weekly Caucus Lunches from 12:30pm till about 2:15pm.

By unanimous consent, all time during any adjournment, recess, or period of morning business will count toward the 30-hour post-cloture time limitation.

The hearing will examine energy market manipulation and federal enforcement regimes. The hearing will also consider the current state of the oil and gas markets and their impact on consumers, as well as solicit testimony and discussion as to the key factors the Federal Trade Commission should incorporate into its upcoming rulemaking on its new responsibility to prevent manipulation in the wholesale oil and petroleum distillate markets.

Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to consideration of S. 3036, Climate Security Act, and vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Witness

• Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

E&E News:

Tensions are expected to be high Thursday, with Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary general of OPEC, invited to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

The secretary general’s appearance will likely come after the House approves “NOPEC” legislation, a largely symbolic effort to sue OPEC nations for price fixing.

Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and other members will likely question El-Badri over OPEC’s considerable role in the global oil market as well as President Bush’s recent meeting with Saudi leaders to urge them to release additional oil onto the global market.

Several energy analysts, however, say U.S. lawmakers hold little sway with OPEC officials and that calls for OPEC members to increase production is hypocritical given the opposition to increases in domestic drilling.

“We’re not willing to produce more so we are a bad example in terms of resource nationalism,” Lucian Pugliaresi, president of Energy Policy Research Information, told a House panel this month.

Beutel made a similar observation Friday. “We don’t really have the moral high ground when it comes to calling for increased production,” he said.

Witnesses

• David Sandalow, Esq., Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Anne Korin, Co-director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
• Mr. Paul J. Saunders, Executive Director, The Nixon Center

As oil and gas hit new records above $128 a barrel and $3.78 this week, many analysts are predicting even further increases in the price of gasoline as we edge towards the travel months of summer. To explore the Bush administration’s contributions to this energy crisis and the administration’s refusal to respond, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming announced today that Secretary of Energy Stephen Bodman will testify before the Committee on Thursday, May 22, as Americans prepare for the Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the summer driving season.

Chairman Markey will also seek answers from Secretary Bodman on why the Bush administration continues to defend $18 billion in tax breaks to the top five most profitable oil companies that House Democrats want to redirect to fund renewable energy that could help consumers.

Witness

• Samuel Bodman, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Witnesses

• Dick Wittman, member of the Agricultural Carbon Market Working Group and former president of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association
• Laurie Wayburn, president and co-founder, Pacific Forest Trust
• Ruben Lubowski, economist and the Forest Carbon Economics Fellow, Environmental Defense
• Steve Corneli, vice president market and climate policy, NRG Energy Inc.
• Derik Broekhoff, senior associate, World Resources Institute.

E&E News:

A Senate Agriculture subcommittee enters the brewing debate over allowing industry to use offsets as a low-cost compliance option for new U.S. greenhouse gas regulations with a hearing Wednesday.

With offsets, companies could meet their environmental requirements by funding activities that don’t reduce emissions at their smokestack or tailpipe. Instead, they could rely on soil sequestration, methane capture at a farm or forestry projects.

Senate Forestry and Conservation Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) supports the widespread use of offsets as Congress develops cap-and-trade legislation that would put a first-ever limit on U.S. heat-trapping emissions.

In an interview last week, Stabenow called on the sponsors of a pending cap-and-trade bill due on the Senate floor early next month to expand a provision that currently limits use of offsets from both domestic and international projects at 15 percent.

“This whole area of offsets is one they’re moving on,” Stabenow predicted. “I don’t think we should cap it.”

A new version of the bill from Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is expected to be public early this week. But it is unclear whether they will change the offset provisions.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona sees offsets playing a big role in his global warming platform. Last week, McCain said he would let companies meet their initial compliance requirements with an unlimited amount of offsets.

McCain’s campaign cited U.S. EPA and Energy Information Administration studies that show unlimited offsets could lower the climate program’s costs by as much as 71 percent. “Offsets are a very important bridge, especially in the early years, to the time when we have low-carbon technologies available on a commercial wide-scale,” the campaign said.

Addressing a common concern about offsets, the McCain campaign also insisted, “The offset credits will indeed be real, measurable and verifiable – or they won’t be certified and allowed into the market.”

But not everyone sees unlimited offsets in the same light.

“Don’t design a system, a boat, that’s going to leak,” said Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “If you have 100 percent offsets, as Senator McCain is suggesting, all you have is sending all your money around the world and no investment in the United States. That’s a nonstarter.”