Hill Heat

Full committee hearing on the FY2025 budget request.

Witness:

• Shalanda D. Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

On Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 1395 (Rep. Fitzpatrick), “Delaware River Basin Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2023”, to amend the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act to reauthorize Delaware River Basin conservation programs;
• H.R. 5487 (Rep. Huffman), “Help Our Kelp Act”, to require the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry out a grant program to conserve, restore, and manage kelp forest ecosystems;
• H.R. 6814 (Rep. Graves of LA), “Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act”, to require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to assess certain offshore oil and gas platforms and pipelines for potential use as artificial reefs; and
• H.R. 7020 (Rep. McClain), “Great Lakes Mapping Act”, to direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct high-resolution mapping of the lakebeds of the Great Lakes

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Clay Porch, Director, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [All bills]
• Jennifer Boehme, Chief Executive Officer, Great Lakes Observing System [H.R. 7020]
• Chris Horton, Senior Director, Fisheries Policy, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Bismarck, AR [H.R. 6814]
• Kelly Knutson, Director, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, Princeton, NJ [H.R. 1395]
• Deb Self, Senior Director of Restoration and Partnerships, Greater Farallones Association, San Francisco, CA [Minority Witness, H.R. 5487]

The Green New Deal Network is excited to see you this Wednesday for the next GND Happy Hour at Alero on U St. at 6pm.

We even have a special guest in town.

All are welcome at these events except the fossil fuel industry and its affiliates.

1301 U St NW, Washington DC

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 2:15 p.m., in Room 1334 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled “Assessing Domestic Offshore Energy Reserves & Ensuring U.S. Energy Dominance.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Dr. Walter Cruickshank, Deputy Director, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
• Joe Dryer, President & CEO, Fairfield Geotechnologies
• Erik Milito, President, National Ocean Industries Association
• Amir Zaman, Partner & Commercial Director, Rystad Energy
• Kendall Dix, National Policy Director, Taproot Earth

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 10:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 5015 (Rep. Leger Fernandez), “Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act of 2023”, for the collection and maintenance of native seeds and production of tree seedlings;
• H.R. 5499 (Rep. Miller-Meeks), “Congressional Oversight of the Antiquities Act”, to amend the Antiquities Act to increase congressional oversight with respect to the designation of national monuments;
• H.R. 6085 (Rep. Hageman), To prohibit the implementation of the Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Rock Springs RMP Revision, Wyoming;
• H.R. 6209 (Rep. Titus), “Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act”, to amend the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Act to adjust the boundary of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area;
• H.R. 6547 (Rep. Boebert), “Colorado Energy Prosperity Act”, to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from implementing the Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Colorado River Valley Field Office and Grand Junction Field Office Resource Management Plans; and
• H.R. 7006 (Rep. Curtis), To prohibit natural asset companies from entering into any agreement with respect to land in the State of Utah or natural assets on or in such land.

Full committee markup.

Legislation:

• H.R. 7630, the Accelerating Networking, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic Research Act (ANCHOR Act, Mike Garcia, R-Calif.), to require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet
• H.R. 7073, the Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act (Randy Weber, R-Texas), to improve public-private partnerships and increase Federal research, development, and demonstration related to the evolution of next generation pipeline systems
• H.R. 7685, the Innovative Mitigation Partnerships for Asphalt and Concrete Technologies Act (IMPACT Act), to support research and development of advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of cement, concrete, and asphalt production
• H.R. 272, the Astronaut Safe Temporary Ride Options Act (ASTRO Act)
• H.R. 6219, the Accessing Satellite Data to Enable New Discoveries Act (ASCEND Act), directing the NASA Administrator to establish a commercial satellite data acquisition program with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
• H.R. 7687, the NASA Streamlining Partnerships for Research and Education for Engineering and Science Act (SPREES Act)
• H.R. 4152, the Space Resources Institute Act
• H.R. 7686, the Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Definition Clarification

Subcommittee hearing on the $51.42 billion Department of Energy FY2025 budget request, which has a 9% increase in defense spending and a 5% increase in non-defense spending from FY2023.

• Budget in brief

Witness:

• Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

The Budget includes $10.6 billion in DOE climate and clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs, including over $1 billion to improve technologies to cut pollution from industrial facilities, nearly $900 million to commercialize technologies like sustainable aviation fuel and zero-emission trucks to cut emissions from the transportation sector, and over $2.4 billion – a majority of which is included in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Program – to improve carbon pollution-free electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and storage technologies for reliability, resilience, and decarbonization. Specifically, within the EERE Program, the budget includes $502 million for Vehicle Technologies Office, $280 million for Bioenergy Technologies Office, $318 million for Solar Energy Technologies Office, $199 million for Wind Energy Technologies Office, $179 million for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, and over $500 million for Advanced Materials/Manufacturing and Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonation Offices. In addition, the Budget invests in advancing climate modeling within the Biological and Environmental Research Program in the Office of Science. By investing $966 million in discretionary DOE industrial decarbonization activities, the Budget reflects the importance of supporting U.S. industrial decarbonization through innovation, targeted investment, and technical assistance. The Budget includes $8.5 billion across DOE to support researchers and entrepreneurs transforming innovations into commercial clean energy products, including in areas such as: offshore wind, industrial heat, sustainable aviation fuel, and grid infrastructure. Across DOE, the Budget provides over $325 million to support the research, development and commercialization of technologies and processes to increase the domestic supply of sustainable critical minerals and materials essential for several clean energy technologies. The Budget supports $76 million to advance technologies that can enable earlier detection of methane leaks and integrate across a network of methane monitoring sensors for more reliable measurement and mitigation and $150 million to make small quantities of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) available for ongoing advanced nuclear reactor demonstrations. The Budget also assumes enactment of the Administration’s request for $2.16 billion in FY 2024 supplemental funding to procure low-enriched uranium (LEU) and HALEU, which coupled with a long- term ban on imports of LEU and HALEU from Russia, would prompt sufficient private sector investment to reinvigorate U.S. uranium enrichment and reduce our current dependence on Russian imports for roughly 20 percent of LEU used in civilian nuclear power reactors. The $8.5 billion also includes $845 million for a Department-wide initiative to accelerate the viability of commercial fusion energy, coordinating academia, national laboratories, and the private sector, which supports the Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy. The Budget funds eight crosscutting DOE Energy Earthshots™ initiatives which could substantially reduce the cost of energy for the American consumer through innovations in clean energy generation, energy efficiency, and storage. In addition, the Budget provides $30 million to accelerate commercial demonstration projects through a new National Laboratory Demonstration Support Program.

The Budget provides a historic investment of $25 billion in the Nation’s nuclear security enterprise to implement the President’s National Defense Strategy and the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), including $19.9 billion for Weapons Activities.

The Budget includes $141.7 million for the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

Subcommittee hearing on the FY2025 Department of Health and Human Services budget request.

Witness:

• Xavier Becerra Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

The HHS budget includes the The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income households access home energy and weatherization assistance, vital tools for protecting vulnerable families’ health in response to extreme weather and climate change. States administer the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, typically making payments to utility companies and other home energy vendors on behalf of eligible households. Preliminary FY 2022 data shows an estimated 5.7 million households received heating assistance and nearly 60,000 households received weatherization assistance funded by federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program dollars. Common weatherization measures include sealing air leaks, adding insulation to walls and attics, and repairing heating and cooling systems. Since the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program expired at the end of FY 2023, the budget proposes to expand the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to advance the goals of both programs. Specifically, the budget proposes giving states the option of using a portion of their Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds to help low-income households pay their water bills. The budget includes $4.1 billion, an increase of $111 million over FY 2023. This is in addition to $100 million available for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of the Justice40 initiative, ACF plans to continue its efforts to prevent energy shutoffs and increase support for households with young children and older people or high energy burdens.

Centers for Disease Control

CDC addresses emerging environmental health risks and responds to environmental health emergencies by developing tools, guidance, and trainings; disseminating best practices; and providing expertise and requested technical assistance on environmental health concerns. CDC provides expertise and guidance relied upon by other federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial partners, including extreme heat, wildfires and hurricanes; cancer cluster investigations; chemical exposures related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; potential chemical, radiological, nuclear or explosive mass casualty events; and ensuring drinking and recreation water are free from contaminants that can cause waterborne illness. The FY 2025 Budget includes an increase of $10 million for Climate and Health to pilot the provision of portable High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration systems in homes and communities most affected by wildfire smoke.

Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (+$10.000 million)

Lead exposure can cause adverse effects in nearly every system in the body and seriously harm a child’s health. Even at low levels, lead exposure has the potential to affect growth and development, hearing and speech, IQ, academic achievement, and behavior. Public health approaches to reducing lead exposure have protected millions of Americans since the 1970s. However, nearly 29 million U.S. homes contain at least one lead hazard, and over 10 million U.S. homes rely on lead-containing service lines to carry water from municipal sources into family dwellings, putting large numbers of children at risk for lead exposure. CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) reduces the number of children exposed to lead and eliminates blood lead level disparities. CDC funds 62 states and localities to conduct blood lead testing and reporting, use data to track trends and identify risks, lead-exposed children to services, and implement tailored, community-based interventions. CDC also conducts lead poisoning prevention research to continuously improve programs and services. CDC operates the Blood Lead Surveillance System and the Flint Lead Exposure Registry, a model for the nation’s first lead-free city and support for the Flint community.

As the only federal program that directly funds health departments to address the health impacts of climate-related extreme events, CDC’s Climate and Health program is building capacity throughout the nation to prepare for and respond to weather-related health risks. In FY 2023, CDC funded 11 health departments and three tribes to prepare for and respond to extreme weather health impacts by following CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework. The BRACE framework helps communities anticipate weather impacts, assess vulnerabilities, project disease burden, assess public health interventions, develop adaptation plans, and evaluate the impact and quality of health interventions.

CDC also develops tools that jurisdictions can use to inform decisions about how to protect people from weather-related health impacts, such as CDC’s Heat & Health Tracker. Through a collaboration with CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, the tracker provides real-time local-level heat and health data that can be used to inform decisions and public health actions related to heat.

CDC maintains expertise to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires and wildfire smoke events. As the wildfire crisis continues to increase in size, duration, and intensity, millions of people are at increasing risk from wildfire and wildfire smoke. Smoke inhalation following a wildfire is linked to increases in respiratory conditions like asthma, heart disease, and cancer. Additionally, higher levels of dissolved organic matter, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals in community water systems following wildfires can overwhelm traditional water treatment capabilities and reduce access to safe drinking water. CDC experts develop guidance and communication materials for public health departments and others and conduct research about the public health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure that are used to develop evidence-based strategies to reduce wildfire smoke exposures. CDC activated an emergency response unit to assist the Hawaii Department of Health following the August wildfires on the island of Maui and provided technical assistance on a range of environmental health issues related to the wildfires.

National Institutes of Health

As climate change continues to be an ongoing crisis, the risks to human health will grow, exacerbating existing health threats and creating new public health challenges. Global climate change is already directly and indirectly affecting human health in the United States and around the world. Impacts occur through changes to climate systems such as temperature, air and water quality, and extreme weather events, as well as through changes to the geography and timing of exposures. Climate change contributes to or exacerbates a wide range of health impacts, including non-communicable diseases, injury and trauma, and infectious diseases. Although climate change affects everyone, certain populations are especially vulnerable to various impacts due to social determinants of health, including life stage, sex, underlying health status, access to health care, education, and economic, racial, and ethnically driven disparities. In this way, the climate change and health agenda are inextricably linked to health equity. Climate change impacts are the concern of NIH as a whole and are often at the intersection of multiple NIH ICOs. For this reason, NIH has developed an “all of NIH” approach to building a solutionsdriven climate change and health strategic framework that will build on past research investments. The NIH strategic framework will seek to understand the health impacts and factors that contribute to individual and community susceptibility, strengthen capacity for needed research and the development of a transdisciplinary workforce, and promote community-engaged research, translation, and dissemination to maximize efforts and outcomes among the United States and global communities most urgently affected. The FY 2025 budget request of $40.0 million sustains the FY 2023 Final increase to boost research on the human health impacts of climate change.

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

The FY 2025 President’s Budget Request directly supports ASPR’s mission to help the country prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies and disasters. We are living in an increasingly interconnected world where diseases and other threats can travel quickly, unnoticed for days. In addition, infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent and natural disasters more deadly as a result of the increasing changes to our climate. ASPR Policy and Planning manages a variety of White House policy engagements to ensure appropriate representation and coordination of ASPR’s equities in preparedness and response policy actions, and tracks ASPR-wide implementation of Executive Orders. Additionally, Policy and Planning established and uses a hub to coordinate climate change and health equity policy and activities across ASPR.

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Theresa McKenney, Director Of Sustainability And Government Affairs, NEMO Equipment
• Hilary Hutcheson, Outfitter
• Gus Schumacher, American Cross-Country Skier, Olympian
• Dr. Joao Gomes, Howard Butcher III Professor Of Finance; Professor Of Economics, And Senior Vice Dean Of Research, Centers, And Academic Initiatives, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• [Minority Witness] Scott Walter, President, Capital Research Center

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Kate R. Bowers, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division, Congressional Research Service
• Scott Faber, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group
• James Kenney, Secretary, New Mexico Department of Environment
• Michael D. Witt, General Counsel, Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (testifying on behalf of the Water Coalition Against PFAS)
• Robert Fox, Partner, Manko Gold Katcher Fox, Limited Liability Partnership (testifying on behalf of the National Waste and Recycling Association & Solid Waste Association of North America)