Examining Puerto Rico’s Electrical Grid and the Need for Reliable and Resilient Energy
On Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs will hold an oversight hearing titled “Examining Puerto Rico’s Electrical Grid and the Need for Reliable and Resilient Energy.”
What Comes After the Wilderness Act?
The Wilderness Act protects 112 million acres of land across the United States from the ravages of industrial development. But for the Indigenous Nations, bands, and tribes that harvested from, cared for, or otherwise managed these so-called “wilderness areas” before they were given this designation by the federal government, the Wilderness Act can feel like yet another instrument of settler-colonial dispossession—a means of enforcing settler law on stolen land. Not only is the legislation’s vision for a landscape “untrammeled by man” built on the racist and genocidal fantasy of terra nullius, but, codified in law, it outlaws the very practices of cultivation and care that nurtured the “wilderness” for untold generations before settler-colonialism took hold.
What’s wrong with the Wilderness Act, and what would it mean to rewrite it today? How might a revised Wilderness Act serve the movement for land rematriation? And how might it guard itself against the libertarian right, which is prepared to exploit any loophole in the law?
Bringing together historians, legal experts, and impacted community members, this Zoom roundtable conversation asks how we should understand the Wilderness Act on its 60th anniversary—a moment both of Indigenous resurgence and a rising far right.
Speakers- Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/Métis) is an award winning writer, ethnobotanist, environmental activist and Professor of History at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She/they work within Indigenous communities to revitalize Indigenous & traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), to address environmental justice & the climate crisis, and to strengthen public policy for Indigenous languages. The author of Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet (2017), she/they are a 2023-2025 Red Natural History Fellow. Rosalyn is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis.
- Heather Whiteman Runs Him (Apsaalooke/Crow) is the Director of the Tribal Justice Clinic and Associate Clinical Professor at University of Arizona Rogers College of Law. Heather served as Council of Record in Arizona v. Navajo Nation and Herrera v. Wyoming for amici Tribal Nations in support of Tribal interests before the United States Supreme Court. She has worked on cases in many venues to protect Tribal relationships to lands and waters. She teaches courses on Tribal Water Law and Tribal Courts and Tribal Law.
- Christen Falcon (Amskapi Piikani/Blackfeet) is a co-owner of a Blackfeet ecotourism transportation business ‘Backpacker’s Ferry’ located on the east side of Glacier National Park. She is a community engagement research specialist working in community wellness development utilizing Blackfeet methodologies and TEK traditional ecological knowledge through the Blackfeet non-profit Piikani Lodge Health Institute.
- Karl Jacoby is Allan Nevins Professor of American History at Columbia University. He has devoted his career to understanding how the making of the United States intertwined with the unmaking of a variety of other societies—from Native American nations to the communities of northern Mexico—and the ecologies upon which they rested. His books include Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves and the Hidden History of American Conservation (2003), Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History (2008), and The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire (2016).
Fusion Energy Technology Development
The purpose of this hearing is to examine fusion energy technology development and commercialization efforts.
Witnesses:- Dr. Jean Paul Allain, Associate Director of the Office of Fusion Energy Services, United States Department of Energy
- Jackie Siebens, Director of Public Affairs and Helion Energy Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center
- Dr. Patrick White, Research Director, Nuclear Innovation Alliance
EPA Spending and Regulatory Policies under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Subcommittee hearing titled “Holding the Biden-Harris EPA Accountable for Radical Rush-to-Green Spending.”
Witness:- Sean W. O’Donnell, Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Biden Energy Policy
Full committee hearing entitled “The Cost of the Biden-Harris Energy Crisis.”
Witnesses:- Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment, The Heritage Foundation
- Alex Epstein, President and Founder, Center for Industrial Progress
- Donna Jackson, Director of Membership Development, Project 21
Furchtgott-Roth is the author of the Department of Transportation chapter for Project 2025.
Epstein recently participated in the Alliance For Responsible Citizenship conference convened by Jordan Peterson with support from the Heritage Foundation.
Project 21 is a project of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Project 2025 partner. Donna Jackson served on the advisory board for Project 2025.
Evaluating the Potential of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Approaches
The purpose of this hearing is to explore the benefits and risks of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches as they relate to carbon capture and sequestration. In addition, this hearing will inform members on research and development of this technology and address scientific gaps and deficiencies facing researchers and scientists today.
Witnesses:- Noah Deich, Senior Advisor, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy
- Dr. Sarah Kapnick, Chief Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Ben Tarbell, CEO and Co-Founder, Ebb Carbon
- Dr. Scott Doney, Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change, The University of Virginia
The ocean is the Earth’s largest carbon sink, holding 42 times the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is in the atmosphere and absorbing 25% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions each year. Global atmospheric carbon reduction efforts have led scientists to try to enhance the ocean’s natural sequestration abilities by developing mCDR techniques. Leveraging the ocean can help diversify the range of carbon dioxide removal approaches, reducing the pressure on land-based approaches.1 Marine CDR can also have non-carbon environmental benefits, such as reducing ocean acidification, replenishing ecosystems, and providing jobs. However, most mCDR techniques have not been tested at scale, and a few are at the earliest stages of research. Dedicated resources, including streamlined permitting, to enable research will help clarify the uncertainties associated with mCDR.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is home to the Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), established to better understand impacts of ocean acidification and adaptation. In May 2023, the program, in collaboration with the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, published their paper Strategy for NOAA Carbon Dioxide Removal Research: A White Paper documenting a potential NOAA CDR Science Strategy as an element of NOAA’s Climate Interventions Portfolio. In September 2023, OAP announced $23.4 million in funding for public and private research in mCDR, with a focus on understanding uncertainties and filling knowledge gaps for different mCDR approaches. These awards support 17 projects with partners from 47 institutions to further enhance efficiency of marine research and provide NOAA with funding and information sharing opportunities to advance mCDR development.
The Department of Energy (DOE) supports mCDR as a key technology development area. It is a central component of DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot — calling for innovation in CDR pathways that can capture CO2 and store it at gigaton scales for less than $100/net metric ton of CO2-equivalent. In October 2023, DOE announced $36 million for 11 projects across 8 states, funneled through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon through Ocean Observation (SEA-CO2) program, to accelerate the development of mCDR technologies. The focus of the projects receiving these funds is to advance sensing and modeling techniques that more accurately measure the impacts of mCDR technologies. Supported projects include development of fiber optic sensor cables, micro-electronic seafloor probes, and ocean carbon flux monitoring. If successful, SEA-CO2 measurement, reporting, and verification technology innovations will ensure that the quantity and quality of emission removals are correctly valued.
Roundtable: Holding Big Oil Accountable for Extortion, Collusion, and Pollution
On Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Democrats will host a roundtable discussion with expert panelists titled, “Holding Big Oil Accountable for Extortion, Collusion, and Pollution.”
A recent Federal Trade Commission complaint and multiple class action lawsuits allege that Big Oil has colluded with OPEC to pad their profits by raising energy prices for Americans. This price-gouging adds to the hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies Big Oil already receives annually through direct tax breaks and by passing along health and environmental cleanup costs to taxpayers and communities.
Meanwhile, House Republicans continue to put polluters over people, pushing additional handouts and giveaways for the fossil fuel industry, many of which mirror proposals in Trump’s Project 2025. Former President Trump also recently requested $1 billion in campaign contributions from Big Oil executives, promising to roll back environmental regulations, fast-track fossil fuel project permitting, and enhance tax breaks even further.
Roundtable panelists will discuss these issues, the impacts on American communities, and how Congress can support the American people by holding Big Oil accountable for its extortion, collusion, and pollution.
Members:- Vice Ranking Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.)
- Kristina Karlsson, Deputy Director of Climate Policy, Roosevelt Institute
- Alex Witt, Senior Advisor on Oil & Gas, Climate Power
- Bekah Hinojosa, Co-Founder, South Texas Environmental Justice Network
- Chris Marshall, Director, Energy & Environment Program, Accountable.US
Federal Lands Legislation
On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 10:15 a.m. in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:
- H.R. 1479 (Rep. Ciscomani), “Chiricahua National Park Act”, to redesignate the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona as the Chiricahua National Park;
- H.R. 1504 (Rep. Horsford), “Apex Area Technical Corrections Act”;
- H.R. 8931 (Rep. Stefanik), To redesignate Saratoga National Historical Park as Saratoga National Battlefield Park;
- H.R. 8946 (Rep. Matsui), “Reversionary Interest Conveyance Act”;
- H.R. 9159 (Rep. Lawler), “Appalachian Trail Centennial Act”;
- H.R. 9492 (Rep. Valadao), To amend Public Law 99-338 with respect to Kaweah Project permits;
- H.R. 9516 (Rep. Chavez-DeRemer), “Military Families National Parks Access Enhancement Act”, to provide for lifetime National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes for family members of members of the Armed Forces who lost their lives while serving their country; and
- S. 612 (Sen. Cortez Masto), “Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act”.
Green New Deal Happy Hour
Join Train Lovers for Harris/Walz and the Green New Deal DC Happy Hour at the trainiest bar in town, Metrobar.
This free event is it for transit enthusiasts, Green New Dealers, supporters of Harris/Walz, or anyone who loves a good time on the rails, or beer!
We’ll have a few special guests too.
Location: Metrobar, 640 Rhode Island Ave NE