Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Full committee hearing on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget.
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$4.1 billion budget request for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, chaired by climate denier David Rouzer (R-N.C.).
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Hearing of the Subcommittee on Forestry re: “To Review the National Forest System: Supporting Forest Health and Confronting the Wildfire Crisis”
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Energy, Climate, & Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) announced a subcommittee markup of 3 bills.
“America produces some of the cleanest, most affordable, and most efficient energy in the world. We’ve led the world in emissions reductions while upholding some of the highest labor and environmental standards. This Committee is at the forefront of improving people’s lives by unleashing American energy and improving our energy security. We look forward to considering several bills that build on these efforts by preserving people’s access to natural gas stoves, strengthening American leadership in clean nuclear energy, and protecting our electric grid from cyber threats.”
Rep. McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) introduced H.R. 1042 on February 14, 2023. This legislation would amend the relevant sections of the USEC Privatization Act to prohibit the importation of unirradiated, low-enriched uranium that is produced in the Russian Federation. It would provide waiver authority until January 2028 to the Secretary of Energy to authorize the importation of such uranium, subject to certain limits, if no alternative, viable source of lowenriched uranium is available to sustain U.S. nuclear reactor or U.S. nuclear company operations or is determined to be in the national interest. This prohibition would not apply to imports of non-uranium isotopes or certain imports for national security or nonproliferation purposes. The legislation also would authorize the Department of Energy (DOE) to use funds available in the Department’s nuclear credit program, up to no more than $1.5 billion, for its American Assured Fuel Supply, to address potential low-enriched uranium supply disruptions.
Rep. Lesko (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 1640 on March 17, 2023. This legislation would amend Section 325(h) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act so that an energy conservation standard under this section for kitchen ranges or ovens cannot be “economically justified” if it likely will result in the unavailability in the United States of a type (or class) of product based on what type of fuel the product consumes. H.R. 1640 also would prohibit the Secretary of Energy from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the proposed energy conservation standard for consumer conventional cooking products, or any substantially similar rule.
Reps. Walberg (R-MI) and Blunt-Rochester (D-DE) introduced H.R. 3277 on May 11, 2023. H.R. 3277, the “Energy Emergency Leadership Act”, would amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to include energy emergency and energy security among the functions that the Secretary of Energy shall assign to an Assistant Secretary. The legislation would provide that the functions to be assigned to an Assistant Secretary include responsibilities with respect to infrastructure, cybersecurity, emerging threats, supply and emergency planning, coordination, response, and restoration. It would also provide that these functions include the provision of technical assistance, support, and response capabilities with respect to energy sector threats, risks, and incidents to State, local, and Tribal governments, and the energy sector. Finally, H.R. 3277 would require the Secretary of Energy to ensure that the departmental functions added by this legislation are performed in coordination with relevant Federal agencies.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Examining NASA’s FY24 Budget and Priorities” at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
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Following the successful 2022 Artemis I and Double Asteroid Redirect Test missions, and looking ahead to the 2023 flying of X-59 Quiet Supersonic Transport, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) remains the world’s preeminent aeronautical and space research agency. This oversight hearing will examine the activities and funding levels required to maintain U.S. leadership in these science and technology areas. Topics such as achieving Artemis mission goals with commercial and international partners, future of the International Space Station, Earth observation data sharing, workforce development and meeting the requirements of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 will be considered. The hearing will also inform committee efforts to develop a multi-year NASA authorization that will help ensure NASA’s continued success.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration FY2024 budget request is $27.2 billion, including $2.5 billion for earth science.
Energy, Climate, & Grid Security Subcommittee hearing on the DOE’s fiscal year 2024 budget.
Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
2024 Department of Energy Budget Justification: $52 billion ($32.5 military)
Chairs Rodgers and Duncan released the following statement:
“The Department of Energy (DOE) has long served America’s critical national and energy security interests. It maintains the nation’s nuclear stockpile, advances world class national security and engineering goals through the national laboratories, and nurtures the supply of American energy. The Democrats’ reckless spending spree has allocated billions of taxpayer dollars for DOE to implement President Biden’s rush-to-green agenda, which is forcing higher energy costs on Americans, making the U.S. more reliant on China, and distracting from the agency’s congressionally-mandated mission of advancing our nation’s energy security and leadership. Secretary Granholm, who has been at the helm of implementing this radical agenda, needs to answer to Americans whose lives have been made worse while she’s praising China—a country with some of the worst environmental and labor standards in the world. We’ll demand answers from her on how we can reverse this damage and flip the switch on domestic production of cleaner oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydropower, and other sources, which is the best way to bring down costs and reduce emissions.”
The purpose of the hearing is to review the effectiveness and priorities of the United States Fire Administration and the Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. The hearing will help inform legislation to address current program authorizations that expire on September 30, 2023.
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Overarching Questions
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) is an entity within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its mission is to provide leadership, coordination, and support for the nation’s fire prevention and control, fire training and education, and emergency medical services activities, and to prepare first responders to react to all hazard and terrorism emergencies. USFA is located on the grounds of the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD.
The genesis of USFA and FEMA’s fire prevention and control activities (and the House Science Committee’s jurisdiction) was a 1973 report of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, entitled America Burning. The commission recommended the creation of a federal fire agency to provide support to state and local governments and private fire organizations in their efforts to reduce fire deaths, injuries, and property loss. In legislation developed by the Science Committee, Congress placed the agency in the Department of Commerce and with the passage of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-498), the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (NFPCA) was established. In 1978, Congress changed the name of NFPCA to USFA (P.L. 95-422), and in 1979, President Carter’s Reorganization Plan placed the USFA within the newly created FEMA.
The purpose of this hearing is to examine opportunities for Congress to reform the permitting process for energy and mineral projects.
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On Thursday, Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX) and Members of the House Budget Committee will hold a hearing to “expose the woke, wasteful, and bloated bureaucracy.”
Witnesses:
Paige Agostin is Policy Director at the Center for Renewing America. She most recently served as Legislative Director for Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and has spent more than a decade working on conservative policy development in Washington, and on Capitol Hill.
She previously served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy in the Trump Administration and a Special Assistant at the Department of Education, in the Office of Postsecondary Education.
Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture hearing on: “Stakeholder Perspectives on Agricultural Trade”