Hill Heat

The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter.

We invite you to help us take a closer look at the impact and effectiveness of major public and private investments shaping the U.S. energy sector and our global competitiveness. We will delve into policy conversation around the most promising emerging technologies poised to transform our energy mix and carbon footprint.

The Schuyler

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Presenting Sponsor: Southern Company

Supporting Sponsor: Solar Energy Industries Association

Contributing Sponsors: Entergy and NextEra Energy

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Rade Musulin, Principal, Finity Consulting
• Dr. Ishita Sen, Assistant Professor Of Finance, Harvard Business School
• Deborah Wood, Florida Resident
• Glen Mulready, Commissioner, Oklahoma Insurance Department, Republican witness
• EJ Antoni, Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation’s Grover Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, Republican witness

Rade Musulin has had a diverse career which has included a lot of “non-traditional” work, including catastrophe modelling, agriculture, reinsurance, public policy, and climate risk. Originally from the US, Rade has worked in countries across the world, and is now a Principal at Finity Consulting in Sydney, Australia, focusing on extreme events and climate risk. Previously he served as the Chief Executive Officer of FBAlliance Insurance, Chief Operating Officer of Aon Benfield Analytics Asia Pacific, and Vice President Operations, Public Affairs, and Reinsurance for the Florida Farm Bureau Insurance Companies. Rade has served as Chair of the Actuaries Institute Climate and Sustainability Working Group, Chair of the International Actuarial Association’s Resource and Environment Virtual Forum, and was Vice President – Casualty for the American Academy of Actuaries from 2016 – 2018.

Ishita Sen is an assistant professor of business administration in the Finance Unit. She teaches the Finance I course in the MBA required curriculum. Professor Sen’s research focuses on financial intermediation, asset pricing, and insurance markets. In her current research, she studies how inconsistencies in regulation restrict risk management, how capital regulation affects the insurance product market, and more recently, the agency problems associated with the use of internal models for asset valuation. Professor Sen holds a PhD in Finance from the London Business School. She is a co-author of Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies and When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets.

Full committee hearing. FHWA’s FY 2025 Budget requests $62.8 billion, of which $800 million is to support the RAISE and Mega Programs under the Office of the Secretary of Transportation. When added to the $9.5 billion in advance appropriations contained in the IIJA, this will result in a total of $72.3 billion.

Witness:

• Shailen Bhatt, Adminstrator, Federal Highway Administration

Full committee hearing.

Witness:

• Michael Regan, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

“Climate change is not a tragedy, it’s a crime.” Could this increasingly common refrain among climate activists be more than just a slogan?

Years of reporting show that fossil fuel companies knew of their contributions to climate change and funded multimillion-dollar disinformation campaigns to block responses that would curb their dangerous conduct—conduct that is today causing massive harms and deaths across the country.

Could these acts constitute homicide or other criminal violations? Should Big Oil be prosecuted? Join legal experts, scientists, and former prosecutors for a panel discussion on this new theory of climate accountability, hosted by Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Fair and Just Prosecution, and moderated by Bill McKibben. UCS accountability campaign director Kathy Mulvey is among the participants.

RSVP

Full committee hearing.

Witnesses:

• Tessa Parks, Farmer, W.T. Farms, National Farmers Union
• Raechel Sattazahn, Director of Industry and Membership Relations, Horizon Farm Credit, Mechanicsburg, PA
• Kevin Lussier, Chair, Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee, American Farm Bureau Federation
• Christian Good, Owner/Operator, Christian Good Farms, Macon, MS

On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight hearing titled “Biden’s Border Crisis: Examining Efforts to Combat International Criminal Cartels & Stop Illegal Drug Trafficking Targeting Indian Country.”

Hearing memo

Panel I:

• Darryl Lacounte, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs

Panel II:

• Lt. John Nores Jr. (ret.), Special Operations, Marijuana Enforcement Team, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Stacy Zinn, former Resident in Charge, Rocky Mountain Division, Drug Enforcement Administration
• Joshua Roberge, Chief of Police, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and related issues within the Science Committee’s jurisdiction. This hearing will be an opportunity for Members to discuss their priorities related to the agency’s mission.

The President’s FY25 budget request for NOAA is $6.56 billion, a $241 million increase from the FY24 appropriated amount.

Hearing charter

Witness:

• Dr. Rick Spinrad, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 10:30 a.m., in room 1334 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 6395 (Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah), “Recognizing the Importance of Critical Minerals in Healthcare Act of 2023”;
• H.R. 8446 (Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.), To amend the Energy Act of 2020 to include critical materials in the definition of critical mineral;
• H.R. 8450 (Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla.), “Phosphate and Potash Protection Act of 2024”.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Colin Williams, U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Resources Program, Program Coordinator [All bills]
• Misael Cabrera, Director, School of Mining & Mineral Resources, The University of Arizona [H.R. 8446]
• Sally Macaluso, Chief Procurement Officer, GE HealthCare [H.R. 6395]
• Corey Rosenbusch, President & CEO, The Fertilizer Institute [H.R. 8450]
• Dr. Roopali Phadke, Professor of Environmental Studies, Macalester College [Minority Witness] [H.R. 8446]

The Department of Energy’s 2023 Critical Materials List, unlike the USGS CML, contains copper, electrical steel, fluorine, silicon, and silicon carbide. H.R. 8446 would ensure that the materials on the DOE list would also appear on the USGS CML.

By requiring DOI to consult with HHS, H.R. 6395 will ensure that medical uses of minerals such as uranium (used in the production of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m), copper, gold, lithium, titanium, silver, and platinum, and the ramifications that any supply disruption could have on the healthcare economy are considered when evaluating CML designations.

H.R. 8450 would direct the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, to reevaluate potash, phosphate, and materials necessary for fertilizer for designation as critical minerals. This bill also requires DOI to publish a report to Congress explaining why these minerals do or do not meet the necessary CML requirements and to update the CML within 60 days should USGS find that any mineral meets the criteria.

On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 10:15 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold an oversight hearing titled “Examining the President’s FY 2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Forest Service.” The USFS’s FY 2025 budget requests $8.9 billion in discretionary funding (including roughly $2.4 billion for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund), which reflects a $658 million increase over FY 2024 enacted levels.

Hearing memo

Witness:

• Randy Moore, Chief, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture