Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing on the FY2025 budget request for the Department of Commerce. The budget proposes $11.4 billion in discretionary funding and $4 billion in mandatory funding.

Witness:

• Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary, Department of Commerce

The Budget includes $6.6 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), $188 million or 3% more than the FY 2024 Annualized CR. This NOAA Budget prioritizes operations, infrastructure, and continuing initiatives that provide the environmental intelligence necessary to make informed oceans, coastal, fisheries, weather, and climate decisions. The Budget is bolstered by funds previously provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. The Administration continues its commitment to the Nation’s weather and climate satellite enterprise by providing $2.1 billion for the Nation’s weather and climate satellites, $430 million above the FY 2024 Annualized CR level. FY 2025 funding will enable NOAA to maintain all current satellite programs by including $84 million for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites R Series (GOES-R), $342 million for Polar Weather Satellites (PWS), and $40 million for Space Weather Follow On (SWFO). The Budget also continues strategic investments in the next generation of climate, weather, and space weather satellites to continue development of world leading, mission-driven weather satellite programs that will offer new state-of-the-art capabilities to improve forecasting.

The Budget provides $798 million for Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO), $68 million for Low Earth Orbit Weather Satellites, and $237 million for Space Weather Next. The Budget further invests in NOAA’s weather and climate enterprise. Specifically, it funds the National Weather Service (NWS) at $1.4 billion. At this level, the NWS will continue to operate and maintain 122 Weather Forecast Offices (WFO), 13 River Forecast Centers (RFC), 18 Weather Service Offices (WSO), and associated employee housing units, and 9 National Centers. NOAA’s Budget also includes $212 million for NOAA’s climate research programs to support the ongoing work of the National Climate Assessment and continue high-priority long-term observing, monitoring, researching, and modeling activities.

The Budget also includes an additional $10 million for Mitchell Act Hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin, complementing the resources previously provided in the Inflation Reduction Act. These additional funds are part of the Administration’s commitment to prioritize the restoration of healthy and abundant wild salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations to the Columbia River Basin, and honor the United States’ obligations to tribal nations. The Budget also invests in expanding offshore energy while conserving and protecting high-priority natural resources.

The Budget provides NOAA $53 million to expand offshore wind permitting, a $31 million increase above the FY 2024 Annualized CR. This funding will enable NOAA to use the best available science to help support the goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030 while protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable ocean co-use. It also provides $86 million, a $18.2 million increase above the FY 2024 Annualized CR, to support National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine Protected Areas as part of the Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. With this funding NOAA will expand critical conservation work and support the designation process for additional sanctuaries.

Additionally, the Budget provides the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) a net increase of $71 million above the 2024 Annualized CR. These include increases across Marine Operations and Maintenance, Aviation Operations and Aircraft Services, and NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, to support expanded marine and aviation operations to support increased efforts to collect high quality data, enhance public safety, and improve understanding of climate-induced impacts on communities and ecosystems. OMAO’s budget also includes $21 million, an increase of $17 million above the FY 2024 Annualized CR, to finalize a second specialized high-altitude G-550 Hurricane Hunter to meet national needs.

Full committee hearing on the FY2025 Environmental Protection Agency budget.

Witness:

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

The proposed FY 2025 budget for the EPA provides $11 billion and 17,145 full-time employees to support the Agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment. This includes more than 2,000 new employees to address the Agency’s priorities and work with our partners across the Nation.

The FY 2025 Budget prioritizes tackling climate change with the urgency that science demands. EPA’s Climate Change Indicators website presents compelling and clear evidence of changes to our climate reflected in rising temperatures, ocean acidity, sea level rise, river flooding, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. Recent natural disasters, like the devastating wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, the hazardous smoke and air pollution stemming from summer wildfires, and the catastrophic flooding in the West, reinforce the significance of EPA’s role in addressing and mitigating effects of climate change nationally and in our local communities. Resources in the Budget support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis while spurring economic progress and creating good-paying jobs. Both climate change mitigation and adaptation are essential components of the Agency’s strategy to reduce threats and impacts of climate change. The Budget empowers EPA to work with partners to address the climate crisis by reducing GHG emissions, building resilience in the face of climate impacts, and engaging with the global community to respond to this shared challenge. In FY 2025, EPA will drive reductions in emissions that significantly contribute to climate change through regulation of GHGs, climate partnership programs, and support to tribal, state, and local governments. The Agency will accomplish this through the transformative investments in the IRA, IIJA, and our annual appropriation. In FY 2025 and beyond, EPA will ensure its programs, policies, regulations, enforcement and compliance assurance activities, and internal business operations consider current and future impacts of climate change.

The Budget includes an increase of $77.5 million and 40.6 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR, for a total of $187.3 million and 256.7 FTE, for the Climate Protection Program to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad through an integrated approach of regulations, partnerships, and technical assistance. The increase would enable EPA to take strong action on CO2 and methane, as well as high-global warming potential climate pollutants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), restore the capacity of EPA’s climate partnership programs, and strengthen EPA’s capacity to apply its modeling tools and expertise across a wide range of high priority work areas including supporting U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement and the Climate-Macro Interagency Technical Working Group. Resources also are requested for EPA to continue to implement regulations in FY 2025 to enhance reporting of GHG emissions from U.S. industrial sectors, including methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector.

Also included in this increase is $5 million for EPA to provide administrative support to implement a historic $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, enacted through the IRA. EPA recently released funding opportunities for three grant competitions: the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund, the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and the $7 billion Solar for All competition.4 With enhanced administrative support provided by the additional funding request, EPA will be able to more effectively and efficiently administer competitive grants to mobilize financing and leverage private capital for clean energy and climate projects that reduce GHG emissions with an emphasis on projects that benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities. The Agency is requesting an additional $68.5 million and 46.8 FTE for a total of $185.9 million and 370.3 FTE for the Federal Vehicle and Fuels Standards and Certification Program. This includes the development of analytical methods, regulations, and analyses, to support climate protection by controlling GHG emissions from light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. In FY 2025, EPA will begin implementing a final rulemaking under the Clean Air Act to establish new GHG emissions standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles beginning with Model Year (MY) 2027. EPA will invest significant resources to address a myriad of new technical challenges to support two sets of long-term rulemakings, which will include added light-duty vehicle and heavyduty vehicle testing and modeling capabilities at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL). EPA also will begin implementing the multi-pollutant emissions standards, including for GHG emissions, for light- and medium-duty vehicles beginning with MY 2027 and extending through and including at least MY 2030.

Acting domestically to reduce GHG emissions is an important step to tackle the climate crisis; however, environmental protection is a shared responsibility that crosses international borders, and climate change poses a threat that no one government can solve alone. The Budget includes an additional $18.1 million and 16 FTE to support tackling the climate crisis abroad. Through a collaborative approach with international counterparts, EPA will enhance capacity building programs for priority countries with increasing GHG footprints, to enable stronger legislative, regulatory, and legal enforcement. To this end, President Biden has ambitiously laid out a path, by 2030, for the United States to cut GHG emissions by at least half from 2005 levels showing our international partners that America is doing its part to reduce global emissions. In FY 2023, EPA implemented 10 international climate engagements resulting in individual partner commitments or actions to reduce GHG emissions, adapt to climate change, or improve resilience in a manner that promotes equity, building on the work of eight engagements in FY 2022. The Agency will continue to engage both bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to improve international cooperation on climate change. These efforts help fulfill EPA’s commitment to Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Tackling the climate crisis depends not only on the Agency’s ability to mitigate GHG emissions but also the capacity to adapt and deliver targeted assistance to increase the Nation’s resilience to climate change impacts. As part of a whole-of-government approach, EPA will directly support federal partners, tribes and indigenous communities, states, territories, local governments, environmental justice organizations, community groups, and businesses as they anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In FY 2022, EPA assisted 110 federally recognized tribes and 242 states, territories, local governments, and communities in taking such actions. The FY 2025 Budget includes an additional $19.3 million and 14.5 FTE for climate adaptation efforts to increase resilience of EPA programs and strengthen the adaptive capacity of tribes, states, territories, local governments, communities, and businesses. In FY 2025, EPA will continue to implement the updated version of its Climate Adaptation Action Plan as well as 20 Climate Adaptation Implementation Plans developed by the EPA program and regional offices. These plans focus on five priority actions the Agency will take by FY 2026 to increase human and ecosystem resilience as the climate changes and disruptive impacts increase. To support the economic revitalization of coal, oil, gas, and power plant communities (Energy Communities), the Budget requests an additional $5 million and 3 FTE for stakeholder engagement and cross-agency coordination, including resources to increase the number of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) from three in FY 2023 to at least 10 by the end of FY 2025. To advance work on climate change modeling, an additional $3 million is requested across multiple programs to support the Agency’s participation in the Climate-Macro Interagency Technical Working Group and the Assessments of Federal Financial Climate Risk Interagency Working Group. Further, the Agency will continue development of open-source data and economic models, including sector-specific cost models, that assess the macroeconomic and fiscal impacts of climate change and the risk of extreme weather events.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 10:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will hold a mark-up on the following bills:

• H.R. 897 (Rep. Carl), “Alabama Underwater Forest National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act”;
• H.R. 1395 (Rep. Fitzpatrick), “Delaware River Basin Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2023”;
• H.R. 6062 (Rep. Radewagen), To restore the ability of the people of American Samoa to approve amendments to the territorial constitution based on majority rule in a democratic act of self-determination, as authorized pursuant to an Act of Congress delegating administration of Federal territorial law in the territory to the President, and to the Secretary of the Interior under Executive Order 10264, dated June 29, 1951, under which the Constitution of American Samoa was approved and may be amended without requirement for further congressional action, subject to the authority of Congress under the Territorial Clause in article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the United States Constitution; and
• H.R. 6852 (Rep. Espaillat), “Holcombe Rucker Park Landmark Act”

All bills are expected to move by unanimous consent.

Hearing memo

Subcommittee hearing on the FY2025 budget request for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporations.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation requests $1 billion.

Witness:

• Scott Nathan, Chief Executive Officer, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

In FY2023, DFC committed $3.7 billion for climate financing.

The Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing on May 7, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The title of the hearing is “EPA’s RMP Rule: Failures to Protect the American People and American Manufacturing.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Gentner Drummond, Attorney General, State of Oklahoma, testifying the rules are “openly hostile to America’s oil and gas industry”
• Jatin Shah, Senior Principal Consultant, BakerRisk
• Richard Erstad, Vice President and General Counsel, Hawkins, Inc. on behalf of the Alliance of Chemical Distributors
• James “Jim” Savage, Legislative Representative, United Steelworkers International Union

In the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990, Congress consciously separated responsibilities at a plant using certain chemicals for activities before an accident and after an accident occurred, as well as those activities inside a plant fence line and outside of it. Section 304 of the CAA Amendments of 1990 directed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to take the lead on protecting workers within a facility’s fence line, thinking OSHA was best equipped to handle these issues. By contrast, Congress, in section 301 of the CAA Amendments of 1990, gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to protect the environment and human health beyond the fence-line.

Section 301 of the CAA Amendment of 1990, which created CAA section 112®, was intended to prevent the “unanticipated emission of a regulated substance or other extremely hazardous substance into the ambient air from a stationary source” and to minimize the consequences of those releases. Paragraph (7) of CAA section 112® grants the EPA the authority to issue accidental release prevention, detection, and correction requirements and guidance that has manufacturers prevent and manage those accidental risks through manufacturers’ risk management program (RMP) plans.

The EPA originally issued the RMP regulations in two stages: the list of hazardous substances and quantities in 1994 and the risk management requirements in 1996.10 Subsequently, and until 2017, the EPA modified the original RMP rules five times (twice in 1999, twice in 2000, and once in 2004).

On January 13, 2017, the EPA published amendments to the RMP rule (82 FR 4594). The 2017 amendments rule was prompted by E.O. 13650, “Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security,” which directed the EPA (and several other Federal agencies) to, among other things, modernize policies, regulations, and standards to enhance safety and security in chemical facilities. The 2017 amendments rule contained various new provisions applicable to RMP-regulated facilities. The 2017 amendments rule addressed prevention program elements for natural hazards, incident investigation root cause analysis, and third-party compliance audits; emergency response coordination with local responders (including emergency response exercises); and availability of information to the public. The EPA received three petitions for reconsideration of the 2017 amendments rule under CAA section 307(d)(7)(B). In December 2019, the EPA finalized revisions to the RMP regulations to reconsider the rule changes made in January 2017 (“2019 reconsideration rule”). The 2019 reconsideration rule rescinded certain information disclosure provisions of the 2017 amendments rule, removed safer technologies and alternative analysis (STAA) requirements added by the 2017 amendments rule, and modified some other provisions of the 2017 amendments rule. The rule changes made by the 2019 are the current RMP regulations until May 10, 2024. There are petitions for judicial review of both the 2017 amendments rule and the 2019 reconsideration rule. The 2019 reconsideration rule challenges are being held in abeyance. EPA has requested that the Court allow this to occur until the resolution of any legal challenges to 2024 RMP rule amendments or 30 days after the deadline to file such challenges if no challenges are filed. The case against the 2017 amendments rule is in abeyance pending resolution of the 2019 reconsideration rule case. As a result of the EPA review, on March 11, 2024, the EPA promulgated final regulations amending its RMP regulations. The revisions, which are scheduled to become effective on May 10, 2024, include several changes to the accident prevention program requirements for natural hazards, power loss, and STAA, as well as enhancements to the emergency response requirements, expansion of public availability of chemical hazard information, third-party audit and record-keeping requirements, and mandatory employee rights and participation.

The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, May 6, 2024 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 6192 – Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act
• H.R. 7109 – Equal Representation Act
• H.J. Res. 109 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 on crypto assets
• H.R. 2925 – Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024 [Rule Markup Only]

On Friday, May 3, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (CT), the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight field hearing in Sandstone, Minn. titled “How Many Wolves Are Enough? Examining the Need to Delist the Gray Wolf.” This hearing will be focused on the impacts of an unmanaged gray wolf population on local communities. Specifically, the subcommittee will hear from impacted stakeholders from the agriculture community, sportsman, local elected officials, and wildlife biologists.

The North Pine Government Center
1602 Highway 23 North
Sandstone, MN 55072

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the President’s budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior for Fiscal Year 2025.

Witness:

• Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior

The Department’s 2025 budget totals $18.0 billion in current authority ($17.8 billion in net discretionary authority)—an increase of $575.9 million, or 3 percent, from the 2024 continuing resolution (CR) level. An additional $360.0 million is accessible through a budget cap adjustment for wildfire suppression to ensure funds are available in the event the regular annual appropriation is inadequate to meet suppression needs. The budget also includes an estimated $14.8 billion in permanent funding available in 2025.

A subcommittee hearing chaired by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) on the FY2025 budget request for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Witness:

• Pete Buttigieg, Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation

The FY 2025 Budget requests $109.3 billion. When combined with $36.8 billion in guaranteed advance appropriations provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department’s total budget for FY 2025 will be $146.2 billion.

FAA Electric Vehicle Fleet: $4.9 million and 1 FTE are requested for construction, installation, and upgrading and maintaining electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at FAA owned and leased facilities.

NextGen Environmental Research: $71.0 million is requested to support efforts to develop new aircraft and engine technologies, as well as to advance sustainable aviation fuels in line with the Administration commitments on climate change and the environment

Alternative Fuels – General Aviation: $8.4 million is requested to support continuing analyses and testing of unleaded alternative candidate fuels leading to the replace- ment of current leaded aviation gasoline with safe unleaded alternative fuels.

Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program: $1.8 billion is requested for formula and com- petitive grants to make the country’s surface transportation system more resilient to the worsening impacts of climate change, reduce long-term costs by minimizing demands for more expensive future maintenance, and rebuilding and prioritizing the needs of disadvantaged communities that are often the most vulnerable to hazards. • Carbon Reduction Program: $1.3 billion is requested to reduce transportation emissions through the development of State carbon reduction strategies and by funding projects designed to reduce transportation emissions. Through this program, FHWA encourages recipients to fund projects that support fiscally responsible land use and transportation efficient design, electrification, or other zero emission vehicle infrastructure, climate change resilience, and environmental justice.

Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities: $50.0 million is requested, along with $30.0 million in BIL advance appropriations, to support projects that reduce emissions from idling trucks at our Nation’s ports, which negatively impact air quality for surrounding communities. These investments will save truck drivers time and money, help ports reduce congestion and emissions, and deliver better air quality for workers and communities alike. • Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program: $2.7 billion is requested to support transporta- tion investments that reduce highway congestion and harmful emissions, which greatly impact quality of life, particularly for densely populated communities. By helping to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which act as a public health benchmark for many of the densely populated areas of the country, this program helps to improve environmental outcomes for traditionally under- served communities. • Emergency Relief Program: $100.0 million to help restore and repair roads and bridges following disasters or catastrophic failures. Through this program, FHWA often provides “quick release” funds shortly after an event to help restore essential transportation. Additional funding is often provided to complete restoration projects and better prepare the infrastructure for future weather events.

Zero-Emission Rail Yards pilot: The Budget proposes to launch a new initiative to reduce EPA criteria pollutant emissions at rail yards, with an emphasis on areas with high pollution impacts on surrounding communities. R&D funds will be used to conduct research and testing to build evidence and document the public health impacts rail yards currently have on surrounding communities, as well as iden- tify the rail yards and communities most in need of inter- vention. Simultaneously, FRA will seek to partner with a rail yard to pilot the establishment of a Zero-Emission Rail Yard and use CRISI grants to fund the purchase of new switcher locomotives and upgrade rail infrastructure to improve the efficiency of yard operations.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s FY 2025 Budget request is $400.6 million. PHMSA oversees the safety and environmental impacts of a growing domestic pipeline network of more than 3.3 million miles, which moves and stores 20 billion barrels of crude oil, other hazardous liquids, and natural gas, as well as an increasing amount of carbon dioxide and hydrogen products, from sources across the U.S. to our homes and businesses and to export.

Pipeline Safety: PHMSA requests $203.6 million to develop pipeline safety standards, encourage the use of safety manage- ment systems, conduct safety inspections, investigate pipeline incidents, and conduct research to inform safety regulations, policies, and technology development and deployment. This funding will enable PHMSA to focus on improving the safe transportation of hydrogen, CO2 , and other emerging clean energy products, incentivized in both the BIL and the Inflation Reduction Act, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.

Hazardous Materials Safety: PHMSA requests $86.6 million to set safety standards and continue to oversee the safe packaging and shipping of hazardous materials, with a commitment to support underserved communities that bear a disproportionate share of hazardous material routes, and to train local first responders on how to respond when incidents occur. The request includes the hiring of additional staff to manage a growing special permits and approvals workload including the transportation of high value hazardous materials containing products bound for outer space, and a rapidly growing outer space economy. PHMSA will increase outreach, training and compliance, accident investigation, and provide emerging energy experts, bringing the hazardous materials safety program to scale with the increase in energy products classified as hazmat. This will address a boom in new and expanded E-commerce companies shipping products containing otherwise hazardous materials, large-scale movements of medical equipment and biohazards, a surge in lithium battery packaging and movement, and new energy products such as hydrogen and other cryogenics being shipped by truck and rail.

Emergency Preparedness Grants: PHMSA requests use of all collections, including an estimated $46.8 million in registration fees, to help communities develop hazardous materials emer- gency response plans and train their first responders to safely manage and remediate hazardous material shipping incidents and accidents. These emergency preparedness and response resources are particularly critical for underserved rural and urban communities. Operational Expenses: PHMSA requests $32.6 million for operational expenses to support the safety management organization, including $4.5 million for grants to those commu- nities most impacted by large-scale commercial pipelines and pipeline facilities. In addition, the request supports additional civil rights positions to ensure all of PHMSA’s programs and financial assistance meet statutory requirements.

Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance (META): $6.0 million will support technical assistance and innovation to address critical maritime environmental issues, thereby advancing climate sustainability priority initiatives through alternative energies and technologies, while also supporting job growth in clean energy and maritime trans- portation fields. META seeks to augment the American maritime industry’s competitive edge by making maritime transportation more technologically advanced, energy efficient, safe, affordable, and sustainable.

Subcommittee hearing on member requests for the FY2025 budget request for Interior, Environment, and related agencies.