Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Bill.
On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 9:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will hold a mark-up on the following bills:
Bills expected to move by unanimous consent are H.R. 1607 (Rep. Schweikert), To clarify jurisdiction with respect to certain Bureau of Reclamation pumped storage development, and for other purposes, and H.R. 2839 (Rep. Hoyle), To amend the Siletz Reservation Act to address the hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and for other purposes.
In 1905, Congress and the Secretary withdrew the majority of the National Forest System lands adjacent to Apache Lake where two potential pumped storage sites are located. H.R. 1607 would extend this withdrawal by two miles to capture the upper reservoir sites and associated infrastructure to clarify that the Bureau of Reclamation has jurisdiction to evaluate the development of such facilities. The legislation does not remove the need for federal and state environmental permitting and public input processes including but not limited to those required under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Tribal consultations, National Historic Preservation Act and Bald and Gold Eagle Protection Act.
In June, the Biden administration issued a Public Land Order placing a moratorium on 336,404.42 acres of federal mineral estate surrounding the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park for 20 years.
The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight hearing on “ESA at 50: The Destructive Cost of the ESA,” on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. EDT in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
Witnesses:
The Endangered Species Act (P.L. 93-205 or the Act) was enacted in 1973: “…to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth” in the Act.”
Under the current framework, Section 4 of the ESA charges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to review and act on petitions to list species as threatened or endangered and to designate their critical habitat. Private lands play a significant role in managing and recovery endangered and threatened species. As environmentalist Aldo Leopold put it, “conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” In February 2023, the USFWS reported that “two-thirds of federally listed species have at least some habitat on private land, and some species have most of their remaining habitat on private land.” For example, according to the Audubon Society more than 80 percent of the grassland and wetlands that provide essential bird habitat are in private ownership.
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. (ET) in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing entitled, “Examining Emerging Threats to Electric Energy Infrastructure.”
Witnesses:
Full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2024 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bill.
Text of Legislation
Documents
Subcommittee hearing on U.S. foreign policy priorities in East Asia and the Pacific and the FY 2024 Budget Request.
Witnesses:
For East Asia and the Pacific, USAID’s FY 2024 budget request includes $279.3 million for climate, which is a $108.8 million increase, or 64 percent, over the FY 2023 request. The FY 2024 request emphasizes the Administration’s priority of addressing climate change by reducing emissions, protecting critical ecosystems, implementing legal and regulatory reforms, mitigating resource conflicts, helping nations transition to renewable energy, and building resilience against the impacts of climate change. There is significant demand for this support from our partners across the region. The FY 2024 request includes a significant increase for regional programming on climate adaptation in IPEF countries. With this funding, USAID will be able to respond to IPEF partners’ priorities, as articulated in the course of the IPEF negotiations, to help them implement IPEF commitments and grow their economies, as well as the economy of the United States. We will support them in climate change adaptation through investments in agriculture systems and food supplies, nature-driven solutions, resilient cities, and investments in climate-friendly infrastructure, in alignment with the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. Across the region, USAID will enhance climate change adaptation and mitigation by improving access to, and use of, information and tools that can help countries slow, stop, and reverse rapid deforestation, improve land and natural resources management, and prepare and respond to the impacts of climate change. USAID will support net-zero energy grid development in Asia by promoting power sector reforms, supporting the deployment of stateof-the-art energy systems and technologies, and modernizing power grids. With FY 2024 resources, USAID will help our Pacific Islands neighbors realize their own ambitious climate adaptation and mitigation goals by advancing the adoption of renewable energy sources, increasing access to infrastructure that is resilient to a changing climate, and strengthening early warning systems for climate-induced disasters. To promote transformative adaptation and resilience solutions, FY 2024 resources will help more residents to adopt climate-smart livelihoods and mobilize additional climate financing. Since 2016, USAID has mobilized more than $500 million dollars for Pacific Island countries from international climate finance institutions and supported local institutions to receive full accreditation to directly access international climate finance. With FY 2024 resources, USAID will also improve the performance of energy utilities, increase transparent private sector investments in the energy sector, and expand off-grid clean energy systems in Pacific Island countries. In addition, the request will allow USAID to boost the resilience of communities around the region so that they can keep working and earning a living—despite the negative impacts of climate change. In Vietnam, for example, USAID will use FY 2024 resources to protect the landscapes and biodiversity that agricultural communities depend on. We will continue to develop sustainable, climate-smart livelihoods, building on success creating jobs in parks, conservation zones, and watershed protection areas as well as in ecotourism. In the Philippines, which the 2022 World Risk Index ranked as the country with the highest disaster risk, USAID will improve the coping capacities of vulnerable communities in the face of disaster and capitalize on the use of climate-smart technologies to advance U.S. leadership in addressing climate security, as well as food security. USAID will also continue to engage our partners in the region and identify adaptation needs in Pacific Island countries, where extreme weather and shifting climate patterns pose an existential threat. Although collectively these nations contribute less than half a percent of global greenhouse emissions, they are on the frontlines of the struggle against climate threats.
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security will hold a legislative hearing entitled “American Nuclear Energy Expansion: Updating Policies for Efficient, Predictable Licensing and Deployment.”
Witnesses:
Panel One:
Panel Two:
The hearing will review the following legislation:
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 AM ET, the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, led by Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), will hold a hearing to examine the existing and future security threats in the Arctic Region and opportunities for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to effectively respond and address these threats.
Witnesses:
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2220 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy will hold a hearing titled “Climate-Risk: Are Financial Regulators Politically Independent?”
Witnesses:
The hearing will examine recent actions by federal banking regulators to incorporate climate-related financial risks into financial institutions’ risk management frameworks and to monitor and guide those frameworks. The hearing will also examine recent actions by federal banking regulators to incorporate recommendations related to climate-related financial risks of Executive Orders, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, Executive-Branch-led working groups, and international non-governmental organizations. Many recent climate-related financial risk actions by regulators closely align with President Biden’s May 20, 2021, Executive Order on ClimateRelated Financial Risk (EO 14030) and, relatedly, the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s determination of climate change as “an emerging and increasing threat to financial stability” on October 21, 2021.
Housing and Insurance subcommittee hearing entitled: “How Mandates Like ESG Distort Markets and Drive Up Costs for Insurance and Housing”.