Hill Heat

Business meeting to consider the

• Nomination of Shalanda D. Young to be Director, Office of Management and Budget;
• Nomination of Nani A. Coloretti to be Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget;
• Nomination of Dimitri Kusnezov to be Under Secretary for Science & Technology, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The purpose of the hearing is to review the implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act.

Witnesses:

• Shannon Estenoz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Chris French, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, USDA Forest Service

In a business meeting, the committee will consider the following:

• Nomination of Glenna Wright-Gallo to be Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the Department of Education
• Nomination of Christopher Williamson to be Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health at the Department of Labor
• Nomination of Mary Lu Jordan to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
• Nomination of Timothy (T.J.) Baker to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

A proud Appalachian and native of the coalfields of southern West Virginia, Williamson currently serves as Senior Counsel to Chairman Lauren McFerran of the National Labor Relations Board. Prior to joining the NLRB, he served in the Obama-Biden Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor as a member of the senior leadership team at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. In that role, he advised the Assistant Secretary for MSHA on all aspects of agency policy, operations, and communications.

Before his service at MSHA, Williamson worked in the United States Senate as Labor Counsel to Chairman Tom Harkin on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Joe Manchin III. As Labor Counsel, he advised Chairman Harkin and Committee Members on labor, occupational and mine safety and health, and black lung benefits and other workers’ compensation issues. Serving on Senator Manchin’s Legislative Team, Williamson was the Senator’s primary policy advisor on labor, mine safety and health, pensions, and agriculture issues and also advised him on energy and environmental policy, including Senator Manchin’s work on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Mary Jordan was appointed as a Commissioner on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission in 1994 and has served in that capacity almost continuously since then. She has served as Chair of the Commission from 1994 to 2001, from 2009 to 2014, and from 2015 to 2017. Her most recent term as Commissioner ended on August 30, 2020 and since then she has served as Senior Attorney-Advisor at the Commission.

Ms. Jordan was employed as Senior Staff Attorney at the United Mine Workers of America from 1977 to 1994. She is a graduate of Saint Bonaventure University and Antioch Law School and is a member of the New York and D.C. Bar.

Williamson began his career in public service as an attorney-advisor to Administrative Law Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. He earned a Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University College of Law, a Master of Public Policy from American University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from West Virginia University. Williamson is originally from Dingess in Mingo County, West Virginia, and currently resides with his wife and children in Crofton, Maryland.

Timothy (T.J.) Baker is currently the Associate General Counsel of the United Mine Workers of America and has been with the Union since 2018. From 2012 to 2018, he worked for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, first as an attorney-advisor in the Office of Administrative Law Judges in Pittsburgh and then as an attorney-advisor in the Office of the Commissioners in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Washington and Lee University School of Law. At Washington and Lee, he participated in the third-year Black Lung Clinic, seeking to obtain benefits for miners afflicted with occupational lung disease. Baker is the son of a coal miner. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife Laura and their children, Lydia and Jon.

Legislative hearing to consider S.2373, to reestablish United States global leadership in nuclear energy, revitalize domestic nuclear energy supply chain infrastructure, support the licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, and improve the regulation of nuclear energy, and S.1290, to assist communities affected by stranded nuclear waste.

Witnesses:

• David A. Knabel, City Administrator and Director of Accounts and Finance, City of Zion, Illinois
• Armond Cohen, Executive Director, Clean Air Task Force
• Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Financial Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute
• Jeremy Harrell, Chief Strategy Officer, ClearPath Action

On Tuesday, February 8th at 7pm ET, Stop the Money Pipeline is hosting its first hour-long online training on how we can build power to demand that regulators like the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency curb reckless behavior by Wall Street that is driving environmental injustice and climate chaos.

• Sharon Lavigne, Founder of RISE St. James and 2021 Goldman Prize Recipient North America
• Lisa Anne Hamilton, Attorney and Climate Law and Policy Consultant and former Adaptation Program Director for the Georgetown Climate Center
• Tracey Lewis, Policy Counsel at Public Citizen (moderator)

This event was organized by Action Center on Race and the Economy, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Positive Money US, Public Citizen, Stop the Money Pipeline, and The Sunrise Project.

RSVP

During this hearing, the committee will receive testimony from state and local officials, Tribal groups, and other stakeholders who engage with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to discuss priorities for a new water resources development act (or WRDA) for 2022. This hearing is the second in a series of three planned hearings to inform the committee in its development of a new WRDA, which the committee expects to develop and approve in 2022.

Witnesses

• Wade Crowfoot, Secretary, Natural Resources Agency
• Peter Yucupicio, Chairman, Pascua Yaqui Tribe
• Darrell G. Seki, Sr., Chairman, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
• Michel Bechtel, President, Gulf Coast Protection District
• Mario Cordero, Executive Director, Port of Long Beach
• Jim Middaugh, Executive Director, Multnomah County Drainage District
• Julie Hill-Gabriel, Vice President, Water Conservation, National Audubon Society

Rescheduled from February 3rd. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nominations of:

• Maria Duaime Robinson, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Office of Electricity)
• Dr. Joseph F. DeCarolis, to be Administrator of the Energy Information Administration
• Laura Daniel-Davis, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior (Land and Minerals Management)

On Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET, the Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hybrid hearing in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building and on the Zoom video platform to examine the adequacy of climate pledges made by fossil fuel companies to reduce carbon emissions and curb global warming.

The hearing is part of the Committee’s investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s long-running campaign to spread disinformation about climate change and greenwash its role in causing global warming. The Committee will hear from climate experts and environmental advocates who will testify to the urgent need for fossil fuel companies to fundamentally alter their operations and reduce emissions, and assess whether the companies’ climate pledges will meet that goal, or are instead just the latest example of climate disinformation.

Following testimony from the climate experts, the Committee will hold a hearing next month with members of the Boards of Directors of four fossil fuel companies.

Hearing Memorandum

Witnesses:

• Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Pennsylvania State University
• Mark van Baal, Founder, Follow This
• Tracey Lewis, Policy Counsel, Public Citizen

Republican Witness:

• Katie Tubb, Senior Policy Analyst, The Heritage Foundation

Hearing page

Witness:

• Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Keya Chatterjee, Executive Director, US Climate Action Network
• Abdul Dosunmu, Campaign Manager, Climate Funders Justice Pledge, Donors of Color Network
• Mark A. Freeland, Navajo Nation Council Delegate, Crownpoint/Tse’li’Ahi/Nahodishgish/Becenti/WhiteRock/Lake Valley/Huerfano/Nageezi Chapters
• Peter Forbes, Co-founder, First Light