21st Century Communities: Climate Change, Resilience, and Reinsurance
- Dr. Abdollah Shafieezadeh, Lichtenstein Endowed Professor Of Civil, Environmental And Geodetic Engineering And Director Of The Risk Assessment And Management Of Structural And Infrastructure Systems Lab, The Ohio State University
- Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Policy Director, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Frank Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America
- Roger Pielke Jr., Professor Of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado
- Jerry Theodorou, Director Of Finance, Insurance, And Trade, R Street Institute
Spectrum Needs for Observations in Earth and Space Sciences
- Andrew Von Ah, Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office
- David Lubar, Senior Project Leader, Civil Systems Group, the Aerospace Corporation
- Dr. Jordan Gerth, Honorary Fellow, Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Bill Mahoney, NCAR Associate Director and Director of the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), in Boulder, Colorado
- Jennifer Manner, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, EchoStar Corporation / Hughes Network Systems LLC
Advancing Environmental Justice Through Climate Action
At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 15, 2021, The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a hearing titled “Advancing Environmental Justice Through Climate Action.” This hearing will take place remotely via Zoom video conferencing.
The hearing will review opportunities to advance environmental justice through climate action, including targeting infrastructure investments to environmental justice communities, understanding the impact of extreme heat on low-income workers and students, and supporting tribal investments in clean energy and climate resilience.
Witnesses:- Catherine Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ). An internationally-recognized advocate for the human right to water and sanitation, Flowers works to improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities within the context of climate change and through the lens of environmental justice. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and serves as the Rural Development Manager for the Equal Justice Initiative. Flowers is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
- R. Jisung Park, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Luskin School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Park is an expert in environmental economics, labor economics, and public finance. His research focuses on how market failures such as climate change affect social and economic outcomes. In particular, Park studies the labor and human capital impacts of climate change, the prospects for long-run climate adaptation, and environmental determinants of economic mobility.
- Nikki Cooley, Co-Manager of Tribes & Climate Change Program and Interim Assistant Director of the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP), Northern Arizona University. Cooley co-leads a program to help Tribal Nations as they address and prepare for climate impacts. She works with Tribal and Indigenous partners across the continental United States and Alaska on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience planning. Cooley is of the Diné (Navajo) Nation and received a master’s degree in Forestry from Northern Arizona University.
- Derrick Hollie, Founder and President, Reaching America. Hollie is the founder of Global Advertising 1st and Reaching America, a non-profit organization with a focus on African American outreach. He has over 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing.
Treatment of Environmental Justice in NRC Activities
The purpose of these meetings is to describe NRC staff efforts in assessing Environmental Justice in NRC’s programs, policies, and activities as directed by the Commission in Staff Requirements Memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML21113A070). The staff will provide an overview of current and planned activities and receive comments from members of the public.
There will be two meetings; one from 1:30 pm to 3 pm and one from 8 pm to 9:30 pm.
Comments will be accepted from members of the public and other stakeholders from 8:30 until meeting closing at 9:30 pm. NRC staff will also answer process-related questions after everyone has had a chance to provide comments during the meeting, time permitting. A transcript of the meeting will be available approximately 10 days after the meeting and a link to the transcript will be referenced in the meeting summary.
1:30 pm-3 pm: Webinar Link (Microsoft Teams)NRC staff contacts are Allen Fetter, Office of the Executive Director for Operations, at Allen.Fetter@nrc.gov or (301) 415-8556, and Ed Miller at (301) 415-2481.
Additionally, NRC is requesting comments as part of its systematic review for how NRC programs, policies, and activities address environmental justice. Specifically, the NRC would like input on how the agency is addressing environmental justice, considering the agency’s mission and statutory authority. The information will be used to inform the agency’s assessment of how it addresses environmental justice.
Submit comments by August 23, 2021. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
You may submit comments by any of the following methods:- Telephone: 301–415–3875.
- Email: NRC-EJReview@nrc.gov
- Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7–A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
Please reference Docket ID NRC–2021–0137 in your comment submission.
CDBG Disaster Recovery: States, Cities, and Denials of Funding
The Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations will hold a hearing entitled “CDBG Disaster Recovery: States, Cities, and Denials of Funding” on Thursday, July 15 at 12:00 pm via Cisco Webex.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, enacted on February 9, 2018 appropriated $4.3 billion in funding for the state of Texas after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas and Louisiana, causing at least 68 deaths and unprecedented flooding.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot designated the General Land Office (GLO) to administer CDBG-MIT funds on behalf of the state. In May 2020, GLO announced an application process for Texas counties to compete for mitigation funds. Applications for the competition closed October 2020, and GLO announced awards for the first round of more than $2.3 billion in CDBGMIT funding May 2021.
GLO did not award any mitigation funds to Houston, the largest city in Texas, which suffered severe damage during Hurricane Harvey.
After two hurricanes in 2017 disabled Puerto Rico’s electricity grid causing an 11-month blackout, the longest in U.S. history, Congress appropriated approximately $20 billion in CDBG-DR and CDBGMIT funding, but those funds took years to be disbursed to the U.S. territory. Senior officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) repeatedly blocked HUD from issuing the Federal Register notices required to begin the allocation process.
Witnesses- Carol Haddock, Director, Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering
- Judge Lina Hidalgo, County Judge, Harris County
- Heather Lagrone, Deputy Director for Community Development and Revitalization, Texas General Land Office
- Sarah Saadian, VP of Public Policy, National Low Income Housing Coalition
- Stephen Begg, Deputy Inspector General, Office of the Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development
Amendment Deadline for PFAS Action Act of 2021
The Committee on Rules is likely to meet the week of July 19 to grant a rule that may provide a structured amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 2467, the PFAS Action Act of 2021.
Any Member wishing to offer an amendment must submit a searchable electronic copy of the amendment, which should be provided by the Office of Legislative Counsel, via the Rules Committee’s website by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 15, 2021.
Members should draft their amendments to the text of Rules Committee Print 117-10, which contains the text of H.R. 2467, as ordered reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce and is available on the Rules Committee website.
Full Committee Markup of FY2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bills
Policy + Pints: The Urgent Need for a Civilian Climate Corps with Sen. Ed Markey
Markey your calendars: Evergreen’s next Policy + Pints happy hour is coming up—and, as you might have guessed, Senator Ed Markey is joining us! We’re going to be talking about the urgent need to launch a Civilian Climate Corps. (Think of it as a justice-driven, climate-centered version of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps.)
In this virtual BYOB special hosted by Evergreen Action campaigns director Lena Moffitt, we’ll chat with:- Senator Markey
- Tonya Gayle, executive director, Green City Force
- Lauren Maunus, advocacy director, Sunrise Movement
about:
- Why the CCC is such a powerful opportunity for taking on our overlapping climate and economic crises
- How overwhelmingly popular it is
- What corpsmembers would actually do in communities across the country
- And more!
Bring beer, tea, wine, kombucha—whatever!—and join us on Wednesday, July 14 at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT.
Keeping Us Safe and Secure: Oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Opening statement from Rep. Pallone
Witnesses- Christopher T. Hanson, Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Jeff Baran, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- David A. Wright, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission