Hill Heat

From February 27-March 2, more than 11,000 student climate leaders descended on Washington, DC to take part in the Power Shift Climate Action Conference and Capitol Hill day of action. Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, held a special Congressional briefing with student leaders on Monday, March 2, 2009, at 1:30 PM, in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Congressional briefing, entitled “Youth Climate: Green Jobs, Clean Futures,” featured testimony from campus leaders and youth activists whose lives have been impacted by global warming and are meeting the climate challenge by building a clean energy future. Witnesses included a young cancer survivor who is now fighting to curb pollution in her local community, the son of an oil worker who is working to bring green jobs to New Mexico, a United Nations Climate Change youth delegate, a student entrepreneur who started a clean energy fund, and the head of the Energy Action Coalition.

• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Environmental and Commercial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: State Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 24, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Environmental and Commercial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
• Oversight hearing entitled: “Offshore Drilling: Industrial Perspectives” scheduled on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

The kickoff of the Georgetown State-Federal Climate Resource Center at Georgetown Law will take place on Monday, February 23, 2009, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. on the 12th Floor of the Gewirz Student Center, located on the Georgetown Law campus at 120 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Gov. Chris Gregoire (D-Wash.) and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) will deliver remarks at 5:30 p.m. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson will speak at 6:30 p.m.

Speaker: Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary

Please join Platts reporters and other credentialed journalists as Energy Secretary Steven Chu remarks on the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment plan. Chu was confirmed by the US Senate in January as the 12th energy secretary, after having been the director of DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. A scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, Chu has devoted his recent career to the search for new solutions to energy challenges and stopping global climate change.

Please contact Nancy Covey at Platts at nancy_covey@platts.com.

Location: McGraw-Hill/Platts, Washington Office, 1200 G St., NW, Ste. 1000

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the current state of the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program, authorized under Title 17 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and how the delivery of services to support the deployment of clean energy technologies might be improved.

• David Frantz, Director of Loan Guarantee Program, Department of Energy
• Andy Karsner, Distinguished Fellow, Council on Competitiveness
• Kevin Book, Senior Vice President, Energy Policy, Oil & Alternative Energy, Friedman Billings Ramsey & Company, Inc.
• James Asselstine, Managing Director, Barclays Capital

During this hearing, Committee Members will hear testimony from Dr. Jane Lubchenco, nominated to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at the U.S. Department of Commerce – also known as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – and Dr. John Holdren, nominated to be Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

Note: This hearing will begin following the completion of the Committee’s 10:00 a.m. Executive Session. During the Executive Session, Committee members will consider the Committee’s rules and budget for the 111th Congress. The Executive Session will include the following agenda items: 1) Rules Governing the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

2) Budget Resolution for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

H.R. 493: To direct the Secretary of the Interior to promulgate regulations concerning the storage and disposal of matter referred to as ‘other wastes’ in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, and for other purposes. Coal Ash Reclamation, Environment, and Safety Act of 2009”