Regulation of Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act
- Robert Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Mary Nichols, Chairman, California Air Resources Board
- Jason Burnett, Former Associate Deputy Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- David Bookbinder, Chief Climate Counsel, Sierra Club
- Bill Kovacs, Vice President, Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Green Road to Economic Recovery 1
As Wall Street and Washington pick up the pieces from a broken financial sector, and families across the Gulf Coast assess the damage from multiple hurricanes, America is asking: how do we recover? How can we strengthen and stimulate our economy, protect our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil?
Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will explore the substantial role clean energy and climate-friendly policies should play in any economic stimulus and recovery plan. Several reports, including a recent study by the University of Massachusetts and Center for American Progress, say that investments in clean energy, energy efficiency and green buildings could create millions of jobs in America, including hundreds of thousands in the construction sector.
Witnesses- Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
- Dr. Robert Pollin, Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- Fred Redmond, Vice President, United Steelworkers
- Byron Kennard, Executive Director, Center for Small Business and the Environment
- Dr. Margo Thorning, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, American Council for Capital Formation
Policy Options to Prevent Climate Change
The next hearing will focus on policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A number of proposals have been referred to the Ways and Means Committee in the 110th Congress (e.g., H.R. 2069 – The Save Our Climate Act of 2007 (Rep. Stark), H.R. 6316 – The Climate MATTERS (Market, Auction, Trust & Trade Emissions Reduction System) Act of 2008 (Rep. Doggett), H.R. 3416 – The America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2007 (Rep. Larson), and H.R. 6186 – The Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act of 2008 (Rep. Markey)).
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The Committee on Ways and Means has previously heard testimony that human greenhouse gas emissions are having an adverse impact on our planet’s climate. These witnesses testified that the United States “must enact and implement a comprehensive national mandatory market-based program to progressively and significantly reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that contributes to sustained economic growth.” Since that hearing, a number of legislative proposals have been introduced in the House of Representatives, and been referred to the Ways and Means Committee, that would implement market-based programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
There is bipartisan support for action to address climate change. Senior lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have proposed enacting mandatory economy-wide cap-and-trade programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their proposals, like other proposals introduced in the 110th Congress, would contain revenue measures (e.g., auctions of carbon allowances) that are within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. In addition, many of the market-based climate change proposals include import requirements that are within the Committee’s jurisdiction. This hearing will mark the beginning of the Committee’s work on this important issue.
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on the policy options that are available for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and will examine the design choices presented by these options. In particular, the Committee will explore the revenue components of these policy options. The Committee will also explore proposals to promote a comprehensive global effort to address climate change and to ensure a level regulatory playing field for U.S. manufacturers. The hearing will also focus on the potential costs that could be imposed on the U.S. economy if Congress fails to act to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and the economic growth opportunities that would arise from implementing a market-based program to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://waysandmeans.house.gov.
Science Under Siege: Scientific Integrity at the Environmental Protection Agency
Witnesses
Panel I- John B. Stephenson, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office
- Francesco Grifo, Ph.D., Director, Science Integrity Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Deborah Rice, Ph.D., State of Maine, Department of Environmental Protection
- Daniel Parshley, Project Manager, Glynn Environmental Coalition
- Jennifer Sass, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Sharon Kneiss, American Chemistry Council
- Marcus Peacock, Deputy Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency
- George Gray, Ph.D., Assistant Administrator, Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency
Recent Interior Department Inspector General Investigations on Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Collections 1
- Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Earl Devaney, Inspector General, U.S. Department of the Interior
Recent analyses of the role of speculative investment in energy markets
- Michael Masters, Masters Capital Management, LLC.
- Robert McCullough, McCullough Research
- Dr. Jeffrey Harris, Chief Economist, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Blythe Masters, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
- James Newsome, CME Group
- Fadel Gheit, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
The current state of vehicles powered by the electric grid and the prospects for wider deployment in the near future 1
- Brian Wynne, President, Electric Drive Transportation Association
- Edward Kjaer, Director, Electric Transportation, Southern California Edison
- Robert Wimmer, National Manager of Technical and Regulatory Affairs, Energy and Environmental Research, Toyota Motor, North America
- Joseph Dalum, Vice President, DUECO
- Thad Balkman, VP of External Relations, Phoenix Motorcars
Climate Change Legislation and Revenue Recycling
Clean Air-Cool Planet and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invite you to a policy discussion to explore how revenues generated through potential climate change legislation can be recycled through the tax code to lower the overall societal cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. During debate of climate legislation on the Senate floor earlier this year, use of generated revenues was a significant area of discussion.
The expert panel will include a Member of Congress who has sponsored climate change legislation that provides for revenue recycling; a senior analyst from the Congressional Budget Office who has written extensively about the design of efficient climate change legislation; a leading academic; and experts from two think tanks.
Panelists:
- Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Member, House Ways and Means Committee
- Terry Dinan, PhD, Senior Advisor for Climate Policy, Congressional Budget Office
- Kenneth P. Green, PhD, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
- Robert Repetto, PhD, Senior Fellow, UN Foundation
- Robert J. Shapiro, PhD, Chairman of Sonecon, LLC; former Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
Continental breakfast will be served.
Please RSVP to Brenda Rogers at (202) 775-8971 or BRogers@cleanair-coolplanet.org with your name, affiliation, phone number and email address.
Summit to consider how to achieve a more secure, reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy future for the American people
Witnesses
Panel 1- John Deutch, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Dan Reicher , Director of Climate Change & Energy Initiatives, Google.Org
- Dr. Daniel Yergin , Chairman, Cambridge Energy Research Associates
- Frank Verrastro, Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
- John Krenicki, Vice Chairman, President, and CEO, General Electric Energy Infrastructure
- John Rowe, Chairman and CEO, Exelon Corporation
- James Roberts, CEO, Foundation Coal Corporation
- Douglas Steenland, President and CEO, Northwest Airlines
- Gary Cohn, Co-President, Managing Director, and COO, Goldman Sachs
- Richard Wagoner, Chairman and CEO, General Motors
- Marvin Odum, President, Shell Oil Company
Investing in the Future: R&D needs to meet America’s Energy and Climate Challenges
Investment in scientific and technological innovation has been critical to the growth of the U.S. economy. Much of the technology available today to help meet the energy and climate challenges confronting our nation is due to our previous investments in energy and climate research and development (R&D).
Witnesses:- Dr. Susan Hockfield, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Dr. Stephen Forrest, Vice President of Research, University of Michigan
- Dr. Jack Fellows, Vice President, University Corporation on Atmospheric Research
- Dr. Daniel Kammen, Professor, UC-Berkley