Hill Heat

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Claudio Galimberti, Senior Vice President & North America Research Director, Rystad Energy
• Dr. Gregor Semieniuk, Assistant Research Professor, Political Economy Research Institute & Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Daniel Raimi, Fellow & Director, Equity in the Energy Transition Initiative, Resources for the Future
• Dr. Benjamin Zycher, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• Lucian Pugliaresi, President, Energy Policy Research Foundation

Hearing page

Chair Heinrich

Witness:

• Tom Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

FY 2024 Budget: $32.6 billion, slightly more than 16.9 percent increase, or $4.7 billion, above the 2023 enacted level

• Explanatory notes

$12 billion of the budget is seen by USDA as climate-related, including:

• $4.6 billion of the Forest Service budget
• $3.2 billion of the Natural Resources Conservation Service budget
• $2.2 billion of the Farm Service Agency budget
• $1.3 billion in rural development services
• $0.5 billion in scientific research programs

The committee will receive testimony from the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the fiscal year 2024 budget request of the Department of Defense.

Witnesses:

• Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense
• General Mark A. Milley, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

• President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Budget ($842 billion)
• Enhancing Combat Capability – Mitigating Climate Risk ($5.1 billion, 0.6%)

Hearing page

As required by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, BOEM will hold Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 on Wednesday March 29, 2023. The opening and reading of the bids will begin at 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time.

Watch on Zoom

Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

Lease Sale Map

Active Leases and Bids Received

Blocks Receiving Bids

Hearing page

Chair Merkley

Witness:

• Deb Haaland, Secretary, U.S. Department of Interior

The Department’s 2024 budget totals $18.9 billion in current authority ($18.3 billion in net discretionary authority)—an increase of $2.0 billion, or 12 percent, from the 2023 enacted budget.

The budget for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management provides $72.3 million for conventional energy programs to support OCS planning, leasing, and oversight.

The 2024 budget for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement includes $217.1 million for conventional energy programs to support OCS permit application reviews, regulation and standard development for offshore activities, verification and enforcement of operator compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, technical reviews of planned operations and emerging technologies to properly identify and mitigate risks, a robust inspection program employing an annual inspection strategy that includes risk-based inspections, and incident investigations. BSEE’s budget also includes $30.0 million to fund the decommissioning of orphaned offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

The 2024 budget includes $123.5 million for the Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Management program, an increase of $10.6 million from the 2023 enacted amount. The BLM budget also includes $51.0 million for Oil and Gas Inspection Activities and proposes to offset the cost of this program through the establishment of onshore inspection fees.

The 2024 BOEM budget includes $6.6 million in Conventional Energy and $2.3 million in Environmental Programs to establish a dedicated team, train existing staff, hire additional specialized experts, and fund environmental studies, scientific research, data collection, and other activities critical to the establishment and implementation of the new program. The 2024 BSEE budget includes $1.5 million to prepare for regulating and overseeing safe and effective offshore carbon sequestration activities. The budget includes $3.4 million to start an onshore carbon sequestration program in BLM.

This Commissioner-led roundtable will provide an opportunity for the Commissioners and staff to engage with environmental justice community members, advocates, researchers, industry representatives, and government leaders on actions the Commission can take to better incorporate environmental justice and equity considerations into its decisions.

This discussion will strengthen the Commission’s efforts to identify and address adverse impacts associated with permitting applications for hydroelectric, natural gas pipeline, liquified natural gas, and electric transmission infrastructure subject to FERC jurisdiction. This roundtable will help further the goals of the Commission’s Equity Action Plan, which include reducing barriers to meaningful participation faced by underserved communities and ensuring that the Commission’s natural gas and hydroelectric policies and processes are consistent with environmental justice principles.

Time	Details
9:30 am – 9:45 am	Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:45 am – 11:15 am	Panel 1: Priorities for Advancing Environmental Justice and Equity in Infrastructure Permitting As the Commission continues to advance its consideration of environmental justice and equity concerns in its infrastructure permitting proceedings, this panel will discuss how the Commission can better integrate and advance environmental justice and equity principles in its decision-making. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions: What should the Commission prioritize as it more fully integrates environmental justice and equity considerations into its infrastructure permitting proceedings? What lessons can the Commission learn from other federal and state agencies and tribes to better avoid and minimize negative environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts to historically overburdened communities? How can the Commission better integrate environmental justice and equity considerations into its efforts to enhance the safety and reliability of the infrastructure it authorizes? Panelists: Shalanda Baker, U.S. Department of Energy, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity Darcie L. Houck, California Public Utilities Commission, Commissioner Ben Jealous, Sierra Club, Executive Director Dana Johnson, WE ACT, Senior Director of Strategy and Federal Policy Paul Lau, SMUD, CEO and General Manager Julie Nelson, Cheniere, Senior Vice President, Policy, Government and Public Affairs Matthew Tejada, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights
11:15 am – 11:30 am	Break
11:30 am – 1:00 pm	Panel 2: From the Front-Line: Impacted Communities and their Challenges During this panel, Commissioners will engage with members and representatives of overburdened communities impacted by FERC-jurisdictional infrastructure about the environmental justice challenges they face. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions: Location-Specific Impacts: Please describe your community and any environmental injustices you may have experienced, either directly or indirectly. When assessing the impacts of FERC-jurisdictional infrastructure projects, what topics or areas of concern should the Commission more fully address or emphasize during our infrastructure permitting proceedings? How can the Commission best facilitate engagement between local communities and industry during the earliest stages of the project planning process to avoid or reduce negative impacts, develop local community benefits, and implement community input with respect to other areas of concern? What are ways the Commission can strengthen its analysis of local impacts without placing an undue burden of producing additional information on environmental justice communities? Meaningful Engagement: How can the Commission and industry better assure that stakeholders’ input in infrastructure application proceedings was received, reviewed, and addressed in environmental review documents and the Commission’s decisions? In many cases, the Commission requires infrastructure applicants, certificate holders, or licensees to develop plans to protect public safety (such as Emergency Response Plans for liquified natural gas facilities). What steps should the Commission and industry take to provide opportunities for public participation targeted at ensuring community needs are evaluated during the development, implementation, and modification of such plans? In addition to project-specific engagement, how else should the Commission work with local communities to improve the Commission’s infrastructure permitting processes and help connect communities to resources that support community participation in our proceedings? Panelists: Russell Armstrong, Hip Hop Caucus, Policy Director for Climate and Environment John Beard, Port Arthur Community Action Network, Founder, President, and Executive Director Amy Cordalis, Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, Co-Principal Kari Fulton, Center for Oil and Gas Organizing, Climate Justice Policy Advocate and Educator Roishetta Ozane, The Vessel Project of Louisiana, Founder, Director, CEO
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm	Lunch Lunch will not be provided.
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm	Panel 3: Identifying, Avoiding, and Addressing Environmental Justice Impacts This panel will discuss how infrastructure applicants, the Commission, and its staff can better identify, avoid, and minimize adverse impacts on environmental justice communities. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions: Cumulative Impacts: What lessons can the Commission learn from other federal and state agencies, environmental justice communities, industry, and subject matter experts on how to better identify, minimize, and avoid cumulative impacts in environmental justice communities particularly with respect to human health and climate change? How can the Commission best consider factors that increase the intensity of cumulative impacts on environmental justice communities? Identifying, Minimizing, and Avoiding Impacts: How can the Commission better assess and characterize direct and indirect impacts as well as past, current, and future cumulative impacts and the vulnerability or resiliency of a community? What guidance can the Commission provide to infrastructure project developers to help avoid or reduce negative impacts from new infrastructure development in environmental justice communities that are already overburdened? What indicators and thresholds should the Commission use to appropriately and accurately identify such communities early in the project development process? How can Commission staff make better use of local, state, and region-specific impact information and community knowledge when conducting an impact assessment and developing methods to avoid and minimize potential impacts? Panelists: Aram Benyamin, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Chief Operating Officer Uni Blake, American Petroleum Institute, Senior Policy Advisor Gina Dorsey, Kinder Morgan, Director, EHS-Project Permitting, Operations Support Group Al Huang, Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law, Director of Environmental Justice & Senior Attorney Dr. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, UC Davis, Professor of Native American Studies Carolyn L. Nelson, P.E., U.S. Department of Transportation, Director of Environmental Policy & Justice Division
3:30 pm	Closing Remarks

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Frederick J. Stefany, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition
• Vice Admiral Scott D. Conn, USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities
• Lieutenant General Karsten S. Heckl, USMC, Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration

The FY2024 Navy budget request is $255.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion (0.7%) is climate-related.

Hearing page

Chair Shaheen

Witness:

• Merrick Garland, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

The Department of Justice FY2024 budget request is $39.7 billion, including $156.5 million for the Environment and Natural Resources Division

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Faisal Amin, Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency
• Michael Regan, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Statement by Administrator Regan on the President’s FY 2024 Budget:

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration released the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2024 to the Congress. The Budget requests over $12 billion in discretionary budget authority for the EPA in 2024, a $1.9 billion or 19-percent increase from the fiscal year 2023 enacted level. EPA will release the full Congressional Justification and Budget in Brief materials soon.

The President’s Budget makes historic investments to support the Agency’s ongoing work to tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, protect air quality across the nation, invest in critical water infrastructure and increase support for our state and Tribal partners in their efforts to implement environmental laws, and continue to rebuild core functions at the Agency.

“EPA is at the center of President Biden’s ambitious environmental agenda and the FY 2024 Budget will ensure the Agency delivers bold environmental actions and economic benefits for all. Coupled with the President’s historic investments in America through significant legislative accomplishments, the Budget will advance EPA’s mission across the board, boosting everything from our efforts to combat climate change, to delivering clean air, safe water, and healthy lands, to protecting communities from harmful chemicals, and to the continued restoration of capacity necessary to effectively implement these programs,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Importantly, the Budget also supports our work to center environmental justice across all of the Agency’s programs, ensuring that no family, especially those living in overburdened and underserved areas, has to worry about the air they breathe, the water they drink, or the environmental safety of their communities.”

Highlights of the President’s FY 2024 Budget include:

Tackling the Climate Crisis with Urgency. The EPA’s Budget prioritizes combatting climate change with the urgency that science demands. The Budget includes $5 billion, a $757 million increase over the 2023 enacted level, to support work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, building resilience in the face of climate impacts, and engaging with the global community to respond to this shared challenge, while also providing resources to spur economic progress and create good-paying jobs. The Budget proposes a $64.4 million increase over the 2023 enacted budget to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act to continue phasing out potent GHGs known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). It also invests $7 million in wildfire smoke preparedness.

Advancing Environmental Justice. The Budget bolsters the Agency’s efforts to achieve environmental justice in communities across the Nation by investing nearly $1.8 billion across numerous programs in support of environmental justice efforts. This investment supports the implementation of the President’s Justice40 commitment, which ensures at least 40 percent of the benefits of Federal investments in climate and clean energy, as well as infrastructure work such as Superfund, Brownfields, and SRFs, reach disadvantaged communities, including rural and Tribal communities. Additionally, this Budget will support activities creating good-paying jobs, cleaning up pollution, advancing equity, and securing environmental justice for communities that often bear the brunt of toxic pollution and impacts of climate change. The Budget also includes $91 million for technical assistance to support capacity building for communities to advance equity and justice.

Upgrading Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure and Replacing Lead Pipes Nationwide. The Budget provides more than $4 billion for water infrastructure, an increase of $1 billion over the 2023 enacted level. These resources foster water infrastructure upgrades, with a focus on underserved and rural communities that have historically been overlooked. The Budget funds all authorizations in the original Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 and maintains funding for EPA’s State Revolving Funds at the total 2023 enacted level, which complements funds provided for water infrastructure programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Budget also provides $219 million for two grant programs dedicated to reducing lead in drinking water and lead testing in schools (an increase of $163 million over the 2023 enacted level). It also funds other grants and loans to advance the goal of replacing all lead pipes. Ensuring Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities. The Budget allocates $1.4 billion to improve air quality and reduce localized pollution, reduce exposure to radiation, and improve indoor air for communities across the country. This includes $180 million to support the development and implementation of national emission standards to reduce air pollution from vehicles, engines and fuels. The Budget also supports $367 million to assist air pollution control agencies in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and to establish standards for reducing air toxics.

Protecting Communities from Hazardous Waste and Environmental Damage. The prevention and cleanup of harmful environmental damage that poses a risk to public health and safety continues to be a top priority for EPA. In addition to an estimated $2.5 billion in Superfund tax revenue that will be available to EPA in 2024, the Budget provides over $350 million for the Superfund program to continue cleaning up some of the Nation’s most contaminated land and respond to environmental emergencies and natural disasters. The Budget also provides over $215 million for EPA’s Brownfields program to provide technical assistance and grants to communities, including overburdened and underserved communities, so they can safely clean up and reuse contaminated properties, as well as $20 million for the Alaska Contaminated Lands program. These programs support the President’s Cancer Moonshot initiative by reducing human exposure to harmful contaminants that are correlated with an increased risk for cancer.

Ensuring Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment. The Budget provides an investment of $130 million, $49 million more than the 2023 enacted level to build core capacity to implement the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Under TSCA, EPA has a responsibility to ensure the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce. In FY 2024, EPA will focus on evaluating, assessing, and managing risks from exposure to new and existing industrial chemicals to advance human health protection in our communities. Another priority is to implement FIFRA to ensure pesticides pose no unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.

Tackling Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Pollution. The Budget provides approximately $170 million to combat PFAS pollution. PFAS substances are a group of chemicals that threaten the health and safety of all communities. This request allows the EPA to continue working toward commitments made under EPA’s 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap, including: increasing our knowledge of PFAS impacts to human health and ecological effects, restricting use to prevent PFAS from entering the air, land, and water, and remediating PFAS that have been released into the environment.

Enforcing and Assuring Compliance with the Nation’s Environmental Laws. The Budget provides $246 million for civil enforcement efforts, crucial funding for enforcement in communities with high pollution exposure, and for preventing the illegal importation and use of climate super-pollutant HFCs in the United States. The Budget also includes: $165 million for compliance monitoring efforts, including funds to conduct inspections in underserved and overburdened communities, and funds to rebuild the agency’s inspector corps; and $75 million for criminal enforcement efforts, which includes funding to increase outreach to victims of environmental crimes and develop a specialized criminal enforcement task force to address environmental justice issues in partnership with the Department of Justice. Restoring Critical Capacity to Carry Out EPA’s Core Mission. To position the Agency with the workforce required to address emerging and ongoing challenges, the Budget added nearly 2,000 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) relative to the current level, for a total of more than 17,000 FTEs, to help rebuild the Agency’s workforce. Developing staffing capacity across the Agency would enable EPA to better protect our Nation’s health, while also providing avenues to strengthen and advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Staffing resources would additionally fund a significant expansion of EPA’s paid student internship program to develop a pipeline of qualified staff.

The Budget makes these smart investments to address emerging and ongoing environmental challenges while creating good-paying jobs and improving our country’s long-term fiscal outlook.

Building on the President’s strong record of fiscal responsibility, the Budget more than fully pays for its investments — reducing deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade by asking the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share.