Stakeholder Perspectives on the Impacts of the Biden Administration’s Water of the United States (WOTUS) Rule
This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Opening remarks, as prepared, of Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer (R-NC)
Witness List:- Garrett Hawkins, President, Missouri Farm Bureau
- Alicia Huey, Chairman, National Association of Home Builders
- Mark Williams, Environmental Manager, Luck Companies, on behalf of National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association
- Susan Parker Bodine, Partner, Earth & Water Law LLC
- Dave Owen, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of Scholarly Publications, UC College of the Law
Pipeline Safety: Reviewing Implementation of the PIPES Act of 2020 and Examining Future Safety Needs
Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chairman Troy Nehls (R-TX) announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing focused on pipeline safety and the implementation of the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2020. The Committee intends to reauthorize the federal pipeline safety program this year.
Witnesses:- Tristan Brown, Deputy Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
- Andrew Black, President and CEO, Liquid Energy Pipeline Association (LEPA)
- Kenneth W. Grubb, Chief Operating Officer – Gas Pipelines, Kinder Morgan, Inc.
- Bill Caram, Executive Director, Pipeline Safety Trust
Innovation Through Collaboration: The Department of Energy’s Role in the U.S. Research Ecosystem
This hearing will serve as a legislative hearing for a series of bills that would strengthen several of the Department of Energy’s longstanding interagency research partnerships and codify them in law as appropriate.
Witnesses:- Dr. Harriet Kung, Deputy Director for Science Programs in the Office of Science, the U.S. Department of Energy
- James L. Reuter, Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Dr. Michael C. Morgan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Dr. Sean L. Jones, Assistant Director for the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the National Science Foundation
H.J. Res. 27: Disapproval of WOTUS Rule, and other legislation
The Committee on Rules will meet Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 3:00 PM EST in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:
- S. 619 – COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
- H.J. Res. 27 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency relating to ‘‘Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’’’.
- H.R. 140 – Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act
Air, Climate, and Environmental Impacts of Crypto-Asset Mining: Legislative Hearing on The Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act of 2023
Senate hearing on the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act, introduced by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02).
Witnesses:- Anna R. Kelles Ph.D., Assemblymember, New York State Assembly, 125th District
- Rob Altenburg, Senior Director for Energy and Climate, PennFuture
- Courtney Dentlinger, Vice President, Customer Services and External Affairs & Chief Customer Officer, Nebraska Public Power District
A Sectoral Approach to Climate Mitigation: The Energy Sector
Analyzing climate change and proposing solutions at the nation-state level can obscure the path forward, as ambition varies widely across countries and can change dramatically as soon as the next election. Furthermore, coordinating the actions of nearly 200 nations (including more than a dozen major emitters) presents its own challenges. Viewing climate solutions as sectoral rather than “national,” may be more productive and give a clearer of how to cut the most emissions in the fastest manner.
This webinar series, sponsored by American University’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) and the not-for-profit think tank Energy Innovation, reframes causes and solutions of climate change as “sectoral” issues.
The energy sector has been the focus of many mitigation efforts to date, as clear alternatives like renewable technologies are readily available and increasingly competitive. Should the energy sector be the highest priority for mitigation strategies? What has been done right and what has been done wrong to date? What sort of changes would enhance energy sector mitigation strategies (particularly as these relate to the energy grid)?
Speakers:- Michael O’Boyle, Energy Innovation
- Michelle Solomon, Energy Innovation
- Dan Fiorino, Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs
- Moderator: Gabriela Siegfried, EPRI
Mike O’Boyle is Energy Innovation’s Director, Electricity. He directs the firm’s Electricity Program, which focuses on designing and quantifying the impacts of policies needed to affordably and reliably decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid. Mike’s expertise includes clean electricity standards, wholesale market design, monopoly utility regulation, and energy efficiency policies.
Michelle Solomon is a Policy Analyst in the Electricity program at Energy Innovation, working to accelerate the transition to a clean and affordable electricity sector in the United States. Prior to joining Energy Innovation, she completed her PhD at Stanford University in Materials Science and Engineering, focusing on nanotechnology. Immediately after graduate school, she was a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow in the office of Senator Ed Markey, where she worked on all things energy and environment.
Daniel J. Fiorino is the founding Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University. Fiorino is the author or co-author of seven books and some 60 articles and book chapters, including A Good Life on a Finite Earth: The Political Economy of Green Growth (Oxford University Press, 2018), Can Democracy Handle Climate Change? (Polity Books, 2018), and Conceptual Innovation in Environmental Policy (with James Meadowcroft, MIT Press, 2017). MIT Press also published the second edition of Environmental Governance Reconsidered (with Robert F. Durant and Rosemary O’Leary) in 2017.
Gabriella A. Siegfried is a Senior Sustainability Analyst at the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI), Gabriella performs research within the energy sector related to ESG governance/disclosure, corporate social responsibility, and cross-industry benchmarking. While at EPRI, Siegfied has led projects on climate change mitigation through sustainability goal-setting and circular economy metric development for the energy sector. Through AU’s Center for Environmental Policy, where Siegfried worked during her MA program, she conducted research on environmental justice, such as analyzing Hurricane Katrina reconstruction and the Texas Freeze of 2021 from an environmental justice lens.
The economic case for tackling climate change now
The dangers of global warming are increasingly evident—extreme weather, rising sea levels, wildfires, and melting glaciers—but there hasn’t been sufficient political will to take the steps needed to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, which scientists deem essential.
To examine the economic case for moving sooner rather than later, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy and the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings will convene a virtual conference on March 6 to discuss two recent papers. The first, by the IMF’s Tobias Adrian and coauthors, focuses on the benefits of phasing out coal as an energy source. Following the presentation, the World Bank’s Carolyn Fischer will react. The second, by Hutchins Nonresident Senior Fellow Glenn Rudebusch and coauthors, quantifies the inverse relationship between carbon prices and future temperatures, illustrating how climate policy choices determine climate outcomes. Following this presentation, Irene Monasterolo of EDHEC Business School will respond. All four will then participate in a panel discussion on the broader implications of these issues.
Viewers may submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu, on Twitter using the hashtag #ClimateEcon, or at sli.do using the code #ClimateEcon.
Welcome- David Wessel, Director – The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy Senior Fellow – Economic Studies
- Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor & Director – Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund
- Carolyn Fischer, Research Manager of the Sustainability and Infrastructure Team in the Development Research Group – World Bank
- Glenn Rudebusch, Nonresident Senior Fellow – Economic Studies, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy
- Irene Monasterolo, Professor of Climate Finance – EDHEC Business School, EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute
- Moderator: Sanjay Patnaik, Director – Center on Regulation and Markets, Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development Fellow – Economic Studies
- Tobias Adrian
- Carolyn Fischer
- Irene Monasterolo
- Glenn Rudebusch
Rally in DC to tell President Biden to #StopWillow!
Join us on March 3rd at 4 pm in Lafayette Square to tell President Biden he must #StopWillow before it’s too late!
On Feb. 1st, the Biden administration took another step towards approving the Willow Master Development Project – a massive oil drilling development in Alaska’s western Arctic that threatens local communities and wildlife, and the global climate.
President Biden promised to deliver on climate – but ConocoPhillips’ dirty and dangerous Willow project would irreversibly take us backward. Willow would emit 278 million metric tons of climate pollution over the next 30 years. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions from 74 coal plants — one-third of all remaining U.S. plants.
Extracting millions of barrels of oil in Alaska would only increase temperatures in a region that’s already warming four times faster than the rest of the world. Willow will disproportionately impact the community of Nuiqsut, a predominantly Iñupiaq village of about 500 people already experiencing extreme pollution from existing oil projects.
The Biden administration is expected to issue its final decision on the project as soon as March 6th. That means we still have time to pressure Biden and his Department of Interior to deny this dangerous project, #StopWillow, and prevent this climate bomb!
Farm Bill 2023: Conservation and forestry programs
The Committee will hold a hearing titled “Farm Bill 2023: Conservation and Forestry Programs.”
Witnesses:- Terry Cosby, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Randy Moore, Chief, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture