Hill Heat

On Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Subcommittee Oversight & Investigations will hold a hybrid oversight hearing on overcrowding in national parks. This hearing will take place in 1324 Longworth House Office Building and via Cisco WebEx online video conferencing.

Witness List

• Jeff Bradybaugh, Superintendent, Zion National Park, National Park Service
• Hannah Downey, Policy Director, Property and Environment Research Center
• Dr. Will Rice, Assistant Professor of Outdoor Recreation and Wildland Management, University of Montana

WHAT: Action urging House to vote no on rule advancing Dirty Deal

TIME: Tuesday, Dec. 6, 8-9 am (speakers start at 8:15 am)

WHERE: Outside Cannon House Office Building, Intersection of Ct SE and New Jersey Ave SE

WHO: Congressional champs voting no on rule + Frontline Leaders + Climate Advocates

The Committee on Rules will meet on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 3:00 PM EST in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• Senate Amendment to H.R. 7776—Water Resources Development Act of 2022 [James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023]
• Senate Amendment to H.R. 8404—Respect for Marriage Act
• H.R. 3648—EAGLE Act of 2022
• H.R. 7946—Veteran Service Recognition Act of 2022

Join Jane Fonda in Washington, D.C. for Fire Drill Fridays’ first in-person rally in almost three years! This Friday, activists, community advocates, environmentalists, and celebrities will come together in the Capitol to call attention to the growing climate crisis and to demand that Congress reject Senator Joe Manchin’s “Dirty Deal” and that President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency.

Jane will be accompanied by a number of speakers, including activists Jerome Foster, the youngest member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Roishetta Ozane, Organizing Director of Southwest Louisiana/Southeast TX for Healthy Gulf, and Maria Lopez-Nunez, Deputy Director of Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), as well as Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Since going virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fire Drill Fridays has reached more than 11 million viewers. Washington, D.C. is the first of several cities Fire Drill Fridays plans to visit in the coming year. In 2023, it will host rallies in the Gulf Coast and California, areas of the United States already seeing the visceral changes brought on by the climate crisis – and whose communities are among the most impacted.

Join Jane in Washington this Friday!

WHEN: 11am EDT on Friday, December 2, 2022

WHERE: Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. OR online at https://firedrillfridays.org/

WHO:

• Jane Fonda, Actor and Activist
• Jerome Foster, Activist and Member of White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
• Raúl Grijalva, United States Congressman for Arizona’s Third District (D)
• Maria Lopez-Nunez, Deputy Director of Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC)
• Jeff Merkley, United States Senator for Oregon (D)
• Roishetta Ozane, Organizing Director of Southwest Louisiana/Southeast TX for Healthy Gulf

U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Chair of the Subcommittee on Space and Science, will convene a subcommittee hearing titled “Landsat at 50 & the Future of U.S. Satellite-based Earth Observation” at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 1, 2022. This subcommittee hearing will highlight critical Earth Observation (EO) data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which recently celebrated Landsat’s 50th Anniversary. The hearing will also discuss the rise of commercial providers and improving access to EO data to spur economic growth. Finally, the hearing will highlight EO value-added services enabling precision agriculture, improved city planning, water management, wildland fire prevention and detection, and disaster response.

Witnesses:

• Steve Volz, Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services and Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Observation and Prediction, NOAA
• Kate Calvin, Chief Scientist, NASA Daniel Jablonsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, Maxar Technologies
• Kevin Gallagher, Associate Director, Core Science Systems, USGS
• Waleed Abdalati, Director, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado

The hearing will be held on Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 10:00 am in Room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:

• S. 3112, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a Hydrogen Technologies for Heavy Industry Grant Program, and for other purposes (Hydrogen for Industry Act of 2021);
• S. 3152, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to disqualify certain borrowers from receiving a guarantee for a project, and for other purposes;
• S. 3915, to require the Secretary of Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen domestic mining education, and for other purposes (Mining Schools Act of 2022);
• S. 3957, to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to make certain activities eligible for grants from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, and for other purposes (STREAM Act); This bill allows a state to set aside up to 30% of its annual grant for abandoned mine reclamation provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for the treatment and abatement of acid mine drainage, which is the release of acidic water from abandoned coal mines.
• S. 3978, to require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to operate a uranium reserve consisting of uranium produced and converted in the United States and a program to ensure the availability of uranium produced, converted, and enriched in the United States, and for other purposes (NO RUSSIA Act of 2022);
• S. 4420, to provide for advancements in carbon removal research, quantification, and commercialization, including by harnessing natural processes, and for other purposes (CREST Act of 2022);
• S. 4424, to amend the Recreation and Public Purposes Act to authorize sales and leases of certain Federal land to federally recognized Indian Tribes, and for other purposes (Recreation and Public Purposes Tribal Parity Act);
• S. 4515, to require the Secretary of Energy to stipulate, as a condition on the sale at auction of any crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that the crude oil not be exported to certain countries, and for other purposes (No Emergency Crude Oil for Foreign Adversaries Act);
• S. 4542, to establish the Dolores River National Conservation Area and the Dolores River Special Management Area in the State of Colorado, to protect private water rights in the State, and for other purposes (Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act);
• S. 4579, to amend the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, to extend certain deadlines applicable to pilot projects to increase Colorado River System water to address effects of historic drought conditions, and for other purposes (Colorado River Basin Conservation Act);
• S. 4651, to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Secretary of Energy to stipulate, as a condition on the sale at auction of any petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that the petroleum products not be exported to certain countries, to prohibit such sales to certain state-owned entities, and for other purposes;
• S. 4732, to authorize the Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes (Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act);
• S. 4860, to provide for the establishment of a grazing management program on Federal land in Malheur County, Oregon, and for other purposes (Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owhyee Act);
• S. 4995, to require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to prioritize the completion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, and for other purposes (Continental Divide Trail Completion Act);
• S. 5129, to modify the boundary of the Mammoth Cave National Park in the State of Kentucky;
• S.___, discussion draft to establish a new organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consensual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing nuclear water, and for other purposes (Nuclear Waste Administration Act); and
• S.J. Res. 62, approving the location of a memorial to commemorate the commitment of the United States to a free press by honoring journalists who sacrificed their lives in service to that cause.

Witnesses:

• Kathryn Huff, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Nada Wolff Culver, Deputy Director, Policy & Programs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Doug MacIntyre, Deputy Director for the Office of Petroleum Reserves, U.S. Department of Energy

Hearing page

Witnesses

• Dave Bauer, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Road & Transportation Builders Association
• Matt Stanberry, Managing Director, Highland Electric Fleets
• Johnathan Levy, Chief Commercial Officer, EVgo Services
• Ali Mills, President, Plum Contracting, Incorporated, Associated General Contractors of America
• Gary W. Johnson, P.E., Vice President, Land & Quarry, Granite Construction Company

Business meeting to vote on the nominations of:

• Beth Prichard Geer to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority
• Joseph Goffman to be an Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Shailen P. Bhatt to be Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
• Juan Eduardo Sanchez to be Federal Cochairperson of the Southwest Border Regional Commission
• GSA Resolutions

The hearing will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 11:00 am in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.

The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nominations of:

• David Crane to be Under Secretary of Energy (Infrastructure);
• Jeffrey M. Marootian to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy); and
• Gene Rodrigues to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability).

David Crane is the presently the Director of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, established in December 2021 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Previously Crane was the CEO of Climate Real Impact Solutions and served on the boards of Heliogen Inc., Source Global, JERA Co. Inc., and Tata Steel Ltd. along with the not-for-profits Elemental Excelerator and The Climate Group NA. Prior to Climate Real Impact Solutions, Crane was CEO of the gas and coal dependent utility NRG.

Jeff Marootian is the Senior Advisor for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the Office of the Secretary. Marootian previously served as a Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

Marootian previously served in District of Columbia government as the Director of the District Department of Transportation, where he piloted sustainable transportation technologies, oversaw the effort to electrify the city’s Circulator bus fleet, and led the city’s early adoption of the Transportation and Climate Initiative.

Gene Rodrigues is a Vice President in the Energy, Environment and Infrastructure practice at ICF, a global advisory and digital services provider. Prior to joining ICF, Rodrigues garnered 23 years of industry experience at Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. During his tenure at SCE, he represented the company in regulatory proceedings and held leadership positions over the company’s portfolio of demand-side management programs and policies, which helped to ensure the provision of affordable, reliable, and resilient electric service for over 15 million people in Southern California.

On Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET, in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building and via Cisco Webex, the Committee on Natural Resources Office of Insular Affairs will hold a hybrid oversight hearing on “Puerto Rico’s Post-Disaster Reconstruction & Power Grid Development.”

The Committee will receive testimony from key stakeholders regarding federal and local post-disaster reconstruction efforts in Puerto Rico following recent natural disasters, including Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Fiona, and the 2020 earthquakes. The hearing will also examine the restoration and modernization of Puerto Rico’s power grid.

This hearing was originally scheduled for September but postponed due to Hurricane Ian.

Invited Witnesses

Panel I

• Pedro Pierluisi, Governor of Puerto Rico
• Manuel Laboy, Executive Director; Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resiliency
• William Rodríguez, Secretary, Puerto Rico Department of Housing
• Wayne Stensby, President & CEO, LUMA Energy Corporation

Panel II

• Charlotte Gossett Navarro, Puerto Rico Chief Director, Hispanic Federation
• Ruth Santiago, Community Environmental Lawyer
• Emilio Colón-Zavala, Board Member, Puerto Rico Builders Association
• Eduardo Pardo, President, Puerto Rico Chapter, Associated General Contractors