The Week in Climate Hearings: Bike Chains and Supply Chains

The House floor continues to be frozen by Republican infighting, bringing us ever closer to the November 17th deadline for a continuation of government funding. With eight candidates vying this time around, the internal conflicts between the Republicans continue to seem irreconcilable. Hill Heat continues to hold that the only path forward is that five GOP switch parties and elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) Speaker of the House.

On Wednesday morning, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association is organizing a bike ride and rally for federal workers. The ride begins at 7:30 am at Cleveland Park Metro Station and concludes at Dupont Circle. In the afternoon, Politico is hosting a free symposium on the future of the electric grid, sponsored by and featuring the CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Jim Matheson. Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.) will also be speaking.

Meanwhile, committee work continues.

Tuesday, October 24

At 10:15 am, the House Natural Resources Committee marks up conservation, border control, and offshore drilling legislation. The three controversial bills are H.R. 5283 from Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), which would prohibit the use of federal lands for housing illegal immigrants and revoke the lease for immigrant housing at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn; H.R. 5616 from Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), requiring more offshore lease sales; and H.R. 4587 from Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), preventing NOAA from protecting red snapper from overfishing.

At 11 am, the House Transportation water resources subcommittee reviews the Water Resources Development Acts with Army Corps of Engineers officials.

At 1 pm, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee marks up 17 nuclear, hydropower, and anti-energy-efficiency bills, including Rep. Debbie Lesko’s (R-Ariz.) so-called Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.

At 2 PM, the House Financial Services insurance subcommittee receives testimony on factors influencing property and casualty insurance markets. Witnesses include reinsurance industry lobbyist Frank Nutter and Environmental Defense Fund economist Dr. Carolyn Kousky. As climate disasters put increasing pressure on insurance markets, Republicans on the committee are offering the answer of eliminating the Federal Insurance Office.

Wednesday, October 25

At 10 am, Senate Budget chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) holds his latest climate hearing: How Climate Change Threatens Supply Chains. Witnesses include Scott Kelly of the climate analytics firm Risilience, economist Adam Rose of the University Of Southern California, Kathy Fulton of the American Logistics Aid Network, anarcho-capitalist David Barker, and GOP oil expert Robert McNally.

At 2 pm, the House Natural Resources mining subcommittee receives testimony on geothermal leasing, sinkhole mapping, and drilling legislation. The Democratic witness is Melissa Hornbein of the Western Environmental Law Center; wind policy lawyer Gene Grace, now with the fracking-industry front group American Clean Power Association, is also testifying.

Also at 2 pm, the Senate Indian Affairs committee hosts a roundtable on implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act in Native communities.

At 2:15 pm, the House Natural Resources water, wildlife, and fisheries subcommittee receives testimony on endangered species, fisheries, NOAA sexual harrassment, aquifer monitoring, and electronic permitting legislation. Several of the bills would roll back Biden administration rules that reversed Trump administration actions. Witnesses include US Fish & Wildlife official Gary Frazer, right-wing lobbyist Jonathan Wood, Arizona water resources scientist Sharon Megdal, agribusiness water lobbyist Tom Birmingham, marine biologist and artist Barbara Taylor, and marine conservationist Stephen Roady.

At 2:30 pm, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) chairs an energy subcommittee hearing to receive testimony on 19 pieces of public lands, forests, and wildfires legislation. The witnesses are Bureau of Land Management deputy director Nada Wolff Culver, U.S. Forest Service official Jacqueline Emanuel, and Utah public lands official Mark Boshell.

Thursday, October 26

At 9:30 am, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Elizabeth Klein and NOAA fisheries assistant administrator Janet Coit testify before the Senate energy committee on federal offshore energy strategy and policies. Energy chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the Republicans will team up to call for more drilling, naturally.

At 10 am, Senate Environment subcommittee chair Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is chairing his next in his series of hearings on plastics, with witnesses testifying on alternatives for single-use plastics.

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