The Week in Climate Hearings: Hot Weather

The fossil-fueled winter was blazing hot.

Iran’s catastrophically hot winter continues, even as Trump’s bombs fall.

A corrupt North Dakota judge has affirmed his award of $345 million to the tar-sands giant Energy Transfer against Greenpeace for the Dakota Access protests. Greenpeace will appeal, and has filed a countersuit in Europe against Energy Transfer.

With Tuesday’s primaries in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas, Congress has given itself a light work week.

Tuesday, March 3

At 10:15 am, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness Subcommittee run by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) holds a hearing on AI safety, productivity, and health care with AI industry executives and Brookings fellow Mark Muro.

At 5 pm, the House Agriculture Committee marks up H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026—the parts of the farm bill that were not included in the One Big Brutal Bill Act (OBBBA). OBBBA slashed nutrition assistance programs (SNAP aka food stamps), mandated a doubling of timber sales in federal forests, slashed conservation programs, and increased agribusiness subsidies and tax cuts. This “mini” farm bill mostly continues the new status quo.

Wednesday, March 4

At 9:30 am, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds votes on a passel of federal lands bills and three extremist Trump nominees: former Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Project 2025 author David LaCerte for a full FERC term, and fracking engineer Kyle Haustveit to be Under Secretary of Energy. Ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who goes out of his way to accommodate Trump’s picks, is opposing Pearce. In the spring, Heinrich supported Haustveit’s nomination to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy. In September, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) voted with Republicans in support of LaCerte joining FERC.

At 10 am, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
marks up their chamber’s versions of the NASA reauthorization and NOAA weather forecasting bills. The NASA Authorization Act of 2026 (S. 933), is bipartisan legislation from Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). The House markup of H.R. 7273, NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026, took place in February. The bill embraces the Trump-Musk vision of commercial space exploration, and does not mention of earth science or climate science at all. Notable sections include Section 605, which extends the commercialization of space satellite data; and Section 603, which permits the NASA administrator—namely, Musk fanboy and billionaire Jared Isaacman—to ignore NASA’s 2017 ten-year scientific research plan for earth and climate science set by the National Academies of Science if the NASA budget changes.

The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026 recognizes the importance of NOAA’s leadership on weather forecasting and warnings through the collaboration of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, the National Weather Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), National Integrated Drought Information System and Fire Weather Services Program, but also codifies and expand NOAA’s mandate to acquire commercial weather data, thereby privatizing much of NESDIS work.

The legislation raises a conflict with the rapid, illegal demolition of the National Center for Atmospheric Research by the National Science Foundation at the behest of Trump vizier Russ Vought, for the crime of “climate alarmism.” The period for public comment on the ongoing privatization and breakup of NCAR is closing March 13th.

The House version, H.R. 5089, includes AI forecasting and fog weather forecasting provisions not in the Senate text.

At 10 am, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee votes on Douglas Weaver’s nomination to a full term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Backed with bipartisan support, Weaver replaced Annie Caputo in December, after Caputo was forced out as part of the aggressive Trump campaign to dismantle NRC independence. As A.J. Camacho reports:

After the vote, the committee holds a hearing on the industry-written Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Fee Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2026. The bill introduces a “more likely than not” threshold for regulating toxic risks, narrows the scope of risk reviews to manufacturer-defined uses, limits worker protections by restricting the EPA from assuming noncompliance with outdated OSHA standards, and introduces fast-track exemptions that prioritize industry data.

Thursday, March 5

At 10 am, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
interviews Trump’s nominees to be NASA Deputy Administrator and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Matt Anderson and Arvind Raman. Anderson is a corporate Space Force lobbyist. As the dean of Purdue Engineering, Raman has been actively involved in CHIPS Act investments in Indiana and new collaborations with the Silicon Valley industry. NIST is currently roiled by new Trump rules barring hundreds of foreign scientists from working at the federal institute. Raman immigrated from India to attend Purdue for his graduate studies. Such are the little ironies that constitute one’s ultimate legacy.