The Week in Climate Hearings: Unchecked Fury

International negotiators have been meeting in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th annual climate talks—formally, the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). More than 1600 fossil-fuel lobbyists flooded the talks, a larger contingent than every national delegation than the Brazilian hosts. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) was the only U.S. federal official to attend.

Meanwhile, the devastation wreaked by unchecked carbon pollution of the global fossil-fuel enterprise continued.

Typhoon Kalmaegi “killed at least 188 people across the Philippines and caused untold damage to infrastructure and farmland across the archipelago. The storm then destroyed homes and uprooted trees in central Vietnam, killing at least five people.” Record-breaking rainfall in Vietnam continued. Violent weather brought on by Storm Claudia “killed three people and injured dozens in Portugal, authorities there said on Saturday, while in Britain rescue workers were organising evacuations due to heavy flooding in Wales and England.” “An unusually strong storm system that was linked to at least two deaths lashed Southern California with heavy rain on Saturday, bringing a risk for flash flooding and landslides and forcing evacuations in areas of Los Angeles County recently burned by wildfires.” “There were apocalyptic scenes overnight as the Pack Fire, burning near the popular Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mono County damaged at least 15 homes.” The South African Weather Service “has issued an orange level 9 warning for Gauteng and the western parts of Mpumalanga, warning of ‘disruptive rainfall’ that could lead to widespread flooding of roads and settlements, as well as life-threatening conditions from fast-flowing streams.”

The House of Representatives is back in session for the first full week since September after an extended vacation imposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La., no relation).

Hearings and Legislation

Monday, November 17

At 3 pm, the House Rules Committee is teeing up floor votes on the Republican priorities of helping Big Oil destroy the planet, decrying socialism, and attacking DC home rule. Namely:

• S.J. Res. 80 – Providing for congressional disapproval of the Bureau of Land Management’s National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision. On July 24, 2025, the Government Accountability Office declared the 2022 plan was not properly submitted to Congress under the rules of the Congressional Review Act. The Senate passed the resolution on October 30, with John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joining Republicans.

• H.J. Res. 130 – Providing for congressional disapproval the Bureau of Land Management’s Buffalo Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment. On July 8, 2025, the Trump administration announced its plan to further amend the resource management plan for federal lands in Wyoming.

• H.J. Res. 131 – Providing for congressional disapproval of the Bureau of Land Management’s Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision, which opened 400,000 acres in Alaska to oil and gas leases, as mandated by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and made the remaining 1,163,500 acres off limits.

• H.R. 1949 – Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025, to repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural gas.

• H.R. 3109 – REFINER Act, to call for a report on domestic refinery capacity.

• H. Con. Res. 58 – Denouncing the “horrors of socialism.”

• H.R. 5214 – District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025, overturning local cash bail reforms.

• H.R. 5107 – CLEAN DC Act of 2025, overturning local police reforms

Tuesday, November 18

At 10:15 am, Congressional Budget Officer director Phil Swagel, a Republican economist, testifies before the House Budget Committee.

Wednesday, November 19

At 9:30 am, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on the Bureau of Land Management land use planning process under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which affects permitting for energy, mining, grazing, and infrastructure projects on public lands. In 2023, the Biden administration introduced a land-use policy that raises the importance of conservation and ecosystem health. The Trump administration formally announced its plan to scrap the policy this September.

At 10 am, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee looks at the future of PFAS cleanup and disposal policy, now under threat as the Trump administration puts chemical-industry officials in charge of environmental policy.

Also at 10 am, the House Special Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party holds a hearing on global mineral prices, and a House Natural Resources subcommittee holds a hearing on fisheries and Western water storage legislation. Meanwhile, the Natural Resources subcommittee on Indian and insular affairs looks at tribal lands and tourism legislation.

Thursday, November 20

At 10 am, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s commerce subcommittee holds a hearing on Daylight Saving Time, which loyal Hill Heat readers know is a pet issue of the editor.

Trump Nominees

On Wednesday at 10 am, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meets four nominees, in preparation for a Thursday morning vote. The nominees are Charlton Allen to be General Counsel for the Federal Labor Relations Authority, John Walk to be USDA Inspector General, and Thomas Bell to be HHS Inspector General. Allen is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission and a right-wing activist. Walk, now serving as a USDA lawyer, worked with Stephen Miller as a DHS and White House lawyer on immigration policy during Trump’s first term. He is the son-in-law of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s first Attorney General.

At 10:30 am, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee votes on several nominees: Stephen Carmel to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration; Laura DiBella to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner; Ethan Klein to be an Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and U.S. Chief Technology Officer; Ryan McCormack to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy; Trent Morse to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority; Dr. Timothy Petty to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in charge of NOAA Fisheries; John DeLeeuw to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board; and Michelle Schultz to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board.

Petty, a hydrogeologist and Republican policy staffer, was the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the first Trump administration. During the climate-denial Bush administration, he was the Department of Interior principal review team leader for the Interagency Panel for Climate Change. He was recently a National Academies of Science Climate Crossroads Congressional Fellow as a Republican staffer for House Transportation and Infrastructure.

On Thursday at 9:30 am, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes on three ambassadorial nominations, including the notorious climate denier and far-right-wing propagandist Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center, to be Ambassador to South Africa. His son was a January 6 rioter. Also nominated are career diplomat Brent Christensen to be Ambassador to Bangladesh, and private health-care executive and Republican high-dollar donor Benjamin León Jr. to be Ambassador to Spain.

Finally: David Richardson, the Trump acolyte and ’80s movie villain picked as the putative head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency six months ago, has resigned after a disastrous tenure of mismanaging climate disasters. He will not be missed.