Washington, D.C. - The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee will hold two full committee hearings, one subcommittee hearing and a conference next week. The full committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, March 8 at 10:00 a.m. to receive testimony on S. 179, to provide for the exchange of land within the Sierra National Forest, California; S.213, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain federal land to Rio Arriba County, New Mexico; S. 267, to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000; and S. 305, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to recruit volunteers to assist with or facilitate the activities of various agencies and offices of the Department of the Interior. Invited Witnesses Include: Panel 1 The Honorable Mark Rey Under Secretary Natural Resources and the Environment Department of Agriculture Chris Kearney Deputy Assistant Secretary Policy Management and Budget Department of the Interior Panel 2 Mr. Robert Douglas Superintendent Tehama County Schools Red Bluff, California Mr. Michael Francis Wilderness Society Washington, D.C. The full committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, March 8 at 2:30 p.m. to receive testimony regarding ways to encourage the diversification of power generation resources. Issues to be discussed include: renewable portfolio standards (RPS) efforts among states and the cost and benefits of a federal RPS program. New approaches to promoting a variety of clean power resources, such as wind, solar, clean coal technology and nuclear power, will also be considered. Invited Witnesses Include: Panel 1 The Honorable David K. Garman Assistant Secretary Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Department of Energy Dr. Ryan H. Wiser Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, California Mr. Wayne Brunetti Chairman & CEO Xcel Minneapolis, MN Richard E. Morgan Commissioner District of Columbia Public Service Commission National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Sonny Popowsky Consumer Advocate of Pennsyvlania Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate Harrisburg, PA on behalf of NASUCA Panel 2 Don Furman Senior VP, Regulation & External Affairs PacifiCorp Portland, Oregon Kerry Bowers Manager, Customer Technologies Research and Environmental Policy Department Southern Company Birmingham, Alabama Alan Nogee Director, Clean Energy Program Union of Concerned Scientists Cambridge, MA Brian O’Shaughnessy President & CEO Revere Copper Products Rome, NY on behalf of NAM The full committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, March 9 at 10:00 a.m. to consider the nominations of Patricia Lynn Scarlett to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior and Jeffrey Clay Sell to be Deputy Secretary of Energy. Lynn Scarlett is Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior. Since taking her post at Interior in July 2001, Ms. Scarlett coordinates budget planning within the Department and has helped the Department implement the President’s Management Agenda and other key management initiatives. She serves as both the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Human Capital Officer of the Department. She also helps coordinate Department-wide environmental policy initiatives to implement Secretary Gale Norton’s “4 C’s” vision of conservation through cooperation, communication, and consultation. From June 2003-2004, she chaired the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, an interagency and intergovernmental forum for implementing the National Fire Plan and 10-Year Implementation Plan. She co-chairs the Recreation Fee Leadership Council, and interagency groupl to coordinate recreation fee policy and practices. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Udall Foundation as the Department of the Interior Representative. Prior to joining the Bush Administration in July 2001, she was President of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit current affairs research and communications organization. In addition to her management role, her policy research focused on environmental, land use, and natural resources issues. Ms. Scarlett served on Pres. George W. Bush's environmental policy task force during his presidential campaign. She was appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson to chair California's Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee, a position she held for 6 years. Ms. Scarlett served as an Expert Panelist on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's full-cost accounting and "pay-as-you-throw" projects. She chaired the "How Clean Is Clean" Working Group of the National Environmental Policy Institute from 1993-98 and served at the request of former EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus on the Enterprise for the Environment Task Force, which examined new directions for U.S. environmental policy. Ms. Scarlett received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science and political economy. President Bush nominated Clay Sell to be Deputy Secretary of Energy on February 28, 2005. Since February, 2004, Mr. Sell had served as a Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, working in the President’s Office of Legislative Affairs and specializing in coordinating and achieving the President’s legislative agenda in the United States Senate in the policy areas of energy, natural resources, budget and appropriations. Previously, Mr. Sell had served as a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, working within the President’s National Economic Council, since July, 2003. In that capacity, Mr. Sell advised the President on domestic energy policy and coordinated the formation and implementation of the Administration’s energy policy. Prior to serving at the White House, Mr. Sell served as the Majority Clerk and Staff Director for the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, working directly for the subcommittee Chairman, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, and the full Committee on Appropriations Chairman, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. Mr. Sell led the Republican staff on Energy and Water from January, 2000, to July, 2003. Previously, Mr. Sell served on the Bush-Cheney Transition as part of the energy policy team. From 1995 to 1999, he served on the staff of Congressman Mac Thornberry of Texas, the last two years as Thornberry's Administrative Assistant. The full committee will hold a Future of Coal Conference on Thursday, March 10 at 2:00 p.m. in Dirksen 106. The committee staff selected 25 groups to present and discuss their proposed solutions to the challenge of developing and using coal in an environmentally-friendly manner to help meet the growing U.S. demand for electricity. The conference participant list, guidelines and proposals can be found on the Energy Committee website at http://energy.senate.gov/.