ENR Reports Five Nominations, 26 Bills

In a business meeting, Senate Energy Committee today reported five nominations -- Kevin Kolevar to be an assistant secretary of energy (Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability), Department of Energy; James Caswell to be director of the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior; Lisa Epifani to be an assistant secretary of energy (Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs), Department of Energy; Clarence Albright to be under secretary of energy, Department of Energy; and Brent Wahlquist to be the director of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Department of the Interior.

Also, Senate ENR approved new subcommittee assignments for Republican Members of the committee and voice-voted its approval of 26 legislative measures:

S. 169 -- To amend the National Trails System Act to clarify federal authority relating to land acquisition from willing sellers for the majority of the trails in the system.

S. 278 -- To establish a program and criteria for National Heritage Areas in the United States.

S. 289 -- To establish the Journey through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.

S. 443 -- To establish the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area in Colorado.

S. 444 -- To establish the South Park National Heritage Area in Colorado.

S. 471 -- To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to The Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitor Center Foundation certain Federal land associated with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in Nebraska, to be used as an historical interpretive site along the trail.

S. 637 -- To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of establishing the Chattahoochee Trace National Heritage Corridor in Alabama and Georgia.

S. 645 -- To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide an alternate sulfur dioxide removal measurement for certain coal gasification project goals.

S. 647 -- To designate certain land in Oregon as wilderness.

S. 722 -- To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly conduct a study of certain land adjacent to the Walnut Canyon National Monument in Arizona.

S. 800 -- To establish the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area in New York.

S. 817 -- To amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to provide additional authorizations for certain National Heritage Areas.

S. 838 -- To authorize funding for eligible joint ventures between United States and Israeli business and academic persons, to establish the International Energy Advisory Board.

S. 955 -- To establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois.

S. 1089 -- To amend the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act to allow the federal coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects to hire employees more efficiently.

S. 1148 -- To establish the Champlain-Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission and the Hudson-Fulton 400^th Commemoration Commission.

S. 1182 -- To amend the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor Act of 1994 to increase the authorization of appropriations and modify the date on which the authority of the Secretary of the Interior terminates under the Act.

S. 1203 -- To enhance the management of electricity programs at the Department of Energy.

S. 1728 -- To amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to reauthorize the Na Hoa Pili O Kaloko-Honokohau Advisory Commission.

H.R. 85 -- To provide for the establishment of centers to encourage demonstration and commercial application of advanced energy methods and technologies.

H.R. 247 -- To designate a Forest Service Trail at Waldo Lake in the Williamette National Forest in the State of Oregon as a national recreation trail in honor of Jim Weaver, a former Member of the House of Representatives.

H.R. 407 -- To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of establishing the Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area in Washington and Oregon.

H.R. 995 -- To amend Public Law 106-348 to extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.

H.R. 1100 -- To revise the boundary of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina.

H.R. 1126 -- To reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988.

H. Con. Res. 116 - Expressing the sense of Congress that the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson, Wyo., shall be designated as the ‘National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States.’

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