• On Tuesday, Sept. 11, the Subcommittee on National Parks will consider: S. 127, to amend the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000 to explain the purpose and provide for the administration of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge; S. 327 and H.R. 359, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study sites associated with the life of Cesar Chavez and the farm labor movement; S. 868, to designate segments of the Taunton River in Massachusetts as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; S. 1051, to authorize National Mall Liberty Fund D.C. to establish a memorial in Washington at Constitution Gardens to honor free persons and slaves who fought during the American Revolution; S. 1184 and H.R. 1021, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating certain historic buildings and areas in Taunton, Mass., as a unit of the National Park System; S. 1247, to limit the development of any property acquired by the Secretary of the Interior for the development of visitor and administrative facilities for the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut; S. 1304, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Arizona National Scenic Trail; S. 1329, to provide improved visitor services at Acadia National Park in Maine; H.R. 759, to redesignate the Ellis Island Library in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York as the Bob Hope Memorial Library; and H.R. 807, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to determine the feasibility and suitability of establishing a memorial to the Space Shuttle Columbia in Texas, and for its inclusion as a unit of the National Park System. Witnesses include The Honorable Eliot Engel, U.S. House of Representatives; Daniel Wenk, deputy director for operations, National Park Service, Department of the Interior; Maurice Barboza, chief executive officer, National Mall Liberty Fund D.C.; David Hicks, executive director, Arizona Trail Association. (Dirksen 366 at 2:30 p.m.)

• On Wednesday, Sept. 12, the full committee will receive testimony on the status of energy efficient lighting technologies and S. 2017, the Energy Efficient Lighting for a Brighter Tomorrow Act. Invited witnesses include Andrew Karsner, assistant secretary, Department of Energy; Steve Nadel, executive director, American Council for Energy Efficient Economy; Kyle Pitsor, vice president, National Electrical Manufacturers Association; Paul Waide, senior policy analyst, International Energy Agency. (Dirksen 366 at 9:30 a.m.)
  
  

Weekly Bonus …

Some say it takes an Act of Congress to change a light bulb in Washington .  Not in the Senate Energy Committee.  Leading by example, we are the first committee on Capitol Hill to install a new energy efficient and environmentally friendly lighting system.  The upgrade, part of a Senate-wide initiative by Rules Committee, is more than just bulbs: it includes an energy management system that dims and brightens our ceiling lamps depending on the amount of outside light, audits energy consumption, and tracks such things as cost savings and the amount of global warming pollution that is kept out of the atmosphere.  For example, even in a holiday-shortened work week, the new conservation measures saved 1,762 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $176.22 in energy costs this week.  In addition, our recess retrofit reduced our carbon footprint by 3,348 lbs. of CO₂.