• On Monday, July 21, the Subcommittee on National Parks will receive testimony at a FIELD hearing regarding the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory of all species within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Witnesses include Dale Ditmanson, park superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, National Park Service, Department of the Interior; Glen Bogart, principal, Pi Beta Phi Elementary, Gatlinburg, TN;  Peter White, professor of biology & director of the North Carolina botanical garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC; Dr. Tim Watkins, program officer, National Geographic Society, Research, Conservation and Exploration.  (Alumni Hall, Highsmith Union, University of North Carolina Asheville, One University Heights, Asheville, NC at 9:30 a.m.) 
  
  
• On Wednesday, July 23, the Full Committee will review the status of existing Federal programs targeted at reducing gasoline demand in the near term and to discuss additional proposals for near-term gasoline demand reductions.  Witnesses include Steven Chalk, deputy assistant secretary for renewable energy, U.S. Department of Energy;  Dr. David Greene, corporate fellow, Center of Transportation Analysis, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN;  John “Skip” Laitner, director of economic analysis, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; Steve Winkelman, director of transportation and adaptation programs, Center for Clean Air Policy, Port Chester, NY; and Dr. Edward R. Buiel, vice president and chief technical officer, Axion Power International, Inc., New Castle, PA.  (Dirksen 366 at 9:45 a.m.) 

Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Domenici this week led a workshop aimed at finding bipartisan consensus on how to address high gasoline, diesel and heating oil costs.  The committee chose two well-regarded analysts -- Daniel Yergin and Roger Diwan – to serve as expert resources.  Instead of restricting the discussion to just committee members, all 100 Senators were invited to participate, in hopes that politics would be given a rest and that the focus instead would be on developing a consensus on both using energy more efficiently and producing more oil and gas.  Here’s a video link to the workshop.