Climate Change Hearings Announced
October 9, 2009
05:18 PM
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 9:45 a.m. in Dirksen 366, the Senate Energy Committee has scheduled the third in its series of hearings on energy and climate change. The focal point will be on costs and benefits for energy consumers and energy prices associated with the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances.
As you know, Senate Energy Committee is organizing several climate-themed hearings this fall, on topics that are relevant to the jurisdiction and concerns of the Committee.
The first in this series, on Sept. 15, examined potential costs and price volatility in the energy sector as a result of a greenhouse gas trading program, plus ways to reduce/contain those costs. The committee then hit the pause button so that members who also sit on Finance Committee (including Chairman Bingaman) could complete work on health care reform. We’re now ready to return to our regular programming.
The second hearing in this series will happen this Wednesday, Oct 14. Experts from the Congressional Budget Office, the Energy Information Administration, the Congressional Research Service and the Environmental Protection Agency will testify on energy and related economic effects of global climate change legislation. (Note: At 11:30 a.m., this hearing will be put into a brief recess to allow Members to consider the pending nominations of Marcia McNutt to be director of the USGS at the Department of the Interior, and Arun Majumdar to be director of ARPA-E at the Department of Energy.)
More climate-related hearings will be announced in the coming weeks as Congress moves toward its consideration of cap & trade legislation.
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