Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources

Week of June 28-July 2

On Wednesday, June 30, the full committee will have a business meeting (a mark-up) to consider S. 3516, a bill to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to reform the management of energy and mineral resources on the OCS, and for other purposes.  (Dirksen 366, 9:30 a.m.)

On Thursday, July 1, the full committee will convene a legislative hearing to consider S. 3452, a bill to designate New Mexico ’s Valles Caldera National Reserve as a unit of the National Park System.   Witnesses will include Daniel Wenk, deputy director, National Park Service, Department of the Interior; Harris Sherman, undersecretary for natural resources and environment, Department of Agriculture; Stephen Henry, chairman, Valles Caldera Trust, Jemez Springs, NM; Governor Walter Dasheno, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Espanola, NM; Governor Perry Martinez, Pueblo of San Ildefonso, Santa Fe, NM; Governor Joshua Madalena, Pueblo of Jemez, Jemez Pueblo, NM; Michael Wismer, chair, Los Alamos County Council, Los Alamos, NM; Jeremy Vesbach, director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Albuquerque; and Barbara Johnson, vice chair, Los Amigos de Valles Caldera, Santa Fe.  (Dirksen 366, 9:30 a.m.)

On Thursday, July 1, the Subcommittee on Water and Power will conduct oversight of the Federal response to the discovery of the invasive Asian carp in a waterway connecting the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan .  Witnesses to be announced on the committee’s website.  (Dirksen 366, 2:30 p.m.)

Bonuses …

The Senate this week confirmed 64 Obama Administration nominees, including all of the Senate Energy Committee’s remaining hopefuls.  The new appointees are Patricia Hoffman, assistant secretary of energy for electricity delivery and energy reliability; Jeffrey Lane, assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs; and Cheryl LaFleur and Philip Moeller, commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Chairman Bingaman discusses the future of energy policy on PBS’s Nightly Business Report.

Managing the OCS with care is the theme of Bingaman’s guest column in yesterday’s The Hill.