To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s opening remarks, please click here.

To watch a video of Senator Manchin’s questioning, please click here.

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on the energy industry. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Ranking Member of the Committee, highlighted how his bipartisan American Energy Innovation Act can help revitalize a ravaged energy sector and serve as a much needed stimulus to combat the current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re expecting a 14% drop in U.S. CO2 emissions from the energy sector in 2020 – the largest drop ever – but emissions will begin to bounce back as our country reopens. Our bipartisan American Energy Innovation Act provides over $24 billion in authorization for an energy innovation roadmap to advance critical technologies like CCUS and energy storage with needed research and development but also with deployment dollars to get these technologies in the ground. We have the bipartisan framework in our energy bill, and I believe that good work can be complimented with additional, targeted investment in light of the changes in the intervening months to help the energy sector recover, put people back to work, and also advance our clean energy goals,” Ranking Member Manchin said.

Several witnesses applauded Ranking Member Manchin and Chairman Murkowski’s American Energy Innovation Act, including Lisa Jacobson, President, Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

“When I think about the American Energy Innovation Act, there are many opportunities to create market demand and combining that with things like new tax incentives to promote manufacturing here at home. This bill is a foundational set of policies. We know that it has strong bipartisan support. The breadth of technologies and industry sectors it would impact is quite remarkable and extremely valuable at this time,” said Ms. Jacobson.

The hearing featured witnesses from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Agency, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, American Petroleum Institute, and the National Association of State Utility Advocates. To read their testimony click here.  

To watch the hearing in full, please click here.  

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