Capitol Hill Calendar: Nov 19-21, 2013


Energy and Environment hearings

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013

HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subcommittee on Energy and Power
5:00 p.m. 2123 Rayburn
Markup on H.R. 3301, the “North American Energy Infrastructure Act”, 5 p.m.

HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
1:30 p.m. 2128 Rayburn
Hearing entitled “Implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act of 2012: Protecting Taxpayers and Homeowners”, 1:30 p.m.

HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY
Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security
10:00 a.m. 311 Cannon
Hearing entitled “What Does a Secure Maritime Border Look Like?”, 10 a.m.

HOUSE RULES
3:00 p.m. H-313 Capitol
Hearing on H.R. 1900, the “Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act”, 3 p.m., H-313 Capitol.


HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
10:00 a.m. 2167 Rayburn (202) 225-6715
Hearing entitled “How Autonomous Vehicles Will Shape the Future of Surface Transportation”, 10 a.m.

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management
10:00 a.m. 2253 Rayburn (202) 225-3014
Hearing entitled “Federal Triangle South: Redeveloping Underutilized Federal Property Through Public Private Partnerships”, 10 a.m.
  
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013


HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subcommittee on Energy and Power
10:00 a.m 2123 Rayburn
Markup on H.R. 3301, the “North American Energy Infrastructure Act”, 10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn.

SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining
3:30 p.m. SD-366
To hold hearings to examine S. 182, to provide for the unencumbering of title to non-Federal land owned by the city of Anchorage, Alaska, for purposes of economic development by conveyance of the Federal reversion interest to the City, S. 483, to designate the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area in the State of California, S. 771, to provide to the Secretary of the Interior a mechanism to cancel contracts for the sale of materials CA-20139 and CA-22901, S. 776, to establish the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness in the State of New Mexico, to provide for the conveyance of certain parcels of National Forest System land in the State, S. 841, to designate certain Federal land in the San Juan National Forest in the State of Colorado as wilderness, S. 1305, to provide for the conveyance of the Forest Service Lake Hill Administrative Site in Summit County, Colorado, S. 1341, to modify the Forest Service Recreation Residence Program as the program applies to units of the National Forest System derived from the public domain by implementing a simple, equitable, and predictable procedure for determining cabin user fees, S. 1414, to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in the State of Oregon to the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, S. 1415, to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in the State of Oregon to the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, S. 1479, to address the forest health, public safety, and wildlife habitat threat presented by the risk of wildfire, including catastrophic wildfire, on National Forest System land and public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management by requiring the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to expedite forest management projects relating to hazardous fuels reduction, forest health, and economic development, and S. 339, to facilitate the efficient extraction of mineral resources in southeast Arizona by authorizing and directing an exchange of Federal and non-Federal land, 3:30 p.m., SD-366.
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013

HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade
:00 2322 Rayburn
Hearing on H.R. 2012, a bill to improve the integrity and safety of interstate horseracing, and for other purposes, 10 a.m., 2322, Rayburn.

HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
10:00 a.m. 1324 Longworth
Hearing on the following measures: H.R. 3286 the “Protecting States, Opening National Parks Act”; H.R. 3294, the “State-Run Federal Lands Act”; H.R. 3311, the “Providing Access and Retain Continuity Act”; H.R. 3492, to provide for the use of hand-propelled vessels in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the National Elk Refuge, and for other purposes; H.R. 915, to authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes, 10 a.m., 1324 Longworth.

SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
2:30 p.m. SR-253
To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Paul Nathan Jaenichen, Sr., of Kentucky, to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration, and Debra L. Miller, of Kansas, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, both of the Department of Transportation, and Arun Madhavan Kumar, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Promotion and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, 2:30 p.m., SR-253.

SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
9:30 a.m. SD-366
Business meeting to consider S. 258, to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the management of grazing leases and permits,S. 364, to establish the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Management Area, to designate certain Federal land as wilderness, and to improve the management of noxious weeds in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, S. 715, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to use designated funding to pay for construction of authorized rural water projects, S. 782, to amend Public Law 101-377 to revise the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park to include the Gettysburg Train Station, S. 974, to provide for certain land conveyances in the State of Nevada, S. 995, to authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial as a commemorative work in the District of Columbia, S. 1044, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to install in the area of the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on D-Day, June 6, 1944, S. 1252, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Mississippi River and the Trout River in the State of Vermont, as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, H.R. 507, to provide for the conveyance of certain land inholdings owned by the United States to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, H.R. 697, to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in Clark County, Nevada, for the environmental remediation and reclamation of the Three Kids Mine Project Site, H.R. 862, to authorize the conveyance of two small parcels of land within the boundaries of the Coconino National Forest containing private improvements that were developed based upon the reliance of the landowners in an erroneous survey conducted in May 1960, H.R. 876, to authorize the continued use of certain water diversions located on National Forest System land in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in the State of Idaho, and D1103H.R. 1033, to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 under the American Battlefield Protection Program, 9:30 a.m., SD-366.

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
10:15 a.m. SD-406
Oversight hearing to examine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) implementation of the Fukushima Near-Term Task Force recommendations and other actions to enhance and maintain nuclear safety, 10:15 a.m., SD-406.

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Pennsylvania about to fly without a fiscal safety net

Pennsylvania faces a long-term structural deficit and will enter next year’s budget deliberations without the financial cushion that helped policymakers manage the past three years, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. According to an economic outlook released last week by the state’s nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), if current laws remain unchanged, Pennsylvania’s revenues over the next five years would increase at an average annual rate of 3.1 percent, failing to keep up with a 4.1 percent average annual rate of growth in expenditures. The projected disparity is based in part on forecasts that the population of Pennsylvanians 65 and older will increase 29 percent between 2010 and 2020, while the state’s working-age population will remain unchanged. These demographic trends could limit growth in the personal income tax base and in the sales tax base, as older people tend to spend more of their disposable income on non-taxable goods and services, such as health care, the report noted. Payments into the pension systems for state and public school employees are scheduled to rise significantly in the next few years. State law requires the enactment of balanced budgets, and so the IFO noted that the disparity it projects in the coming years "merely reflects the difficult choices that policymakers will confront in future budgets."

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NJDEP: New Brunswick filed false water reports

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says it has filed administrative orders alleging that the City of New Brunswick’s Water Department repeatedly filed false reports for various water quality tests, submitted incorrectly calculated test results, and failed to notify the public when standards were not met.

New Brunswick Today reports:

"From early 2010 to spring 2013, New Brunswick repeatedly reported no problems with drinking water standards for key water criteria used to measure the potential for pathogens to be in the water supply. But a subsequent investigation showed that the system repeatedly violated these standards.
"The utility serves over 50,000 people in New Brunswick, and also sells "bulk water" to the Milltown Water Department and Franklin Township water system.
"In the related administrative order, the DEP alleges that Edward O’Rourke, an employee of the utility, reported false results to the DEP on required forms and monthly reports, although he certified them as accurate. The DEP has suspended O’Rourke’s operating license and fined him $17,000."
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Fenimore Landfill foes take their message to Trenton


"Officials here wouldn’t come to them, so the Roxbury residents who are fed up with Fenimore Landfill went to Trenton," the Daily Record‘s William Westhoven reports today.
"After nearly a year of protests and activism, members of the Roxbury Environmental Action Committee, or REACT, a resident nonprofit group calling for government leaders to remediate the foul emissions coming from the notorious township dump, staged a rally Thursday morning on the steps of the Statehouse.
"Truck it out, that is what we want,” said REACT President Bob Schultz, repeating the group’s recent demand that the construction materials dumped at the landfill over the past two years be removed.

“Three-hundred and sixty-five days of breathing in toxic gases, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde and God knows what else. This health crisis is an NJDEP (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection)-approved disaster. No one from NJDEP, NJDOH (New Jersey Department of Health) or the governor’s office will come and publicly speak about this in Roxbury, and to us as residents. So we have come to Trenton to speak to them.”

 
What happened next? Read the full Daily Record story here
See NJ.com story and video here
 
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New Jersey birdman Pete Dunne is taking flight

Pete Dunne is a big deal in the world of birding. 

He is a widely published author on the subject of birds and natural history and, almost as famously, is the founder of the World Series of Birding which attracts ever-growing crowds of in-state and visiting birdwatchers each year to Cape May, NJ. 

Today, the New Jersey Audubon Society announced that Pete will be leaving his position as director of the Cape May Bird Observatory to take on a statewide challenge.

Because of Pete’s stature among birders, we are publishing the entire news release below.
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Thirty-seven years ago, a
25-year old birder named Pete Dunne came to Cape May to expand New Jersey’s bird
conservation focus in the region.  Ultimately
becoming the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Director, Dunne used his promotional
and communication skills to advance Cape May’s fame as North
America’s premier bird watching location.  A fame it justly deserved and one that the
62-year old senior employee now wants to see expanded to incorporate the entire
Garden State. 
Some may recall Dunne as the author of the column, In the Natural State, that was a regular feature in the New Jersey
Sunday Section of the New York Times
between 1976 and 2001.
“Cape May is not a geographic
aberration,” says Dunne, who was raised in the northern part of the state and
moved to South Jersey in 1976.  The fact is, all of New Jersey is a bird-rich eco-tourist
destination. What has lagged is awareness. 
In geographic fact, the entire state is a bird supporting peninsula – Cape
May is just the southern tip – akin to a Baja, New Jersey. 
“What I hope to do with the balance of my career is confer upon New Jersey the same appreciation Cape
May enjoys among bird watchers,” states Dunne.
New Jersey Audubon’s statewide
sanctuary network is the ideal promotional vehicle for this ambition, but it is
New Jersey
and its multitude of protected natural areas that constitute the star
attraction.  “We have it all here,” says
Dunne, “all the ingredients that made Cape May
famous plus an extraordinary
diversity of breeding, wintering and migratory birds. in addition to great
natural spectacles like world renowned hawk migrations at both ends of the
state.  We enjoy a statewide tourist
infrastructure.  We’re served by three international
airports and our compact geographic size is an advantage, too.  Visitors can drive from what is essentially
Canadian-zone forest in the northern part of the state to coastal Carolina habitat (in Cape May)
in less than three hours.” 
This diversity of habitat is
precisely why New Jersey
hosts the World Series of Birding – an event started by Dunne and organized by
New Jersey Audubon.  Only in Texas and California
have more species of birds been recorded in a single day than in New Jersey.   Yes, Texas
and California have wonderful natural areas
and great bird diversity, but no more than New Jersey. Yet tens of thousands of
European birders travel to Texas and California every
year.  But, it’s not just visitors that
Dunne hopes to excite.  “New Jersey residents
have a National Geographic Special on their doorstep,” proclaims Dunne.  Suburbia is fast becoming a forest landscape
with houses tucked in.   Today Wild Turkey is
almost as common a suburban bird as American Robin.”
When John James Audubon visited
the state in 1829, turkeys were extirpated. 
Now they’re back in numbers – attesting to New Jersey’s environmental health.  Birds vote with their wings.  If they’re here, the environment supports
them.  And, if we as decision makers
continue to exercise wisdom, birds will continue to be part of every New Jersey residents dowry.
Unfettered of his duties as Cape
May Bird Observatory Director sometime this summer, Dunne hopes to move
seasonally between New Jersey Audubon’s Northern and Southern Centers serving
as a “bird watching ambassador.”

New Jersey Audubon President Eric Stiles
summarizes: “Pete has touched many lives through the wonder of birds and
birding.  As a birder, teacher, natural
history maven and master chronicler of the natural world, I want to personally
thank Pete for all he has accomplished as CMBO Director and will accomplish as
our top ambassador…Pete and I will be spending the months ahead planning the
transition.”  


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Congressional Energy and Environment Hearings Today
Sandy recovery in spotlight at NJ municipalities conclave  
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Congressional Energy and Environment Hearings Today

Congressional hearings of interest today, Thursday, November 14, 2013

HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subcommittee on Energy and Power
9:30 a.m. 2123 Rayburn 
Hearing entitled “EPA’s Proposed GHG Standards for New Power Plants”; and a measure regarding the Whitfield-Manchin legislation, 9:30 a.m., 2123 Rayburn.

HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES
10:00 a.m. 1324 Longworth 
Arkup on the following legislation: H.R. 1308, the “Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation D1075Prevention Act”; H.R. 2798, to amend Public Law 106-206 to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to require annual permits and assess annual fees for commercial filming activities on Federal land for film crews of 5 persons or fewer; H.R. 2824, the “Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America”; H.R. 3008, to provide for the conveyance of a small parcel of National Forest System land in Los Padres National Forest in California, and for other purposes; H.R. 3188, the “Yosemite Rim Fire Emergency Salvage Act”; and H.R. 3189, the “Water Rights Protection Act”, 10 a.m., 1324 Longworth.

HOUSE SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
10:00 a.m. 2318 Rayburn 
Hearing entitled “Strengthening Transparency and Accountability within the Environmental Protection Agency”, 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn.

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
10:00 a.m. 2167 Rayburn (202) 225-9446
Hearing entitled “Progress Report: Hurricane Sandy Recovery–One Year Later”, 10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn.

SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
10:30 a.m. SR-253 (202) 224-8172
To hold hearings to examine Southeast regional perspective on “Magnuson-Stevens Act” reauthorization, 10:30 a.m., SR-253. 

SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
9:30 a.m. SD-366 
Business meeting to consider S. 753, to provide for national security benefits for White Sands Missile Range and Fort Bliss, S. 1169, to withdraw and reserve certain public land in the State of Montana for the Limestone Hills Training Area, and S. 1309, to withdraw and reserve certain public land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior for military uses; to be immediately followed by a hearing to examine the nominations of Steven Croley, of Michigan, to be General Counsel, and Christopher Smith, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, both of the Department of Energy, and Esther Puakela Kia`aina, of Hawaii, to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs, 9:30 a.m., SD-366. 

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