Martin Schneider
GHG Monitor
8/23/13
The House Energy and Commerce Committee panel is planning a wide-ranging hearing on the Obama Administration’s actions to combat climate change Sept. 18, requesting officials from 13 agencies to testify as well as provide written answers to a broad array of questions about the government’s past, present and future actions. “At the hearing, we seek to hear from relevant federal agencies about U.S. climate change policies and the administration’s second term climate agenda, and to obtain fuller information regarding the Federal government’s past, current, and planned domestic and international activities, climate research programs, initiatives and new regulatory requirements,” Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) wrote in an Aug. 6 letter to the agencies, which include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Departments of Energy, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Defense and State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., the Office of Science and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The questions asked by Whitfield largely focus on establishing the personnel footprint and cost of climate change-related efforts in each of the agencies, as well as identifying “all climate change related regulations or guidance documents, including regulations or standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” issued by each agency. The agencies are asked to identify:
- All climate change related interagency task forces, advisory committees, working groups and initiatives;
- All climate change or clean energy related funding, grants or financial assistance they have provided since 2005;
- All climate change related international negotiations, agreements, partnerships, working groups or initiatives they have participated in since 2005;
- The approximate amount of annual agency funds attributed to climate change activities for each year from 2005 to 2012;
- Each sub-agency, division and/or program office currently engaged in climate change related activities; and
- An approximate number of employees and/or contractors currently engaged part-time or full-time in climate change related activities.
The hearing is notable in that it marks the first time in years that the Republicans leading the energy committee have agreed to hold a hearing aimed squarely at the issue of climate change. Focusing the hearing on the President’s recently-announced climate plan—which bypasses Congress entirely by relying on executive-level actions—gives the panel’s GOP members a platform for criticizing the agenda without the need to address whether or not they believe climate change is occurring or whether human activity is contributing. Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had criticized Democratic leaders for failing to invite an Obama Administration witness for a hearing on climate science last month.
