The Week Ahead (Feb. 12-16)

February 12, 2007
09:07 AM
Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
Week of February 12, 2007
 
Ø     On Monday, Feb. 12, the Subcommittee on Energy will meet with a dual purpose: to receive recommendations on policies and programs to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, and to expand the role of electric and gas utilities in energy efficiency programs.  Witnesses will include Kateri Callahan, president, Alliance to Save Energy; Kim Christianson, Energy Program Director, North Dakota Department of Commerce; Jack Hebert, president/CEO, Cold Climate Housing Research Center; James E. Rogers, Chairman, Edison Electric Institute and chairman/president/CEO of Duke Energy; R.K. Stewart, president, American Institute of Architects; and Charles Zimmerman, vice president, Wal-Mart.  Dirksen 366, 2:30 p.m.
 
Ø     On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the full Committee will examine a major report by the British Government on the economic impacts of global warming and stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions.   Witnesses will include the report’s author, Sir Nicholas Stern, head of Britain’s Economic Service and former chief economist for the World Bank.  Other witnesses are Dr. Gary Yohe, Department of Economics, Wesleyan University, and Dr. Henry Jacoby, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Dirksen 106,  10:00 a.m.
 
Ø     On Thursday, Feb. 15, the full Committee will welcome Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne at an oversight hearing on the President’s proposed budget for FY 2008 for the U.S. Department of the Interior.   Dirksen 366, 9:30 a.m.
 
 
Weekly Bonus …
 
Yesterday’s hearing on problems in the Northern Marianas led to this Q: Why is the Energy Committee involved with these far-away Pacific islands?  Here’s the A: Our committee is the heir to several historic predecessor committees, all of which had oversight of the territorial possessions of the United States.  Today, these possessions stretch from the U.S. Virgin Islands in the east to Guam in the west.  Which, of course, means that “the sun never sets on the jurisdiction of the Senate Energy Committee.
 
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Bill Wicker