Jan. 31: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing about carbon capture, transportation and sequestration in Room 366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 10 a.m. The committee will receive testimony on two bills: S. 2323, which would authorize research on carbon capture and technology, development and demonstration projects; and S. 2144, which would require the Energy Secretary to study construction of carbon dioxide pipelines and sequestration facilities.
Why it matters: Supposedly more important to electric utilities with coal-fired power plants and other industries, carbon capture and sequestration also matters to oil and gas producers who see its potential to stimulate production from underground formations.
Scheduled witnesses include C. Stephen Allred, assistant Interior secretary for land and minerals; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher; Krista Edwards, deputy administrator at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency; James A. Slutz, deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Energy's Office of Oil and Gas; Lawrence Bengal, Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission director; Scott Anderson, senior policy office at Environmental Defense in Austin, and Tracy Anderson, senior vice president at Denbury Resources Inc. in Plano, Tex.