The chairmen of two key congressional energy committees are already making plans for 2009. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Nick J. Rahall (D-W.Va.), who leads the House Natural Resources Committee, separately outlined their strategies.
"My immediate plans for the next several weeks, as chairman, are to reach out to and consider the ideas of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and on and off the committee, as we prepare for the next Congress. Then, when the new Congress convenes, I hope to put forward a starting point for energy legislation that will be both bold and broadly supported," Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said in a Nov. 17 address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Issues relating to oil and gas development off the nation's coastlines will be front and center in the committee's agenda . . . as federal lands and waters are critical to our energy supply and our economy, producing approximately 25% of the nation's domestically supplied oil and gas," Rahall said in a Nov. 21 announcement. Equally important, he continued, will be the committee's continued investigation into federal oil and gas revenue collection procedures and practices.
Differing jurisdictions
The two chairmen described somewhat different goals since their committees have jurisdiction over different areas beyond energy. Both said that they would be working closely with the Obama administration, however.
Bingaman listed seven main challenges facing the next Congress: deploying clean energy technology, improving energy efficiency, maintaining adequate supplies of conventional fuels during the US transition to newer forms of energy, increasing energy innovation, making energy markets more transparent, and maintaining a proper balance between energy and environmental policies, especially those related to global climate change.
"Our energy strategy has to make sure that we have adequate supplies of conventional fuels as we go through that transition. We need an intelligent policy to continue to promote domestic production of oil and natural gas, both onshore and offshore," he noted.
Multiple use mandate
In other energy-related areas, Rahall said that his committee would examine the impact of global climate change on land and water resources. He also suggested that the committee will look at the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act's multiple use mandate because it has never fully been realized. "For too long, and particularly in the last eight years, development of our public lands has trumped all other facets of what was envisioned as a broad, balanced [US Bureau of Land Management] mandate," he said.
The two chairmen also emphasized different aspects of controlling carbon. Rahall said that his committee will consider ways to implement carbon capture and sequestration because it is the key technology which will allow continued use of US coal resources. Bingaman said that his committee might look at technologies which could be used under a cap-and-trade system.
Their approaches may differ somewhat, but Bingaman and Rahall both appear ready to take on major energy issues next year.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]