Legislative Activity

House To Move Energy Bill

This week, the House intends to hold a floor vote on H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015. The bill addresses energy use and efficiency in the U.S. An all-Texan, bipartisan contingent of Congressmen including Representatives Joe Barton (R-TX), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Bill Flores (R-TX), have proposed an Export Amendment to the bill which would authorize crude oil exports.

This Week’s Hearings:

• On Tuesday, December 1, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to consider the Well Control Rule and regulations related to offshore oil and gas production. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Director of Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Brian Salerno, will testify.

• On Tuesday, December 1, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a full committee hearing to discuss the upcoming Paris Climate Change Conference.

• On Thursday, December 3, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Energy, will hold a hearing to consider H.R. 4084, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act, which aims to enhance research and development activities of nuclear energy technologies by private and public institutions. The Department of Energy’s Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy, John Kotek, will testify.

• On Tuesday, December 1, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on Interior, will hold a hearing to examine invasive species policies.

Regulatory Activity

Ozone

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a proposed rule to further consider wildfires and other exceptional events to be excluded from ozone attainment calculations. Comments are due January 19.

On-Shore Oil and Gas Operations

The Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is extending its comment period for three of its proposed rules pertaining to on-shore oil and gas operations. These rules address Federal and Indian oil and gas leases and were published July 13, September 11 and October 13, 2015. Comments are now due December 14 for all three proposed rules.

Offshore Wind

The Department of Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued a call for nominations for commercial wind leases off the shore of South Carolina. Nominations are due January 25.