Although the House and Senate are on recess, April promises to be a busy month—the nominees for the Interior and Energy Departments will have their confirmation hearings in Senate next week, and Congress is expected to consider important energy legislation later this month. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, predicted that both parties will approach energy concerns by focusing on single-issue energy legislation, rather than trying to pass sweeping reform.

In other news, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the formation of a panel designed to peer-review congressionally-mandated research on the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing, and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power released its agenda for 2013, which aims to make the country a net energy exporter in the next 10 years, but does not mention fracking legislation in the agenda. For more on the latest energy and clean technology regulatory and legislative developments, please see ML Strategies’ most recent Energy and Environmental Update.