Congress returned from the August recess with the House administrating several energy-related hearings. The Senate, on the other hand, will wait a bit to return to similar topics. In the meantime, energy and environment issues continue to play a significant role on the national and international stages through the rest of the year.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power voted on September 10 to lift the 40-year-old crude oil export ban (H.R. 702), and momentum is building in both the lower and upper chamber for lifting the ban, with some Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), expressing a willingness to discuss it, particularly given an appealing trade off, including potentially making permanent some tax extenders such as the production tax credit, or tweaking or expanding others. The Senate’s Banking Committee has also taken up the issue, as Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) pledged to mark up legislation in late September or October. The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on September 10 to examine vulnerabilities of the country’s power supply. During the hearing, subcommittee members recommended additional research into battery storage technology and transformer systems to better prepare for potential cybersecurity and physical attacks to the grid. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), the subcommittee’s ranking member, asked the Government Accountability Office the previous day to conduct a review of the grid’s resiliency. Also in the House, the Natural Resources Committee approved on September 10 the Native American Energy Act (H.R. 538) to restrict National Environmental Policy Act reviews on Indian lands and limit federal fracking regulations on Indian trust lands, granting Indian tribes more authority over energy and natural resources activities on tribal lands.

Representative Chris Gibson (R-NY) led 10 of his House Republican colleagues in introducing a resolution urging action to address the impacts of climate change. On September 22, Senate Democrats led by Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Al Franken (D-MN), and Ed Markey (D-MA) unveiled a broad Democratic vision for a cleaner energy future. The American Energy Innovation Act of 2015 includes six titles to address the need for new jobs, updated infrastructure, and technological innovation. The measure would implement a variety of new initiatives, including giving consumers better access to their electricity data, creating a federal Energy Efficiency Resource Standard, investing in energy storage, integrating clean energy onto the grid, and tripling funding for basic energy science and technology research to maintain global leadership and invest in next generation clean technologies for international export.

President Obama visited Alaska from August 31 to September 2 to witness and call attention to climate change and the “urgent and growing” impacts the state is already facing. During his Arctic tour, the first time a president made an official visit above the Arctic circle, he called for urgent, global action on climate change and announced several initiatives—more than $20 million in new funding through grants and other routes to encourage energy efficiency and climate resiliency efforts, including a $2 million commitment to help the Denali Commission repair coastal villages or help residents relocate; $4 million to hasten the development of renewable energy in remote communities; a $4 million energy efficiency competition for remote communities; $8 million in grants to help power providers reduce household energy costs; and another $15.5 million in grants from the Denali Commission for bulk fuel facilities, power system upgrades, and power generation projects across rural areas.

The President also took time at the end of the month to meet with Pope Francis during the church head’s visit to Washington, during which Pope Francis embraced the Obama administration’s efforts to combat climate change. The Pope then headed to New York, where he addressed the UN General Assembly, arguing that humans have a moral duty to actively work to prevent climate change. The President, meanwhile, concluded the month by hosting a state dinner on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who made an official visit to the White House to discuss items of mutual interest and concern, including climate change. These events continue the Obama administration’s constant emphasis on building momentum toward the year-end global climate change negotiations in Paris.

On September 10, the Department of Energy released its second Quadrennial Technology Review outlining the broader research and development challenges the energy world faces, including carbon capture technology, advanced nuclear power, fuel cells, and energy-related water use. The report emphasizes the convergence of energy sectors; energy supply and service diversification; confluence of research and development, consulting power, and analysis of complex systems; and energy efficiency; and highlights research, development, demonstration, and deployment opportunities in buildings, the electric grid, electricity production, fuels, manufacturing, and transportation. The review found that small-scale pilot projects focused on improving the efficiency of separating CO2 are underway and could be ready for commercial demonstration in 10 years. To continue in this energy technology vein, the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy held a meeting on September 15 on energy conservation standards for battery chargers.

Finally, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to monitor positive and negative reactions to the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on September 9 that it would not put a hold on the CPP, denying a request by 16 states, led by West Virginia, and Peabody Energy Corporation, until the regulation is published in the Federal Register. The court also denied the states’ request earlier in the week to challenge the rule before it was made final, dismissing the challenge as premature. On the other hand, in Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley said during a Clean Power Plan webinar on September 9 that the state is open to considering the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other multistate agreements for compliance with the plan. Pennsylvania, which has the third highest level of annual carbon emissions, will consider all of its options for formulating a state implementation plan, and the department will hold 14 public hearings and an open comment period through November 12, with the intention of submitting a final plan to the Environmental Protection Agency by next September.