Energy & Sustainability

With Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) confirmation as ambassador to China, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mary Landrieu (D-CA) assumed the chairmanship of the Senate Finance and Energy and Natural Resources Committees, respectively, last week.

With Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) confirmation February 6 to be the next Ambassador to China, the committee leadership shuffle begins.

President Obama used his annual State of the Union address January 28 to call for a year of action on a broad array of issues, highlighting energy efforts and his climate action plan amongst 12 executive actions he hopes to undertake this year to increase “opportunit[ies] for all.”

While Congress was in recess last week, many Obama Administration and Congressional officials traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to participate in the annual World Economic Forum.

After approving a three-day continuing resolution through January 18 to buy time for debate, Congress sent a bipartisan $1.1 trillion omnibus Fiscal Year 2014 spending bill (H.R. 3547) to President Obama January 16.

Following a week during which energy and climate issues garnered significant national attention, via both Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) energy export white paper and the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of greenhouse gas rules for new power plants, Washington will focus on budget and tax issues this week, while policymakers also nod toward a continued focus on energy issues.

As Congress wrapped up the first session of the 113th Congress, the House and Senate came together to finalize several pieces of legislation, and policymakers prepared the way for changes to come in 2014.

As we’ve been predicting, tax reform will not happen this year. With 2013 coming to a close, preparations are being made to resurrect the effort in 2014, and comprehensive reform looks as difficult for the coming year as it has been for this year.

When the President outlined his Climate Action Plan on June 25, he stressed the importance of federal leadership on emissions reduction efforts.  A little over five months later, he signed a presidential memorandum directing the federal government to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020.

Our April 2024 Energy & Sustainability Washington Update covers new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law & Inflation Reduction Act opportunities, new DOE funding for industrial decarbonization, electric heat pumps, and Interconnection of renewable energy into the grid, plus new vehicle pollution standards focused on EVs and a new national zero-emission freight corridor strategy