Hill Global Warming Week: Schweitzer, Google, Funding,
More!<http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/26/194848/521>Tuesday
2/2710 AM: Senate Appropriations: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Appropriations:_Agriculture,_Rural_Development,_Food_and_Drug_Administration,_and_Related_Agencies_Subcommittee>
*2008 US Department of Agriculture Budget Hearing*
192 Dirksen

The US Department of Agriculture includes the Forest Service (see below) and
farm subsidies for biofuels.

*Witnesses (partial list)*

   - *Mike Johanns*, Secretary of Agriculture, former Nebraska governor
   - *Charles Conner*, Deputy Secretary, corn industry lobbyist
   - Dr. *Keith Collins*, Chief Economist
   - *W. Scott Steele*, Budget Officer

 10 AM: Senate Finance <http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Finance>
*America's Energy Future: Bold Ideas, Practical Solutions*
215 Dirksen

Half the witnesses will emphasize synth-fuels; the other half energy
efficiency efforts. This should be a genuinely informative hearing.

*Witnesses*

   - Sen. *Max Baucus* (D-MT)
   - Sen. *Charles Grassley* (R-IA)
   - Governor *Brian Schweitzer*, D-MT --his Daily Kos diary of carbon
   sequestration and coal
gasification<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/7/125754/8360>
   - *Michael A. Aimone*, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics,
   Installations and Mission Support, U.S. Air Force--
synth-fuels<http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123032225>
   - *Dan Arvizu*, Ph.D., Director, National Renewable Energy
Laboratory<http://www.nrel.gov/>
   - *Robert Socolow*, Ph.D., Co-Director, The Carbon Mitigation
   Initiative <http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ecmi/>, Princeton University,
   Princeton, NJ
   - *Dan Reicher*, Director, Energy and Climate Initiatives, Google
   Corp., Mountain View, CA --former Assistant Secretary for Energy
   Efficiency and Renewable
Energy<http://www.newenergycapital.com/nec_the_team.html>

Wednesday 2/289:45 AM Senate Energy and Natural
Resources<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Energy_and_Natural_Resources>

*2008 Forest Service Budget Hearing*
366 Dirksen

*Witnesses*

   - *Mark Rey*, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the
   Environment, timber industry
lobbyist<http://www.nativeforest.org/campaigns/public_lands/rey_5_30_02.htm>
   - *Abigail Kimbell*, Forest Service chief, purger of
whistleblowers<http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=817>

USDA Forest Service global warming programs include:

   - Southern Global Change Program <http://www.sgcp.ncsu.edu/>
   - Northern Global Change
Program<http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/climate_change/>
   - Climate Change Tree Atlas <http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/atlas/>

The dreary budget numbers for Forest Service research: in 2006, $301
million; in 2007, $303 million; in 2008, $285 million.

10 AM: House Energy and Commerce: Energy and Air Quality
Subcommittee<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/House_Energy_and_Commerce:_Energy_and_Air_Quality_Subcommittee>
*Review of Administration Energy Proposal for the Transportation Sector*
2123 Rayburn

No information available yet on this hearing, chaired by Rick Boucher of
Virginia.

10:30 AM: Senate Appropriations: Defense
Subcommittee<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Appropriations:_Defense_Subcommittee>
*2008 Department of Defense Budget Hearing*
106 Dirksen

I'm including this hearing because the DOD funds a tremendous amount of
energy research, but somehow I think this hearing will focus on something
other than that.

1 PM: American Meteorological Society <http://ametsoc.org/>
*Anticipating Abrupt Climate Changes: Are Our Perceptions Consistent with
the Evidence?*
385 Russell

AMS's open monthly global warming lectures at the Capitol continue with
another interesting one.

Is the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation in danger of shutting down in
the near future and if so, what are the likely consequences?  What do
observations, current understanding of ocean processes, and models tell us
about the likelihood of such an event in the near and distant future?

What is the current understanding of long-term droughts and what drives
them?  How well are historic droughts faithfully reproduced in the current
generation of models?  Is there sufficient forecasting skill to estimate the
likelihood of long-term droughts in the Southwestern U.S. and in the
sub-tropics, in general? If so, what is the outlook?

*Panel*

   - Dr. M. Susan
Lozier<http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/lozier.html>,
   Professor and Chair, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the
   Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC -- ocean
   circulation
   - Dr. Richard
Seager<http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/people/seager/>,
   Doherty Senior Research Scientist, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory,
   Columbia University, Palisades, NY -- Climate mythology: The Gulf
   Stream, European climate and Abrupt
Change<http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/gs/>

 2:30 Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Commerce,_Science_and_Transportation>
*2008 NASA Budget Hearing*
253 Russell

NASA's research satellites are the global gold standard for climate
observation <http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/>, as is their
modeling<http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/modeling/>.
The budget submitted by Bush continues to cripple
research<http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2007_02_23/caredit_a0700025/%28parent%29/68>.
The budget request seeks a 5% increase to NASA's budget--but all the extra
money would go to the agency's various exploration-related programs.

The crippling of our science funding under Bush is just criminal and will be
yet another element of his long-lasting legacy of destruction.
Thursday 3/19:30 AM: Senate Energy and Natural
Resources<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Energy_and_Natural_Resources>
*Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook*

The Annual Energy Outlook 2007
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html>presents a projection and
analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices
through 2030. The projections are based on results from the Energy
Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System.

Big fun numbers on fossil, nuclear, alternative energy projections. Paging
Jerome à Paris....

10 AM: Senate Appropriations: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related
Agencies 
Subcommittee<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Appropriations:_Commerce,_Justice,_Science,_and_Related_Agencies_Subcommittee>
*Department of Commerce Budget Hearing*
192 Dirksen

The Department of Commerce includes NOAA, home to the National Weather
Service and the National Climatic Data
Center<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/about/about.html>,
the world's largest active archive of weather data. The NOAA Climate
Program<http://www.climate.noaa.gov/>incorporates the Office of Global
Programs, the Arctic Research Office, and
the Climate Observations and Services Program and coordinates climate
activities across all NOAA.

Commerce also includes the National Institute of Standards and
Technology<http://www.technology.gov/>.
The president's budget for $640.7 mil budget for NIST calls for $5
million<http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/meas_climatechange2008.htm>to
be spent on aerosol and solar irradiance data collection, both
secondary
factors in the global warming problem but popular with skeptics and
$10 mil<http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/enabling_hydrogen.htm>on
hydrogen fuel cell research.

10 AM: Senate Energy and Public
Works<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Senate_Energy_and_Public_Works>
*State, Regional, and Local Perspectives on Global Warming*
406 Dirksen

No information yet on who's going to appear in the next round of the
fabulous Boxer-Inhofe circus.

10:30 AM: House Energy and Commerce: Environment and Hazardous Materials
Subcommittee<http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/House_Energy_and_Commerce:_Environment_and_Hazardous_Materials_Subcommittee>
*EPA Budget Hearing*
2322 Rayburn

The EPA Global Change Research
Program<http://cfpub.epa.gov/gcrp/about_ov.cfm>has four areas of
emphasis: (1) human health; (2) air quality; (3) water
quality; and (4) ecosystem health.

21% of the $7.2 billion 2008
budget<http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/budget/2008/2008bib.pdf>is allocated
for "Clean Air and Global Climate Change" efforts.

   - $117.9 million for EPA's climate change programs
   - $44 million for Energy Star programs
   - $5 million for the Asia Pacific Partnership to support international
   efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
   - $4.4 million for Methane to Markets to promote methane recovery and
   use at landfills, coal mines and natural gas facilities.

This represents a $22 million cut in clean air funding from the 2007 budget.
Like the NIST budget, the funding is again directed toward aerosol research.

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