Week ahead: Senate kicks off energy bill review

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will begin hearings on its new bill overhauling energy policy.

The Energy and Policy Modernization Act, a 357-page bill to reform federal energy laws, will come before the committee on Tuesday.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chairwoman of the committee who sponsored the bill with ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), said the panel will likely hold a second day of hearings on the bill Thursday.

{mosads}Among other things, the measure would look to speed up liquefied natural gas export application approvals, prepare the electric grid for renewable energy and improve cybersecurity measures and renew a top conservation program.

The bill looks to increase energy efficiency standards and would end several outdated or redundant government mandates. A House subcommittee approved its version of an energy reform bill this week.

Neither bill includes a controversial provision to lift the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports, though Murkowski said that a vote on the measure is likely within the next few weeks. The Senate Banking Committee will consider that proposal on Tuesday; Murkowski is scheduled to testify.

Elsewhere, the Senate will continue consideration of a six-year transportation bill. The legislation calls for selling off part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to pay for the bill.

The Senate Transportation Committee will hold a Tuesday hearing on legislation that determines who pays for oil spills on U.S. territory.

In the House, the Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on employee misconduct at the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. The panel’s last hearing on the agency, in April, produced accusations of sexual harassment and on-the-job pornography viewing among employees.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Stephen Burns will testify at a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on NRC licensing on Wednesday. On Thursday, the committee’s Energy subpanel will hold a hearing on power supply vulnerabilities.

The House Natural Resources Committee’s oversight panel will hold a hearing probing law enforcement tactics on federal land on Tuesday. The full committee will hold a hearing on enforcement of the Endangered Species Act on Wednesday.

Off Capitol Hill, Murkowski and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) will speak at an Atlantic Council event Thursday on U.S. energy production.

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