good morning to everyone our subcommittee will now come to order pursuant to notice a subcommittee on energy environment needs to consider the following measures h r twenty six ninety three the federal law will still research program act h r twenty seven twenty nine to authorize the designation the national environment research parks by the secretary of energy and for other purposes and h r six hundred twenty two to provide for a program of research development and demonstration on natural gas vehicles will now proceed with the markup this morning the energy and environment subcommittee meets to consider as mentioned three pieces of legislation the federal all pollution research program act which is h r twenty six ninety three also h r twenty seven twenty nine a bill to authorize the department of energy's natural national environment research parks and h r six hundred twenty two a bill to provide for a program of research and development of vehicles that operate using natural gas as a fuel first a subcommittee will discuss this consider a chart twenty six ninety three authored by ms wellesley from california which amends the federal interagency research and development program created in the old hundred ninety this bill would improve the federal government's research and development efforts to prevent attacks or mitigate oil discharges through this reauthorization federal agencies will be better equipped to respond that oil discharges wherever they occur we will also mark up h twenty seven twenty nine a bill introduced by mr lew hahn from the mexico to authorize a department of energy seven national environment research parks these parks are truly a national treasure providing large tracts of land that represent nearly all of the major eco regions in the united states they're a valuable resource for examining the transport of d o d related contaminants long term impacts of climate change and the various ways carbon is captured and released within the ecosystem i'm pleased to be a co sponsor both h r twenty six ninety three and twenty seven twenty nine and i encourage colleagues on both sides aisle to join us in supporting those important bills finally the subcommittee will consider h r six hundred twenty two is a bill introduced by mr sullivan of oklahoma and co sponsored by focus of the ranking member mr hall this bill reauthorizes the department of energy's research development a demonstration program and natural gas powered vehicles and related infrastructure to transform our nation's energy sector we must explore a diverse range of fuels and vehicle technologies well only a piece in a very complex puzzle that's what gas can potentially provide us with an option that is both cleaner than petroleum and more domestically available i look forward to this question on the bill and moving it towards a full committee markup to thank the members for their participation this morning and look forward to a productive markup i now recognize mr inglis to present opening remarks good morning thank you mr chairman for this hearing today we will address several pieces of legislation that highlight the diversity of federal research initiatives in to pressure environmental and energy related related problems an opportunity to reflect on our and to ensure the federal research dollars are focused and well spent first will force the federal or will still research program act will see revitalize the research the federal research effort focused on the prevention detection in mitigation of oil spills while this is critical research and i commend visuals he's dedication of this important issue i'm not confident that h r twenty six ninety three is necessary to improve the inner agency commitment to oil spill research testimony heard on this top but two weeks ago indicated that the inner agency process seems to be working the witnesses indicated that the most significant problems were related to limited funding and poor communication with the states further this bill makes no the chair of the inner agency research committee the other federal agencies seem better geared toward leading this particular research effort second bill is h r twenty seven twenty nine a bill to permanently authorize the national environmental research parks i appreciate mr luanda leadership in this area these facilities are unique environmental research asset the environmental research park at the savannah river site for example has provided south carolina and georgia students with the opportunity to engage in research in our local ecology especially as we develop new energy alternatives our national environmental research parks will help us understand how our energy choices impact our distinct  ecosystems i'd also like to speak in support of h r six hundred twenty two and commend mr sullivan for his leadership in promoting the development of natural gas vehicles as long as we rely on oil to power our transportation sector the u s will be dependent on hostile foreign nations and will continue to fund both sides of the war on terror h r six hundred twenty two will utilize american ingenuity to increase competition in fuel choice in the transportation sector and spurring our innovation economy and increasing our national security thank you again mr chairman i look forward to developing the legislation that truly improves our diverse federal research efforts thank you mr inglis members may place any statements for the record at this point we will now consider h r twenty six ninety three the federal still research program act i am pleased to recognize as well as the to prevent present any additional remarks on her legislation to prevent present thank you very much just chairman and thank you for holding this for up today as some of you remember on november seventh two thousand and seven the container ship cosco busan collided with the san francisco bay bridge and released fifty eight thousand gallons of oil into  san francisco bay although this was considered a minor spill by comparison the impact to my district was widespread the pristine beaches and more in county were soiled waters off our federal park lands were solid and important restoration projects in richardson and san pavlo bay were threatened all in all about two hundred miles of coastline were affected in addition the spill killed thousands of birds many marine mammals and no one knows how many fish that's why i've introduced h r twenty six ninety three the federal i will spill research program act this bill reorganizes the agencies responsible for federal research and development of oil spill prevention detection recovery and mitigation to ensure that the three agencies with the most expertise in this area are working together for common solutions in the most effective and efficient way possible although under current law there are fourteen separate agencies tasked with the oil spill research and when the committee held a hearing on this bill it became clear that the coast guard the e p a and nola are in fact the most engage as a result h r twenty six ninety three creates a federal bill research committee to give these three agencies the primary responsibility for our federal bill prevention activities in the aftermath of the cosco busan spill one thing that i heard again and again from the people who were tasked with cleaning up our mess was that the technology they were using was inadequate to get the job done and the committee heard similar testimonies from experts w testified on h r twenty six ninety three that's why this bill also provides grants to the institutes of higher learning and research centers to improve technology to prevent combat and clean up oil spills it's clear that current technology is inadequate to prevent and protect us from oil spills the average recovery is only between ten and fifteen percent and i know with the right focus and the effort that we need we can do much much better h r twenty six ninety two will help to ensure that the federal government is taking an active role driven oil spills and that when they do occur we have the best possible technology to minimize negative impact to ourselves and to our environment mr chairman again i thank you for holding this mark up my colleagues colleagues to support the h r two six nine three thank you ms wellesley i commend you for your passion in this clearly you have such dedication you always have since for many years in the congress and i applaud you for that and for addressing it so vigorously with this legislation thank you for your work on this chair now recognizes mr inglis for opening remarks  thank you mr chairman and i will have and several questions about this bill and in fact i've got an amendment i'll offer the main question really has to do with why are we choosing know as the chair discharges their research and development is heavily focused on restoration and habitat recovery for the long term instead of prevention response and recovery immediately after a spill and so it is proceed here that will be a question i'll be asking him in the form of an amendment really to ask whether really coast guard is better equipped to handle these functions  read and open to amendment at any point to the members proceed with the amendments in the order the roster without objection so ordered the first man on the roster is a manager's member offered by the gentle lady from california as well as we are you ready to proceed m lady for five minutes to explain the amendment mr chairman i offer this manager's amendment to make a series of changes throughout h r twenty six ninety three to clarify the intent of the legislation and to incorporate recommendations from the legislative hearing held on june fourth to start this amendment replaces the term oil spill with oil pollution to better explain the scope of the program which includes research into oil discharges both on water and on land section two of the bill is amended to provide for more effective notification to the public about the activities of the program including information on existing volunteer training opportunities in incident response section three of the bill as a to clarify some of the elements of the interagency research program it also adds additional program elements including research into the mechanical chemical and biological methods for the recovery removal and disposal of oil technology methods and standards for protecting removal personnel and volunteers that may participate in incident response improved information systems to assist federal response efforts and methods to restore and re have militate natural resources damaged by or oil discharges a new section four of the bill is inserted to allow for the continuation of an existing technology evaluation program that will be supplemented with guidance from the national institute of standards and technology nist the manager's amendment also modifies the contents of the inner agency committee's research assessment is the civically adds a new requirement to identify emerging technologies and the barriers to the utilization of those technologies by federal response teams in addition the manager's amendment clarifies that the assessment will include an analysis of the effectiveness of current technologies to address or oil pollution and an assessment and comparison of regional differences in response capabilities section five of the bill is amended to clarify the required contents of the federal pollution research and development plan specifically the amendment clarifies that the plan is to include research to improve the rates of oil recovery the effectiveness of the response to all this charges and the accessibility and utility of the information available to mariners researchers and responders section section six of the bill is amended to make clear that each of the agencies in the interagency program not just no law may award grants for two or utilize other funding mechanisms to address the research priorities set forth in the research plan section seven of the bill is modified to simplify the reporting requirement by the national academy of sciences under the manager's amendment national academy will be responsible for submitting to congress and the inner agency committee a report evaluating the oil pollution research and development program and identifying priority areas of needed research and technology development finally the amendment includes a direct authorization for no n e t a each in the amount of two million dollars a year for fiscal year two thousand and ten through fiscal year two thousand fourteen mr chairman this amendment is based on witness recommendations from the hearing and follow up conversations with the related federal agencies i asked my colleagues to please support the manager's amendment that i thank the general a d n a moment mr inglis will have a second degree man meant to offer but before we turn to him i was does anyone else have comments they wish to offer on these amendments if not then we'll turn to mr inglis to offer his second r twenty six ninety three this is amendment number zero zero seven i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading without objection so ordered i recognize the gentleman for five minutes to explain his amendment thank you mr chairman this manager's amendment make conference in monthly phone conference call with other participating agencies all three federal witnesses that are here in two weeks ago stated that the current structure works well there is always room for improvement it should not require tossing the existing structure that works in favor of something new i know it provides strategic and important information on the of to the on scene coordinator either the coast guard or e p a as a science coordinator they provide information to help track where the oil is moving to they are in charge of restoration efforts after cleanup has been occurred has occurred however no its focus is not on the response and oil recovery but on restoration habitat recovery revive better technologies prevent the oil from causing so much devastation that means being able to collect it burn it or disperse it the coast guard the mineral management service or the two agencies to conduct the most research in these areas although no a scientific contribution to guard but the second one is that is an interesting provision you've got about field testing that sounds like it may be a good idea it is different than what we've done before as i understand  agencies have had to produce paper with other countries in field testing because it's so difficult for us to get field testing permits so it may be a good idea to do some field tests which as i understand it means dumping some oil in the ocean seeing what happens it was just brought forward maybe they haven't been doing enough with it and maybe we should be doing more but at least one of recognize that it's it's part of what was and we're not it was a good idea then time my concern mr inglis certainly mr chairman with the inglis amendment is that it preserves the status quo now there is nobody that respects and supports the united states focus now is homeland security and because of that i believe we should be looking elsewhere i want them to be part of the triad that's going to be running this show but i want them  i believe that nola is the answer for that to be the chair of that part of what we're trying to do in this bill is to restructure our federal research and prevention and frankly breeze some new life into this area unfortunately as it stands the coast guard who are currently in charge of these efforts under the inner agency coordinating committee on oil pollution research  seems to be focused more on homeland security so under the leadership of the coast guard the coordinating committee hasn't produced an oil pollution research and technology plan hundred seven that was twelve years ago and the plan it's been in place for twenty years and they've only had to put that plan together once they really this really is not their focus and we need them desperately but we don't need them to be doing the nitty gritty and no was the nitty gritty kind of agency as far as i can tell when they work with me that's why i put no law at the head of the committee in h r twenty six ninety three because their science and their expertise is absolutely world class and i have as i said i not only don't have anything against the coast guard i actually absolutely support them and  i think they're wonderful but i believe no one is better suited to lead this effort at this time so mr chairman because of this i oppose the english amendment i think the general idea and i appreciate the question raised by the gentleman from south carolina and i appreciate the response from the sponsor of the legislation and this is an issue that i think merits perhaps further discussion between now and final markup and be happy to recognize the gentleman from south carolina thank you mr chairman i'm going to withdraw the amendment this point and hope that we can to continue the discussion as we move toward the full committee with just this thought that you know it seems to me that when you've got a spill the thing you need is boats booms a do collection things and that's what they're good at knowing seems to me good at other things and so they don't really have the resources a little bit like the situation we've had the opposite argument i guess equipment and the strategies on how out of four what the no one knows what the the tides will be doing where the oil will be going and  that's and i don't think i'm sure that the coast guard will continue to do what the coast guard does with this big equipment and it's but we need new cleanup equipment we need new ways of training lot of what they needed to be working with wasn't even available and having them thought about and we dis would expect them to be doing that when they're so focused on homeland security and certainly their boats are always available and they'll know point across is it when you're getting out there to try to contain the spill and get around it with containment vessels and there may be a role for people in speedboats helping out but on the other hand it's probably a matter of really heavy equipment getting out there to get in place now once the spill has happened and there's some remediation and we need birds cleaned up and things like that certainly there's an opportunity for volunteers but i'm again i'm not really sure that the coast guard is a place that has big boats and they're moving in with a lot of power and heavy metal they don't exactly have time for speed boats these are our big trolling you know fishing vessels that were out there with the booms on each you know holding them and the boom they went adequate they had no way  is appreciate gentleman's offer to withdraw the members i think what happens in a positive sense is both of you are making very good points but i think they're there but orthogonal in terms of what the issue before us is what we can try to do and discussion before for final markup is find a way to to address your concern about the on the scene during stiction management of the hardware etc and as well as he's concerned about the need for ongoing research and parents limited application of that kind of research and that's what i interagency program and related assessment in two ways first the amendment ensures the program will involve research and development into new technologies and methods to respond to all pollution in arctic regions as polarized continues to melt the new channels are emerging that allow for increase vessel traffic and also expanded oil exploration in the region as arctic transportation increases we need to have the technologies in place to deal with oil spells in these unique environments second this amendment inserts a new requirement in the assessment section of the bell  should include an investigation into the economic incentives and barriers to the development of new technologies for oil pollution response because large oil spills happen infrequently but carry the possibility of an environmental disaster it is important that we are creating the correct incentive structure for the development of technologies to mitigate and prevent such an accident this is common sense amendment i urge its adoption is there for the discussion on amendment if no the vote occurs on the amendment all in favor say  thank you congresswoman lee for your work on the bill it's important the federal oil pollution research and development efforts consider incidents that occur in locations across the country pulse waters inland waters and on land since the original interagency program focused primarily on coastal oil spills my amendment adds new requirements to the program assessment and plan to consider and investigate technologies and methods to address oil discharges on land and inland waters is a man was based on comments from witnesses at the june fourth energy environment hearing and conversations with related federal agencies involved in the interagency program asked my cause colleagues to support the cement and i think for consideration you'll back me is there further discussion of the amendment chairman yes this amendment will ensure that the technologies and techniques that emerge from the oil spill research program are helpful to nonfederal or oil pollution response agencies that are here in two weeks ago we learned that the california office of civil prevention in response saw their there were several deficiencies in oil spill research we also learned that there was work at the federal level that could meet those deficiencies this amendment will push federal agencies to communicate significant research advancements to state and local oil spill teams and improve their ability to respond to spills so what are achieved option amendment i commend the gentleman for his amendment that it's very constructive any other comments from additional members of the panel to see them twenty six ninety three as amended all those in favor will say i i all those opposed will say no in the opinion of the chair of the eyes ha i recognize myself to offer a motion i move that the subcommittee favorably report h r twenty six ninety three as amended to the full committee furthermore i move that staff be instructed to prepare the necessary committee report and make any technical changes in conforming technical and conforming changes to the bill in table members will have two subsequent calendar days in which to submit supplemental minority or additional views of the measure we will now consider h r twenty seven twenty nine to authorize the designation of the national environment research parks by the secretary of energy and for other purposes i will  happy to be supportive of the bill thanks mr inglis i ask unanimous consent that the bill is considered as read and open amendment at any point that the members proceed with the amendments in the order of the roster without objection so ordered the first amendment on the roster is an amendment in the nature of a for offering their valuable insight and suggestions at the hearings we held on this bill last week the seven national environmental research parks that h r twenty seven twenty nine formally authorizes provide unique research environments necessary to understanding the impacts of humans and industrial development on the environment the parks are largely come comprised of preserve land and natural state on several department of energy sites across the country many of them have existed for decades the parks enable studies of the transport  daily relevant containments long term variations of climate i apologize or mr chairman it's irrelevant content and it can time and long term variations of climate and evaluation of crops maybe uses feedstock for bio energy with this authorization these parts will be able to properly supported expand their important research activities h r twenty seven twenty nine also includes public outreach and education components that will support science and technology in the classroom and increase public awareness of environmental science overall the amendment of the nature of a substitute makes minor technical and clarifying corrections and also improve h r twenty said in twenty nine and several ways it instructs the secretary of energy to designate a national of our mental research part coordinator tout coordinator complementary research activities and ensure information on best practices is shared among the parts you ma'am it clarifies that the office of science will be the lead agency for supporting the parts within the department you ma'am and also ensures that community colleges are included in the environmental education and outreach section i'm grateful to my republican colleagues for their suggestions which i incorporated into the so members well i look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the committee of h r twenty seven twenty  for parts of those sites to be developed and used for research and that there may be for example there's one that said be doing physics experiments and there's some question about wh they could do that in those areas i certainly don't think that would be the intent of the bill to prevent from doing plan development or other kinds of research on lands that are officially designated as intent of the language and i don't believe that there is any language that within the bill that would prevent them from doing and i'm mr chairman of the journal revealed one of the changes in the manager's amendment on page  five line twenty two does change one of the concerns that was brought up in the subcommittee discussion from shall include to may include which should clear up any concerns that they may have had the intent of this is to continue to explore any research that is taking place to be able to encourage science as opposed to discourage it  open for research surely what i would hope we see intent is to say for example the savannah river ecology lab that that whole three hundred square mile area is available to be used for various kinds of experiments rather than put off limits that's a lot of land that could do a lot of value valuable research we don't want to constrain that research right that is the intact yes apparently the question arises  chairman of the journal gentlemen with the idea of the protective language mr chairman is that there's areas of the park that are contaminated and they should be protected from the public as opposed to protective of the kind of science or research would take place and so that's something that needs to be clarified mr chairman i'm sure that we could work on that but that's the intent of this to protect it from those that may be in contact with contaminated areas in claim a time that's certainly important place like savannah river savannah river or site if you want to keep people out of some places that really are would be very dangerous to be but i'm glad to hear that the intent and i want to make sure we're getting this on the record the intent is to make it  freely available for scientific purposes because while we've got this incredible asset that we're talking about at that hearing let's make sure to use it for scientific research and not to cordon off areas that could be used for great research so mr chairman as i hope that between now and that committee we can full committee we can see if there are any improvements that need to be made to that language and i hope that create ambiguity so that we block research where it must occur and i applaud the gentleman for and his staff are raising this issue and i hope council will commit to work with that as well gentleman to continue  again i thank the gentleman and i think he's raise outstanding points mr levin and let's work together to see we can do to absolutely clarify that and work that out before most of final passage are there others there's a second amendment on the research park to the nerds according to the official language in the fischel charter the national environmental research parks are actually feel laboratory set aside for ecological research and let me emphasize for the study of the environmental impacts of energy developments and for informing the public of the environmental and land use options open to them in other words studying the environmental impacts on energy technologies was one of the primary purposes stated in a vision to the nerves so you can understand why i was a little dismayed last week when during our hearing of h r twenty seven twenty nine when i asked one of the witnesses whether or not they were aware of any research being conducted on the environmental impacts of renewable energy technologies and essentially they indicated all all the panel is that they weren't aware of any as most of my colleagues know i'm a big supporter of renewables but particularly solar energy one of the major attractions of renewable energy technologies is obviously it's a relatively low environmental impact compared to traditional energy sources however no energy technology even solar energy is without any environmental impacts so this language is pretty simple it includes the language environmental impacts of development and use of energy generation technologies including we're knowable energy technologies a section to be of the bill and i think it'll provide the explicit encouragement for those researchers studying these impacts to look at where noble's i think this is non controversial and i think it's consistent with the long established purposes of the nerves and i urge my colleagues to support it generally has a well established record of commitment to renewable energy plauger for that and think this amendment is thoroughly consistent with that record are there any other members of the who wish to comment on this remember hearing none the vote occurs on the the substitute all in favor say aye aye those opposed no the eyes have it the amendment is agreed to the vote now occurs on the bill h r twenty seven twenty nine as amended all those in favor will say i i all those opposed no  the opinion of the chair the eyes have it again i thank colleagues for working together on this bill mr inglis you raise some very good points and we'll work on those before moving it to the full committee i now move that the subcommittee favorable report h r twenty seven twenty nine as amended to the full committee furthermore i move that the staff be instructed to prepare the subcommittee report and make necessary technical and change conforming changes to the bill in accordance with the recommendations of the subcommittee question is on the motion the report the bill favorably tho d i think mr sullivan is doing good work here by promoting the development of natural gas vehicles this technology we know works and it's available to us has been used and is being used  it just hopefully will increase the competitive position of natural gas and introduce so this concept of fuel choice in the transportation sector case  one of the ways that the best way to break the strategic value of crude oil is to introduce competition and effective fuel choice and so that's what this bill is about work on it i offer my support as well to take this bill to the full committee does anyone else wish to be recognized mister mr davis recognize for five minutes in this was the chairman thank you very much i think as we look at  our portfolio today of transportation i think we've ignored too long the use of natural gas in our automobile it is my understanding that natural gas burns much cleaner some say as much as seventy five percent cleaner than the fossil fuels that we derive from the other sources and that may include all and as i look at our retooling today and revamping the auto industry especially as we look at the two that are in bankruptcy it would seem to me very logical that these new automobile companies with the old names just aren't looking at maybe integrating the storage capacity  the actual structure of those automobiles or we could get to fifty to three hundred miles on a fill up and i'm not hearing much encouragement as i as i watch this debate that we have today on climate change i'm not hearing much debate that this should be one of the major alternatives that we look at that would replace the fuel that we get today from crude oil most of which is being imported i was excited the last twelve to fourteen months as  conversations during the campaigns that natural gas should be and could be the replacement in many cases of fuel to the route from crude oil so it is my hope that as we pass this legislation i'm not sure that that the amount dollars w months even adequate but i think that that is a that we have today in this country a viable resource that is underutilized that can in fact play a major role in helping reduce the climate change that we're seeing and can help reduce carbon emissions and it is my hope that this legislation passes and that we even start examining more interested in seeing this as an alternative to crude oil i thank the gentleman for his comments and  are there any amendments to this legislation if no then the vote will occur on the bell h r sixteen twenty two all in favor say aye all this oppose no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it i recognize myself offer a motion  move the subcommittee favorably report h r six hundred twenty two to the full committee furthermore report the staff be instructed to repair the subcommittee report and make necessary technical and conforming changes to the bill in accordance with the recommendations of the subcommittee question is on the motion to report the bil favorably those in favor of the motion will signify by saying i i oppose no yes habitability favorably reported without objection a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table members will have to subsequent calendar days in which to submit some supplemental minority