Climate Crisis Committee to Hold Hearing on Cleaner, Cheaper Energy

WASHINGTON - The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a hybrid hearing titled “Cleaner, Cheaper Energy: Climate Investments to Help Families and Businesses” on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. ET. The hearing will take place in Room 210 of the Cannon House Office Building and via Zoom video conferencing. It will be broadcast live here.

The hearing will focus on the potential of clean energy to make electricity bills and transportation costs cheaper for families across America. The hearing will also focus on how investments in the Build Back Better Act will help families avoid the volatility of natural gas and oil prices, make long-term progress to reduce energy prices across the board, and help businesses achieve their clean energy goals.

The committee will receive testimony from:

Miranda Ballentine, Chief Executive Officer, Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA). Ballentine leads a group of nearly 300 energy customers seeking to procure clean energy across the United States, including service providers, businesses, and non-profits. Previously, Ballentine served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, & Energy during the Obama Administration, as well as Director of Sustainability for Global Renewable Energy for Walmart.

Uday Varadarajan, Principal, RMI; Precourt Energy Scholar, Sustainable Finance Initiative at Stanford University. At RMI, Varadarajan is a Principal in the Carbon-Free Electricity Practice, where his work focuses on how to use cutting edge data and financial, policy, and regulatory analysis to help drive a just transition to clean energy. Previously, Uday served as a program examiner in the Office of Management and Budget, where he helped oversee the $2 billion budget for Department of Energy energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Jaffe is a leading expert on global energy policy, energy and sustainability, and geopolitical risk. During her career, she has led climate, energy, and sustainability programs at the Council on Foreign Relations, the University of California, Davis, and Columbia University, and she advised the Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the University California, Regents. She has also taught energy policy, business and sustainability courses at Rice University, UC Davis, and Yale University.

Alex Herrgott, President & CEO, The Permitting Institute. Herrgott leads a non-partisan association that advocates for changes in the U.S. infrastructure permitting process. Previously, he was executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, as well as the associate director for infrastructure at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) during the Trump Administration.

 
More information about the hearing, including a live webcast, will be available here.

###