The production, delivery, and use of energy sources can have effects on the environment. The type and size of the effects vary.

• There are many issues related to Energy & Environment that Congress is looking to address with legislation. In the ‘About’ section of this post is an overview of the issues and potential solutions, party positions, and web links. Other sections have information on relevant committees, chairs, & caucuses; departments & agencies; and the judiciary, nonpartisan & partisan organizations, and a wikipedia entry.
• The Energy & Environment category has related posts and three posts on issues of particular focus: Climate Change, Carbon-based Fuel, and Pollution.

To participate in ongoing forums, ask the post’s curators questions, and make suggestions, scroll to the ‘Discuss’ section at the bottom of each post or select the “comment” icon.

Carbon-based fuel is any fuel principally from the oxidation or burning of carbon. Carbon-based fuels are of two main kinds, biofuels and fossil fuels. Whereas biofuels are derived from recent-growth organic matter and are typically harvested, as with logging of forests and cutting of corn, fossil fuels are of prehistoric origin and are extracted from the ground, the principal fossil fuels being oil, coal, and natural gas.

• In the ‘About’ section of this post is an overview of the issues or challenges, potential solutions, and web links. Other sections have information on relevant legislation, committees, agencies, programs in addition to information on the judiciary, nonpartisan & partisan organizations, and a wikipedia entry.
• To participate in ongoing forums, ask the post’s curators questions, and make suggestions, scroll to the ‘Discuss’ section at the bottom of each post or select the “comment” icon.

The Carbon-based Fuel category has related posts on government agencies and departments and  committees and their Chairs.

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants.

• In the ‘About’ section of this post is an overview of the issues or challenges, potential solutions, and web links. Other sections have information on relevant legislation, committees, agencies, programs in addition to information on the judiciary, nonpartisan & partisan organizations, and a wikipedia entry.
• To participate in ongoing forums, ask the post’s curators questions, and make suggestions, go to the ‘Discuss’ section at the bottom of the post.

The Pollution category has related posts on government agencies and departments and  committees and their Chairs.

In common usage, Climate Change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth’s climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth’s climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

• In the ‘About’ section of this post is an overview of the issues or challenges, potential solutions, and web links. Other sections have information on relevant legislation, committees, agencies, programs in addition to information on the judiciary, nonpartisan & partisan organizations, and a wikipedia entry.
• To participate in ongoing forums, ask the post’s curators questions, and make suggestions, scroll to the ‘Discuss’ section at the bottom of each post or select the “comment” icon.

The Climate Change category has related posts on government agencies and departments and  committees and their Chairs.

Mission:  
The Committee on Agriculture has general jurisdiction over federal agriculture policy and oversight of some federal agencies, and it can recommend funding appropriations for various governmental agencies, programs, and activities, as defined by House rules.

Senate counterpart:  Committee on Agriculture 

Subcommittees:

• Commodity Markets, Digital Assets and Rural Development
• Conservation, Research and Biotechnology
• Forestry
• General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit
• Livestock, Dairy and Poultry
• Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture and Horticulture

Chair: Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania (R)
Ranking Member: David Scott, Georgia (D)

Staff Director Majority: Parish Braden
Staff Director Minority: Anne Simmons
Meeting Location: 1301 Longworth House Office Building; Washington, DC 20515 (202-225-2171)

Featured Video:  21st Century Food Systems – Aug. 3, 2021
Web Links

The Committee on Energy and Commerce serves as the principal guide for the House in matters relating to the promotion of commerce and to the public’s health and marketplace interests, with the relatively recent addition of energy considerations among them.

Senate counterparts: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Subcommittees:

•  Communications and Technology
• Energy, Climate and Grid Security
• Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals
• Health
• Innovation, Data and Commerce
• Oversight and Investigations

Chair: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington (R)
Ranking Member: Frank Pallone, New Jersey (D)

Majority Staff Director: N/A
Minority Staff Director: N/A
Meeting Location:

Featured Video: 
Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation – March 25, 2021

The House Committee on Natural Resources considers legislation about American energy production, mineral lands and mining, fisheries and wildlife, public lands, oceans, Native Americans, irrigation and reclamation.

Senate Counterpart:  Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Subcommittees:

• Energy and Mineral Resources
• Federal Lands
• Indian and Insular Affairs
• Oversight and Investigations
• Water, Wildlife and Fisheries

Chair: Bruce Westerman, Arkansas,
Ranking Member: Raúl Grijalva, Arizona

Majority Staff Director: Vivian Moeglein
Minority Staff Director: Lora Snyder
Meeting Location:  Committee on Natural Resources, 1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2761

Featured Video:  The President’s FY22 Budget Priority for the Territories: Medicaid, SSI, and SNAP Parity – July 28, 2021
Web Links

Mission:  
Jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, including nuclear development; irrigation and reclamation, territorial possessions of the United States, trust lands appertaining to America’s indigenous peoples, and the conservation, use, and disposition of federal lands. Its roots go back to the Committee on Interior and Insulars Affairs.

House counterparts:  House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Natural Resources, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Democratic Members (Minority):
Heinrich, Martin (NM), Ranking Member
Wyden, Ron (OR)
Cantwell, Maria (WA)
Hirono, Mazie K. (HI)
King, Angus S. (ME)
Cortez Masto, Catherine (NV)
Hickenlooper, John W. (CO)
Padilla, Alex (CA)
Gallego, Ruben (AZ)

Republican Members (Majority):
Lee, Mike (UT), Chairman
Barrasso, John (WY)
Risch, James E. (ID)
Daines, Steve (MT)
Cotton, Tom (AR)
McCormick, David (PA)
Cassidy, Bill (LA)
Hyde-Smith, Cindy (MS)
Murkowski, Lisa (AK)
Hoeven, John (ND)

Featured Video: 
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on nuclear energy
March 25, 2021

Mission:  
Jurisdiction for legislation and oversight of the natural and built environment and for studying matters concerning environmental protection and resource conservation and utilitization.

House counterparts: Committee on Energy and Commerce; Committee on Natural Resources; Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Democratic Members (Minority):
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island, Ranking Member
Bernie Sanders, Vermont
Jeff Merkley, Oregon
Ed Markey, Massachusetts
Mark Kelly, Arizona
Alex Padilla, California
Adam Schiff, California
Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware
Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland

Republican Members (Majority):
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia, Chair
Kevin Cramer, North Dakota
Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming
John Curtis, Utah
Peter Ricketts, Nebraska
John Boozman, Arkansas
Roger Wicker, Mississippi
Dan Sullivan, Alaska
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Jerry Moran, Kansas

Featured Video: 
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds hearing to debate transportation infrastructure

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States’ policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its responsibilities include the nation’s nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. It also directs research in genomics; the Human Genome Project originated in a DOE initiative. DOE sponsors more research in the physical sciences than any other U.S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories.

The agency is led by the United States Secretary of Energy, and its headquarters are located in Southwest Washington, D.C., on Independence Avenue in the James V. Forrestal Building, named for James Forrestal, as well as in Germantown, Maryland.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a Cabinet department in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government.

Although its beginnings were in the House and Home Financing Agency, it was founded as a Cabinet department in 1965, as part of the “Great Society” program of President Lyndon B. Johnson, to develop and execute policies on housing and metropolises.

The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a federal executive department of the U.S. government. It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States, as well as programs related to historic preservation.

About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s United States Forest Service. The department was created on March 3, 1849.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about $8.3 billion (fiscal year 2020), the

NSF funds approximately 25% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States’ colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing.

Source: Wikipedia

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA) is a scientific and regulatory agency within the Washington, D.C.–based United States Department of Commerce, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The agency is charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.

The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures.

Source: Wikipedia

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents, bridge failures, and railroad accidents.

The NTSB is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous materials releases that occur during transportation. The agency is based in Washington, D.C. It has four regional offices, located in Anchorage, Alaska; Denver, Colorado; Ashburn, Virginia; and Seattle, Washington. The agency also operates a national training center at its Ashburn facility.

Source: Wikipedia