Transcripts For CSPAN3 House Hearing On Oversight Of Energy Dept. During COVID-19 Pandemic 20240712

Good morning. So this meeting will now come to order. Today the subcommittee is holding a hearing entitled oversight of doe, during covid19 pandemic. Members will be participating in todays hearing finally in person or remotely via video conferences. And just as a reminder weve had some technical difficulties in making sure that our remote video was operating up to standard. As part of this hearing, the microphones of members participating remotely will be set on mute for the purpose of eliminating inadvertent background noise. Members participating remotely will need to unmute their microphones each time you wish to speak. For members and witnesses participating in person, i encourage you to wear your mask whenever you are not speaking. Dr. Monahan, our physician, stressed in attending physician covid19 guidelines that use of face coverings is meant to protect other people in case someone was unknowingly infected and does not have symptoms. But wearing our mask when we are not speaking, each of us is playing a vital role in protecting all members and all staff who are in attendance as well those in the administration for the covid19 response who will be testifying before the committee today, the secretary of energy, secretary growlette. Finally documents for the record could be send to adam fisher, and the email address that we provided to staff. All documents will be entered into the record and in conclusion of the hearing. The chair now recognizes himself for five minutes for the purpose of an Opening Statement. Good afternoon. The recent decline in our nations Economic Activity has resulted in a multitude of hardships within our communities and economic sectors. Today the subcommittee on energy convenes for a hearing to further examine the impacts of Novel Coronavirus on a vital segment of our economy. From the outset, the pandemic has presented the Energy Sector with numerous challenges ranging from staggering unemployment rates, supply chain disruptions, declining demand, and investment. And at present 1. 3 million members of the Energy Sector workforce remain unemployed. A significant percentage of these jobs were once occupied by people of color and hardworking members of the Clean Energy Industry which enjoyed steady growth. Take this into account, the sub smitty held a remote hearing in june to discuss the sectors recent setbacks. Throughout this hearing well receive expert testimony from witnesses who spoke the pandemics effect on Clean Energy Jobs as well as the energy and economic recovery engine. In response to this hearing, i was proud to join my colleagues in including provisions to support Workforce Development, diversity and Clean Energy Infrastructure investment within the recent infrastructure bill. This committee who has grown and in the jurisdiction an over sight of federal Agency Resources that are key to the Health Crisis and the economic challenges that are linked to the coronavirus. The department of energy and its vast enterprise is chief among these resources. That is why i am so pleased to welcome the secretary of energy mr. Secretary dan rouillette who will testify before the subcommittee today. Sect rouillette is not a stranger to the subcommittee in that he served previously as staff director to chairman a few years back. To date the department of energy has leveraged National System which includes chicagos own national lab to harness its simple computing capabilities to fight covid19. Additionally, it is going to support the public and private sector in keeping our very own lights on. I am if full deployment of doe resources in the vital importance to our nations economic recovery. Existing programs right now has an Economic Impact and diversity and in the office of energy and Renewable Energy and the ability to drive Employment Opportunities it has central diversity and secure Energy Savings, especially at a time when they are so critically needed. Therefore, i look forward to todays hearing and the first step in ensuring a Productive Partnership to preserve liability and opportunity within the Energy Sector. With that, i yield to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from michigan, the Ranking Member, greg upton for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Well, thank you, mr. Chairman. And welcome back to you. And welcome back mr. Secretary. You know, it is good to have you before us today and certainly good to see your thriving after your promotion to cabinet secretary. Where ive said from the beginning were fortunate to have someone like you at the helm of the department and when you testified before us back in 2018, the committee was looking at [ inaudible ] steps congress to take for the department and the economic and are going to be confronting the nation and given the committees jurisdiction from the [ inaudible ], the secretary of energy and of science and of the department. Legislation initiatives. For example, emerging hazards [ inaudible ]. Diplomacy to improve and advance nuclear and other Energy Policy to an improved programs like minority Workforce Development important to all of us. So fast forward today and many of the policy issues remain critical. The covid19 pandemic and the Energy Sector impacts have highlighted why a doe is so important mr. Upton, will you please suspend. Youre breaking up and we want to try to correct that problem. Were sitting on the edge of our seat trying to hear what you have to say. Ill wait for the green light. The gentleman will proceed. Okay. In your own testimony, mr. Secretary, you highlighted how doe brought the capability of the scientific and Technology Advanced resources to the covid fight and that compound screening with the supercomputer at the oakridge and the advanced proton source user facility to characterize the virus and the work leading Tech Companies illustrate the benefits of collaboration across the doe complex with a private sector and we heard testimony just to this point two years out and now we see how it is used in a crisis. The crisis in the Energy Sector with economic shut down and the russia saudi price war and our Strategic Energy leadership in any ways. I doubt anyone imagined that some 40 years that our Petroleum Reserve would be useful to just take on supply rather than disperse it in a crisis. We need to protect our Energy Security. Clearly the pandemic exposed the Strategic Risk from city leadership on oil and gas and reminded us of the Important Role in American Energy resources and technology serves our national and strategic interest. Several republican members on this panel are working on legislation reforms to help modernize Energy Infrastructure and increase american Energy Leadership and that involves policy to strengthen our security to modernize regulatory requirements that ensure that doe and the private Sector Innovation advances could be put into action. The recent crisis revealed to more americans that the strategic threats of china, russia, and other adversaries to our longterm economic and Energy Security and this underscores the work that we must do to make sure that doe has all of the tools and the authorities necessary to safeguard and respond to threats to our critical electric infrastructure and the delivery and supply of energy. The president s recent power system executive order underscores those risks and doe i know is at the center of responding to them. The increase in complex interconnections of our modern Energy Systems for pipelines and power plants present growing risk to the lid and that requires an a coordinated atent across the Energy Department and programs and operations and we ought to discuss what moore is needed to advance your mission on that front today. Finally, growing Nuclear Weapons threats in the tens of billion dollars needed to maintain a Nuclear Deterrent under score the urgency for efficient, effective and governance in management of the doe Nuclear Security missions. So there many topics here, mr. Secretary. Your experience from the past and your experience now will help to identify, to address the challenges and how we all can Work Together on behalf of the country. Thank you. And i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognized mr. Pallone, the chairman of the committee for the purposes of an Opening Statement. Thank you, chairman rush. Secretary rouillette, welcome back to the committee. Were obviously glad that we have you before the committee in your role as secretary. I just wanted to begin by thanking the department of Energy Particularly its National Laboratories for the research they are conducting on covid19. Our committee has held numerous hearings and conducted a lot of oversight over the federal governments woefully inadequate response to the pandemic and a response done very little to alleviate the skyrocketing cases were seeing all around the nation. And while i continue to be critical of the administrations response, the research being conducted at the National Labs is important to analyze the structure of the virus and the model as it spread and i look forward to hearing more specifics on that effort, mr. Secretary. The pandemic has also seriously damaged our economy leaving millions of americans unemployed. The severe economic downturn is impacting the Energy Sector with the energy efficience that are particularly hard hit. The subcommittee held a hearing last month with secretary mon iz who briefed us on the impact this has had on the Energy Sector and we have to do more to aid the struggling renewable nurse. This month we passed the moving forward act to combat climate change. The bill invests more than 126 billion in clean energy, Energy Efficiency and deep decarbonization, there is no better way to stimulate the economy and create millions of goodpaying jobs than to modernize our badly aging infrastructure. And the president has expressed interest in an infrastructure package. But hes going to need to exert some pressure on the senate imagine order leader mcconnell who so far refuses to act on an infrastructure bill. And speaking of this set, i want to discuss the nations Nuclear Security mission because of the National Authorization act. The Senate Armed Services chairman attempted to strip the doe of much of the authority over the National Security administration and this was a wrongheaded effort that threatens the important longstanding principle of civilian and not military control over the Nuclear Weapons stockpile and could upend nonnuclear aspects of the doe budget. Senators candwell and manchin should not have its hand in the budgeting process and should be strengthen the secretary of energys role in managing the Nuclear Security mission because nnsa seems to be going from quasiindependent to roke with each passing year. Turning to the bulk power, system, i do have some concerns about the way doe is implementing an executive order limits the use of system power by foreign adversaries. I support this as part of our effort to protect our grid but i think there is confusion of the order. What the probe hib is on acquiring and installing this equipment already in place there is a pressing need for guidance for energy projects. Many of which depend on complex supply chain and i look forward to an update on finalizing this policy. I also wanted to touch finally on an issue that i pressed with your predecessor, secretary perry, and also undersecretary menses. Doe has fallen behind on updating appliance efficiency standards it is hard to believe that doe has 26 statutory deadlines for updating efficiency standards and i appreciate the department has recently and finally started the process of catching up on these deadlines by initiating rule making but i know youve been putting quite a bit of resources into purely discretionary rule making. Some of which seemed design to undercut rather than promote Energy Savings. For example a role in the works would make standards for home furnaces almost impossible. So we need to see more action from doe to update and finalize critically efficiency standards that save consumers money and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Thank you, again, secretary, thank you for joining us today. I know it is always difficult with the covid and with doing things virtually. We go back and forth in terms of our ability to do everything virtually. But i do thank you for coming and being here today. Because this is a very important hearing. And i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The chairman and full committee yields back. The chair now recognized mr. Ronin, the Ranking Member of the full committee for five minutes for the purposes of an Opening Statement. Well, good morning or afternoon depending upon which coast youre on, mr. Chairman. And i thank you for holding this hearing and welcome you. It is great to have you back before the committee. Once again youve provided strong leadership over the last seven months that youve been in office. And we appreciate that. And certainly youve been fighting the covid virus and the pandemic. Worked its way across our country, across the world and certainly in the energy industry. The unprecedented drop in oil prices is devastated the american gas and oil industry and costs upwards of 100,000 jobs and the department of energy has been right in the action helping our country respond to this terrible situation. So going forward, the work is on top of the other important responsibilities that the department has, certainly. And these range from executing on the nations Nuclear Deterrent mission to protect our Critical Infrastructure, supporting a robust r d program and keeping capabilities up to date and cleaning up defense sites such as that at hanford in washington across the river from my district. Most people do not appreciate all of the responsibilities that you have at the department of energy. It is a National Security agency Energy Security agency, with a Nuclear Warhead in the nuclear navy and serving Critical Roles in nonproliferation of other Energy Security missions. Doe is a world class science and engineering and technology agency. It is an Environmental Energy engineering and cleanup agency, all this interconnected across National Labs and production sites and facilities for contractors approaching 100,000 people. It is never easy. It is a complicated job and we know that. But the up shot is the benefits of the nation for security and science and innovation and keeping america in the lead across the energy land scape. The key ingredient is through a doe enter prize and a team work that emerges from that. This synergy among the weapons and energy labs are critical for success. Think about the super commuting and big data of the agency, advancing computer architecture creating by doe science and Weapons Programs, it is essential for Nuclear Weapons stockpile but the Cross Mission benefits are clear. Look at the use of oakridge to screen compounds for covid19 vaccine development. And material science programs at the Pacific Northwest national lab which i have toured have translated into technologies for scanning at airports, for cybersecurity protection and advanced battery production and this works both ways. The advances in Nuclear Fuels and technology at the Idaho National lab attracts the Knowledge Base for navy nuclear. You could extend this to other important missions. Doe work on advanced nuclear coupled with our work and [ inaudible ] licensing for expanding energy. This is the cornerstone of the Nations Nuclear policy. A hallmark of civilian control of the Nuclear Enterprise and important tool not only for National Security. But also a key solution to exporting cleaner Energy Around the world. Our duty on this committee and in this congress is to make sure the secretary has the tools and authority he or she needs to execute the departments missions. Our goal is to maximize the benefits of the doe enterprise for america. So i look forward to exploring what more we can do to be of assistance today, mr. Chairman. And mr. Secretary. And i want to share the concerns compressed by the chairman of the full committee with regard to the ndaa and what it does, purports to do, to the civilian side of the Nuclear Weapons program. And to diminish the Important Role of the secretary of energy and chairman pallone and i are working together shoulder to shoulder on fixing this problem in the legislation the house is going to take up. So with that, mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time and look forward to the discussion. Ranking member yields back. The chair would like to remind members that pursuant to Committee Rules, all members written Opening Statements shall be made a part of the committees record. And now it is my pleasure and honor to welcome once again before this committee our witness for todays hearing. As has been noted secretary rouillette is a former staff director on this committee and we certainly want to welcome him back as the secretary of energy to testify before this committee. Mr. Secretary, once again, we welcome you. I enjoyed our conversation yesterday and we look forward to your testimony. But before we begin, mr. Secretary, i would like to explain, i dont think i have to, but it says i should explain the lighting system. In front of you is a series of lights and the light will be green and it is at the start of the Opening Statement and the light will turn yellow when you have one minute remaining and please begin to wrap up your testimony at that point. The light will turn red when your time expires. Secretary rouillette, again, welcome back to the committee, subcommittee rather, and youre now recognized for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for the honor of being here again and thank you for that gentle reminder. I must say it is much better to be on that side of the dias than this side. And my complements on that mask. I think youre rivaling our dearly departed friend ron dellhams as the best dressed man in congress. Doing quite well. But thank you chairman member and Ranking Member and full Committee Chairman pallone and Ranking Member mr. Walden. It is an honor to appear before you today to discuss the United States department of Energy Response to covid19. And i failed to mention i would like to thank you for your warm welcome. At our Artificial Intelligence event the hospitality could not have been better. Thank you for that, sir. I appreciate that. When the covid19 pandemic hit the United States, President Trump very early on directed the whole of government approach to defeating this virus. And im proud to report to that you doe National Labs and world class facilities have been on the front lines of this important mission. Seven of the labs are partners in the covid19 High Performance Computing Consortium when the president announced in march. This partnership spearheaded by the white house, doe and ibm, including government and industry and academic letters is unleashing the power of americas supercomputing resources to combat covid19 around the globe. Were very exciting about the growing International Participation in this consortium to battle the epidemic worldwide. We at doe has established a Bio Technology laboratory using the full range of our facilities in the effort against covid19. Weve set up a portal which will enable americas innovators to easily access essential resources and connect and partner experts at all of our National Laboratories. And as the chairman mentioned. They have used our laboratory to characterize more than a dozen preteens which are potential targets for medicines and Counter Measures from covid19. Including one that allows it to hide from the immune system. And working with our Oakridge National laboratory in tennessee, another protein that enables it to reproduce. Resear researchers at oakridge have screened more than 8,000 drug compounded for 77 that had potential use in this fight. Oakridge is helping mass produce Health Care Supplies such as mask and face shields and doing it in record time. Theyre also producing and developing low cost n95 respirators that could be cleaned and later reused. Scientists at the berkeley lab are using the facilities to identify neutralizing ante bodies that would be used as preventive treatment or post exposure therapy. This covid19 pandemic has also led the challenges that go well beyond the virus itself. In march, we faced an over supply of oil due to some decisions made by key nations following the collapse of opec plus negotiations. While also facing a nearly catastrophic decline in demand due obviously to the pandemic. The president facilitated an agreement between saudi arabia and russia on terms that were favorable to the United States. As the Largest Energy producer and consumer in the world we were able to engage other nations from a position of strength and authority and the agreement brought stability to Energy Markets around the world and it helped produce or protect Americas Energy producers. Following through on President Trumps direction, we opened the strategic Petroleum Reserve to store excess oil from u. S. Producers. Crude Oil Deliveries from roughly of approximately 21 Million Barrels to the spr have now been completed. Doe is also working closely with states and stakeholders to ensure that renewable Energy Sectors make it to the other side of this pandemic. In addition, our eere office is working with the National Association of state Energy Officials to develop post Covid Economic Development proposals using existing resources. We also worked with public and private sector partners to ensure that our Critical Infrastructure was fully operational. Doe assisted the industry with access to personal protective equipment and testing kits. We ensured the inclusion of the Energy Section in workers in the department of Homeland Security guidance on essential Critical Infrastructure workforce which promoted the ability of such workers to continue working during the closure orders and with social distancing. And similarly the department engaged in a planning processes to sequester control center personnel on site to ensure continuity of operations. As we return to full operations, were renewing our Energy Endeavors and refocusing on important new priorities. The bulk power system, the backbone of the nations electric grid is coming under increasing threat from foreign adversaries. On may 1st President Trump signed an executive order to increase security. My team and i will continue to work with other federal departments and Industry Partners to eliminate vulnerabilities and develop policies to ensure security and resiliency. That is my hope today. To make our nation safer and stronger more prosperous and more filled with promise than ever before. So thank you, again, mr. Chairman, for the opportunity. I look forward to answering your questions. I thank the witness. And now we will proceed to questions. And the chair will recognize on. Recognize republican for five minutes and now the chair recognizes himself for five minutes for the purposes of question iing the witness. Secretary, for the past five years, the u. S. Energy and improvement report, also known as has served as an essential resource for Energy Sector workforce insight. If your current unemployment numbers and the representation of minorities within the Energy Sector, e these insights are now needed more than ever. Last december, the congress appropriated 1. 7 million for the sixth annual reintegrated their points of this unit. Their collection methods cons t consisted with previous installments to ensure efficacy. This means Data Collection could me mean, could begin this september. Secretary, one problem, sir, if any, and the department may produce iing the next report an will it be on time . The answer to the last question, sir, it will be on time. We, i have had many conversations with former secretary about this as recently as this weekend, as a matter of fact. It is our commitment to you that were going to continue to provide this type of information, this type of data, to the u. S. Congress. I have proposed that we add some Data Collection to this particular process. We are slightly behind with the day a ta collection. There is no secret to that. I will own that responsibility. We have fallen slightly behind. Primarily because of the covid. Were working remotely, but we plan to contract with Data Collection service quickly. Well do that Data Collection throughout august, september and october of this year. Well prepare the final report toward the end of this year and submit it to you. Thank you. How will doe deits resourto inc within the office of Economic Impact and diversity to address job losses and diversity and inclusion . Well, sir, its a broadbased effort that we have at the department of energy. It focuses on not only the, the department itself, it goes well beyond that and into the industry, but ill focus my comments on the department itself and let you know what we have done since our last conversation, which was i think approximately 18 months ago, and a that was before the committee. You tasked me, at that point, to take a look at this. I have done that. I want to report just really quickly, we have now revitalized what we refer to as our minor y minorities and Energy Program at the department. When i came back from the hearing, i immediately tasked james campos to do exactly that. And the result of that effort is what we refer to as the new equity and Energy Initiative and its designed to advise me as the secretary, but also expand the inclusion and participation in individuals and underserved communities and doe and the Energy Sector more broadly. From my perspective as secretary, ill give you some quick results. The new hire diversity in fiscal year 17, there were 17 minorities hired as new hires. In fiscal year 20 this year, that number has jumped to 31 . So the program was working. James is doing a great job leading that effort. Im proud of the nakt that we are the only department, or one of the only ones that has an, a program thats completely dedicated to this. And as you know, sir, james is a Senate Confirmed person. So its a very high ranking position within our department. And i think hes doing a great job. Were going to continue the good work in this program. Mr. Secretary, i have just a few seconds left. Would you also address i mentioned thatten the phone yesterday, and whats the status on the fem program . Its moving forward. Energy efficiency in federal buildings is key to Energy Savings. I know chairman pallone had mention ed some other Energy Efficient program, but one of the greatest savings that we could find is within the federal complex itself. I just had an opportunity to visit the roof of the department of energy and i noticed that there are some solar panels up there that are badly outtadated and we need to update them. So im going to work with miss captor and potentially find some Additional Resources and we can upgrade the efficiencies but also work with othering agencies to do the same thing. Thats where some of our greatest savings will come from. Thank you. My time is concluded. You make whatever i have remaining. I now recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Nelson, for five minutes of questioning the witness. Well, thanks again, mr. Chairman. And mr. Secretary, i want to ask you a couple of question, but id like to begin on focusing on Grid Security. Back in may, the president issued an executive order to secure the u. S. Power system and many of us a number of classified briefings, its Crystal Clear that the threats to the system by foreign adversaries constitutes what could be a Real National emergency. The grid is fundamental for our National Security and our economy. If a foreign adversary were able to take control of Electrical Equipment such as a transformer, we could be in very serious trouble. So what is the status of does rule making to implement the executive order and are there statutory authorities that could provide doe on a more promising basis . Now its on. Thank you, sir, for that question. I appreciate the opportunity to respond. With regard to additional authorities needed, im not quite sure thats necessary at t this point. We have moved forward with implementation of the executive order. I know there is some confusion, perceived confusion, in the industry. We want to alleviate the industry of any anxiety they might have about this as we move forward with a proposed rule this year. Just to say a a little bit about what it does, as you mentioned, the bulk power system is the back system of the grid. What were doing is were seeking to operationalize through four pillars to implement it and ill run through it quickly. Foreign adversaries from equipment. I want to establish a list of prequalified vendors that the Utility Industry can use to purchase from. We want to develop advisory recommendations for the identification, monitoring and replacement of any currently at risk equipment thats on the system. That does not mean, however, that were going to rip and replace the entire grid in the United States. Were focused on the bulk power system, not at this moment or any other moment in the near term. The distribution system. Then importantly, what the president has directed me to do is to create a task force. I will convene with others, the secretary of defense in particular, so that we can begin the process of perhaps recommending to you, the congress, certain procurement policies that are going to be directly related to this National Security mission. Gas pipelines as it relates to their safety . I didnt hear the question. Is there anything we should do about Gas Pipelines . You know, mr. Upton, you have a long history in the Telecommunications World and if i were to point to one thing that we can do an even more aggressive job with regard to pipeline, it would be with cybersecurity. The major pipelines are are doing just fine. They are very much a part and parcel of what we do. The does a very engaging and collaborative. If i have a concern about pipelines in america today, it is perhaps with regard to some of the smaller members of the industry. They simply in some cases just dont have the resources that are needed to protect the infrastructure in the manner in which wed like to see it protected. Id look forward to working with you, members of the committee, others in the industry, to help design programs and policies that might address what i think is a growing National Security concern. Finally, let me just ask you about a bill that i introduced two weeks ago, hr 7435. Its the methane emissions reduction act. It authorizes doe to reduce emissions from flaring natural gas from production activities. So its not a doe regulatory program. The goal is to get doe to work with the state and certainly michigan, to provide and accelerate the most Promising New Technology [ inaudible ] while the oil and gas produced in the United States is already moving among the world, would you agree there are things that we can do to reduce methane even further . Didnt hear the last part. Would you agree that it would be advisable to reduce methane emission more than what we do today to be able to work with the state sns. Yes, i do agree. Methane is a very intense Greenhouse Gas and i think its important we reduce the emissions. While i recognize as you pointed out, this may be an issue progra perhaps better addressed in the epa world. We are working with the industry and have looked at various technologies that might help with methane emissions. I was just recently in pennsylvania. I saw some product there that is actually made from coal. After the refining process in kell, youre left with a very fine powder, which can be added to a natural gas pipeline, which works to seal the pipeline in a manner that contains the methane, so perhaps will help the industry over the longterm to reduce these types of emissions. Gentlemen, the chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee, mr. Pallone, for five minutes, for the purposes of questioning the witnesses. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wanted to try to get in this five minutes, some questions about the secretarys, your role or authority over nnsa then i wanted to ask about the appliance efficiency rule. So ill try to get through it. Secretary, theres been efforts over the years to strip away the secretary of energys authority over nnsa and most recently, to strengthen the Nuclear Weapons Council Authority in determine ing the budget within the secretarys own department. Just tell me why you think this is the wrong approach. Well, sir, let me see where i can start with that. I think its important to recognize as i think chairman rush mentioned and chairman walton alluded to, Ranking Member walden alluded to, not many people understand the department of energy and its actual mission. They dont know the breadth of the portfolio or mission. Every year, the secretary of energy must certify the stockpile. In essence, in plain language, ensure to the president that it will do what he or she would like it to do if they needed to use it. That certification process is signed at the cabinet level and it is important that the secretary of energy see the entire process for the development of the budget, the operations within nnsa, all the activities that occur within the National Weapons labs. In order to remain comfortable that certification is in fact solid. For lack of a better term. Its very important that i see that. And then, i think this is extremely helpful. Im concerned about the impact you know, at what the nsa you know, what the Nuclear Council are trying to do is going to have a negative impact on doe and its budget, but from a broader perspective, some argue the mission is more aligned with the department of defense. Why should bit houzed in the department of energy . Why would you disagree it should be more defense oriented . Well, you know, the security of the National Security enterprise has always been firmly grounded. If you look back at history of the department back to the Atomic Energy commission, ourgre science, the technology and man fakihturing of the system. And nnsa krau draws heavily on all of the doe laboratories and creates a synergy that cant be replicated anywhere else in the u. S. Government. All right. And then i wanted to just in the last two minutes, about the appliance efficienciy rules. Houbl rules do you expect to finalize between now and the end of the year respond to steps or deadlines and how many are i know that this problem was how many efficiency rules you do expect to finalize between now and the end of the year and how that, which ones are statutory and which ones are discretionary, if you could. To be honest, ill do as many as i possibly can. I know this has been an issue for you. I know you have raised it with our under secretary. I appreciate the concern you have. I reviewed marks answer before the committee. I agree with it. I think hes correct about some of those thing, but i just want to let you know that i will do as many as i can before the end of this year and ill tell you really quickly, thus far in 2020, we have published 18 notices relateded to conservative vegas standards and nine related to test procedures. Thats about three times more than what we did in 2018, so we are beginning to make some Real Progress here. And you have my Firm Commitment that well move as aggressively as we can. I appreciate that. And again, the number of missed legal deadlines for new u standar standards has grown from three to 26 since President Trump took office. I dont blame you because you havent been there that long, but i do blame the Trump Administration in general and id like to see you focused more on meeting legal deadlines and les on rules that undercut Energy Savings, but thank you for that response. Thank you for being with us today. Back, mr. Chairman. The gentlemen yields back. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member for five minutes for the purposes of questioning the witness. The agency and your commitment to a meeting these deadlines. As i mentioned, chairman pallone and i have jointly teamed on the amendment that integrates personnel at doe and nsa and emission support functions operate more effectively across the doe enterprise and the administrator can focus more effectually on mission ex [ inaudible ] so my question is why does it make sense from your perspective from the secretary of defense and energy through council, the nwc. Why does that make sense . Well, mr. Walden, thank you for that. I think the first reason makes sense is because it recognizes the prioritization and importance the nation places on our nuclear return. It elevates the visibility and frankly, the accountability of our return and it better ensures the fidelity of the budget process in both agent u sys. Its important to recognize that you know, for instance, the secretary of energy not only has responsibility for the warhead program, i also have the responsibility ultimately for the clean up of the Manufacturing Processes that are used in the development of the warheads under our Environmental Management programs. Both of these are funded with defense dollars and if you think about it as a pie, what i think some of the Senate Language would do is to, if you think about it as a pie, if you take one piece and make it bigger, the others are going to get smaller, so in the case of the Environmental Management program, if you have a sub Cabinet Council within the department of defense, focused exclusively on the weapons portion of the budget, what might happen is that the Weapons Program gets much, much larger at the expense of the Environmental Management program. Only the secretary of energy is in the position to balance the needs all across the programs. Now with that said, i think its important to you know, suggest that look, im a very strong supporter of the Weapons Program. That deterrent is critical for our National Security. It has to be robust, there are many things we have to do to improve its performance, but at the same time, it is also important, imperative, that we honor our moral obligations to clean up the facilities once were done with the manufacturer. Across the river from hanford, where there ai think t 140 some enormous tanks, nuclear sludge. And collapse times and these radiation. That clean up effort is essential to Public Health. Would the Ranking Member peelease yield. Members who are participating, will you please mute your phone until you are asked to unmute . Will members please mute your pho phone . Those who are remotely participating in this hearing. Were getting feedback. Gentleman. Thank you very much, appreciate that. Any way, im very concerned about making sure we stay on pace to get the mess cleaned up cleared back to world war ii. All right, mr. Walden, i didnt hear that. Yeah, if you can talk about how you work with the department of defense on the budgeting for the nations programs. That would be good and does language in the nda, does that make you subordinate, secretary, to an undersecretary at dod . Well, i think some of the original drafts of the amendment would have done that. The way it typically works is that they set the military requirements that it wants and it does it through the Nuclear Posture review in the case of the program. What we do is match our Manufacturing Capabilities to our military requirements. This is coordinated through the weapons council, which is chaired by an undersecretary of defense then the secretary is also a member, as well as strat come and other members. Together, they review those requirements then we establish a budget based upon those requirements. My understanding is that i would be required to submit the doe budget to the weapons council, so in this sense, the secretary would be subordinated to a sub council within doe and i think the language would have further required that i accept those then send ultimate ly to congres for consideration. As i mentioned earlier, if that were the process that the congress were to documeadopt, id present unique problems to the clean up facilities all across the world. You asked earlier though about the importance of you know, the elevation and maybe moving this to the secretarys level and perhaps providing both o the secretary of defense and energy some additional line of sight. I think its also important to remember that you know, as direct reports to the president and as members of the National Security council, perhaps the both of us are in the best position to balance the needs of our respective departments. Thanks for your leadership and for answering our questions. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Gentleman yields back. Chairman now recognizes the gentlemen from california for five minutes. Not available now. The chair recognizes mr. Doyle for five minutes. Thank you, chairman, rush and rapging member upton for holding this hearing and thank you, mr. Secretary, for joining us today. Were anxious to get you down to the netl in pittsburgh and i can promise you some sandwiches and iron city beer after the meeting so hopefully, we can set that up soon. This pandemic has upended everyones life and its causing tremendous damage to every part of our economy. The Energy Sector included. We need a national strategy, not only to combat climate change, but to help our economic recovery once its safe to do so. And i believe theres many pathways that we can take towards rebuilding our economy and creating a Sustainable Future and i hope we can count on the department of energys extensive capabilities to be a partner in these efforts. Mr. Secretary, not only has this pandemic resulted in over a million Energy Sector jobs being lost, but its also brought much lower wholesale Energy Prices. Even before this drop, many Nuclear Power plants were struggling to stay open. Tell me, what policies could we enact to ensure that we dont shut down more well run Nuclear Power plants and how can we ensure as advanced Nuclear Technology becomes commercialized, that were build ing these plants in communityties that have been hurt by the close iing of indus or possible fuel plants . I appreciate your concern. I have a similar one as well. In the case of nuclear, we have too many facilities that are cho closing at a much too aggressive rate. I just visited a facility down in florida, to help permit life extension permits for these facilities. The one that i visited in florida is now authorized to operate for up to 80 years, very, very safely, i might add. Its very important we look at these facilities and grant those types of permits and well be working closely to ensure that moves forward. Thats one step. The second step is to follow up on the outline or strstrategy w forth in the working group. In that working group, we are developing various proposals. Its one to address what we see as a concern in America Related to the front end of the fuel cycle. We want to develop our mining capabilities in uranium. We want to establish a uranium reserve. We want to importantly develop conversion and Enrichment Services here in america so that civilian fleet can buy from american fuel supply. We think that adds to our National Security. The its also important we address some of the needs for advanced reactors. Thats also part of this working groups report. Is that were going the develop accident tolerant fuels. Were going to develop what is known as high saleu. Low enriched uranium it is what will allow the small reactors to come online and hopefully, we can catalyze enough market interest in these that we can have them replaced in some of these older, age iing, and in se cases, too large facilities. Nuclear has a unique characteristic. Unique challenge, i should say, at certain times. They produce an enormous amount of electricity and its not always needed as these communities begin to develop. We dont need one gig watt of power as we move to a more distributed electrical grid throughout the country. We need perhaps smaller forms. Wel well, thank you. Flexibility seems to be vital in making sure the grids reliable and Energy Storage is key to that. Can you provide us with a quick update on the ongoing activities being undertaken by the departments grand Energy Storage challenge . What specific actions are going on right now . Sure. Were looking for the next generation of grid scale storage or the next generation of battery storage, but importantly, we need to find Battery Technologies that would allow us to bring to market grid scale storage. Its critical that we do this very, very quickly so that we can continue to see the implementation and development of Renewable Technologies. If were going to lose our base load power at the rate in which were liosing it, at some point im afraid we might have a gap. As you and members of the committee know so very well, today at least, with the technologies that we have, Renewable Power depends almost entirely upon the provision of base Load Electricity all throughout the country. So if were going to lose that base load at the rate in which were losing it and were not going to be able to build enormous Nuclear Plants as we discussed, then its important we develop the technologies. We did announce the grid, the launch pad out at p and l. Its going to be a brandnew facility, laboratory, that well use to help develop some of these newer watery technologies. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you, look forward to seeing you in pittsburgh and mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you, sir. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from ohio. Mr. For five minutes. Thank you for holding todays hearing and thanks so much to the secretary for the reports today. Really appreciate it. Ooempb befoeven before the outb covid19, the United States was faced with a range of challenges that threaten the stability and security of our Energy Interests including the threat of Cyber Attacks to our Grid Security, supply chain vulnerabilities and threats to the Domestic Nuclear industry. Unfortunately, covid19 has only made these problems worse. On issues of the Nuclear Supply chain and need to maintain a durable Domestic Nuclear industry, we need the pursue policies that will be good for our economy and consistent with our Security Policies to counter russia and china. These policies include building robust sources for domestic ewe rain um and conversion. Im pleased to see the efforts to support whether i shallment of a uranium reserve and a i appreciate the assistance your staff has provided my office as we draft legislation to authorize this reserve. We must also support efforts to improve our nations Grid Security and resiliency against Cyber Threats. Two bipartisan bills that i have led op, hr 359 and 360 with my good friend, the gentleman from california, have helped doe in this effort and i hope the chairman will work with us in a bipartisan way to see these bills come before a vote. Mr. Secretary, on the Nuclear Issues ive raised, how vital is it that the United States build up its own domestic supply chain and how will a strategic urane n raserve help us do this. There it goes. Button wasnt coming on there for a minute. I think its absolutely critical that we develop and further develop the front end, the fuel cycle here in america. You know, weve lost our Leadership Edge in america with regard to the provision of Nuclear Power and today, i dont have the dpakt number exact number, but the vast majority of fuel purchased by the fleet here in the United States is purchased primarily from russia. They supply the fuel chain, so if we were to lose that, i think we endanger americans all across the country. Its very important for us to address. Thats what were attempting to do. I think we should create a reserve that includes not just pulling the uranium out of mine, the conversion process, the enrichment process. We think we need to bring these businesses back to america to ensure the security of our fleet and the security of the provision of electric power here in the United States. So, thats the commitment of our administration. Thats what were looking for. Support for in this Nuclear Fuels working group. Thank very much, because i appreciate what the doe is doing and would you support legislation then that would ensure the durability of a program like this by specifically authorizing it . Sure. Yes. Okay, great. I really appreciate this. On the Grid Security issues tin your testimony, youve referenced the administrations concerns about securing the bulk power system as evidenced by the president s executive order in may. How important is it to secure is bulk power system against Cyber Threats and do you believe legislation like hr 360, which establishes a voluntary Cyber Program to test the cybersecurity of products and technologies intended for use in the block power system to be helpful in this effort . I would look for authorities that might be helpful. I feel that we have most of what we need at this moment in time, but id be very much agreeable in working with you on a potential bill that might further aaddress issues. With regard to the bulk power and what we have noticed in some of the Power Marketing administrations that we run at doe like bpa and the western area of power administration, we have noticed that much of the man fufacturing for the equipme that goes into our system is being made in china. And china as we know, has changed its doctrinal approach to the United States and theyve become more and more of an adversary yal nation. And what were beginning to be concerned about is perhaps the provision of some technologies within the equipment were purchasing that allows communications back to beijing or some manipulation of the electric grid because of the equipment thats being placed into things like transformers. So weve identified this. Were working very closely with one of our National Laboratories. Were evaluating a certain piece of equipment right now thats in the Public Domain and we look forward to providing some report, not only to the intelligence committee, but also to the United States congress as well. As to our findings there. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. Mr. Chair, my times expired and a yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Charlene of maryland for five minutes. Are you there . The chair now recognizes mr. Mcinerney for five minutes. I understand mr. Sahrmanes is having some problems unmuting his microphone. We will return to you as soon as youre ready. Mr. Mcnerny, are you there . Yes, im unmuted. Can you hear me . Youre recognized for five minutes. Thank the chairman and Ranking Member for the hearing and i thank the secretary for showing up and helping us understand whats going on out there in the department of energy. You know the labs and laboratories National Laborat y laboratories are just outside of my district. Could you go over a little bit of what these two laboratories are doing with regard to the pandem pandemic . Sure, so, yes, sir. And ill get you a very details report on some of the d detailed reports that are occurring in some of the labs. In a high level way, i will tell you both labs have been engaged. What weve done is weve utilized the bio science capabilities to help identify the proteins that are unique to this particular been able to advise some of the doctors about the reactions to certain drugs. Weve been able to predict, in certain cases, the spread of the virus. Both labs have very capable Artificial Intelligence experts there. And they have helped us design Predictive Modeling in certain cases, certain case, go all the way down to the county level. And theyve been very, very aggressive in doing that. We appreciate their support. I look forward to the detailed reports that you have there, mr. Secretary. As you noted in your testimony, our nations electric grid, the bulk power grid is coming under increasing pressure. This has been discussed by a couple of other of our members here this morning. Im concerned that the executive office is not doing enough the counter the threat beyond issuing a executive order. Can you provide us and the committee an update r on russias cybersecurity capability as related and why hasnt the president been more aggressive on addressing their capabilities . I didnt hear the first part of that question. I apologize. Well, basically, the nations coming under increasing threat. Particularly from russia. And what id like to know is what is russias capability and what has the administration done to counter that other than just issuing an executive order . Capabilities with regard to what . Well, the cyber attack. Oh, cyber attack. Im sorry, i didnt quite catch that when you first answered the question. Asked the question. Russia is a very sophisticated cyber actor in the marketplace. What we have done at the department of energy is to utilize our supercomputing capabilities in places like oak ridge and in Washington State and weve begun very aggressively applying things like artificial sbel where she knows to cyber technology. And what its allowed us to do is to blunt many of the attacks that we see coming from places like russia. And i would dare say they are perhaps the most sophisticated cyber actor in the marketplace today. Perhaps followed very closely by china then by iran. But thats our contribution to this National Effort thats being led by a number of different players, including the u. S. Department of Defense Cyber command. Well, honestly, i havent seen any evidence of aggressive Administration Action to counter that threat. So, i think that it would p in the nations interest to acknowledge that threat publicly so that americans are are aware of it and also to help identify what we can do to prevent that and to counter that. Going on as you may be aware, im the lead sponsor of the Nuclear Waste amendments policy act of 2019 along with mr. Shimkas. The bill passed down the committee unanimously which shows theres a significant supporting in the house in this committee to move forward with Nuclear Waste handling. So, what im wondering is considering the long standstill over the debate on the Yucca Mountain, how does the administration in developing a a science based solution that can earn the approval of the states involved . Yes, sir. Id be happy to come up and brief you in a classified set ing around some of the activities around russian cyber activity. So ill reach out to your office and schedule something if you dont mind. Okay. Appreciate that. With regard to spent fuel storage, you know, as you know, the congress has been deadlocked on funding for that particular program for many, many years. Our authority to do anything is restricted somewhat by the Nuclear Waste policyi inin inac. We are using our Nuclear Expertise to potentially explore other options. Were somewhat limiteded. We can look at storage ideas, but only within a small window and small window of authority in the current law. So im happy the share those with you. I will come back and brief you an your conveniencconvenience. Id be glad to work with you on that issue. Its an important issue to solve. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from Washington State for five minutes. Thank you, secretary, for being with us today. Dpood morningood morning, every. I appreciate the work of the department of energy and what youre doing to secure americas future and ensure the safe of our grid from foreign adversaries, whether its russia or china or others. I share some of my other colleagues concerns about provisions in the senate ndaa that threatened to undermine the secretary of energys management and oversight f our Nuclear Weapons program. Ive been pointed out this misguided effort would erode the secretarys budget tear oversight of the National Security administration, the Nuclear Security administration, with the unprecedented insertion of the Nuclear Weapons council. And to does budget preparation and oversight process. The american atomic Energy Programs have been under civilian control since the end of world war ii and the establishment of the Atomic Energy commission, does pred successor, i believe maintaining clear civilian and cabinet level oversight of our Nuclear Weapons program is essential for our nation. A move that inserts the Defense Department into does planning could have a harmful impact on other important priorities like the ongoing clean up of our countrys Nuclear Production complex complexes. Just outside my district, near the tri cities and Washington State is the hanford site, which others have mentioned and it produced pla tone yum for the sector in world war ii. The inventions in Nuclear Technology at hanford helped end the war and begin our nations Global Leadership in Nuclear Energy. Early developments came at a cost and after 40 year, hanford has to u undergo a massive clean up of material. Thank you for your leadership in ensuring authority and control over Nuclear Weapons programs r remains fully within 4x1odoe un your cabinet level control. Could you explain how the provisions would have negative consequences for cleaning up former Nuclear Production such as at hanford or other important priorities . Yes, maam. I need to go and look and see what a is the current status of the ndaa in the senate and see the current language. I know there were a few offered prior to the bills on the floor. Ill go and do that. But importantly, as i understand the first drafts of the ndaa wildfire saw as we saw it in the Public Domain, it would have to the Nuclear Weapons council and what it did was it would require me to smut the u. S. Department of Energy Budget to that council. For their consideration and they would provide the recommendations to the department of which i would be required under the original drafts to submit that to the omb and potentially to the congress as well. In that case, what we would have is sub cabinet level officials deshling not only the weapons budget, but perhaps disastrously altering other programs within not only the department of energy but the department of defense as well. As i explained in one of the earlier questions, if we think about the budget as a pie, if you make one piece bigger, because of the budget caps are in place in the federal lawlaw, definition, the other pieces of the pie have to get smaller and because the program is also funded by defense dollars, make ing the Weapons Program bigger without some adjustment to the cap would by definition make the Environmental Management or the clean up portion of that particular budget smaller. And i think that as the secretary of energy, im perhaps in a better position to make that judgment about what balance should be struck between these two important programs. I fully support the Weapons Program, but i also understand the moral obligation we have to clean up sites like hanford. Thank you. Look forward to working with you on that. Also, just wanted, another critical issue is the National Security around the grid. And im especially concerned about potential vulnerabilities in components manufactured by foreign adversaries such as china and russia. I applaud the administrations swift action to protect the grid from these foreign threats by prohibiting such Critical Power components from being installed in our grid through the executive order signed by President Trump back in may. I believe the federal government needs to involve the Energy Sector including domestic vendors and manufacturers to ensure this order is implemented effective ly. Mr. Secretary, would you commit to working closely with the stake holders at doe to develop further rules to do so . Yes, a absolutebsolutely. You have my committed to do that. Thank you. She yields back. The chair uns thunderstands mr. Sarmane is ready for his five minutes. Hes recognized for five minutes for questioning the witness. Thank you. Can you hear me . Hear you quite well. Okay, thanks very much. Theres an echo. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate the hearing. Obviously, this pandemic has had a profound effect on the economy. The Energy Sector has felt that as well and as we look to stimulate the economy moving forward and recover, we can build on an economy thats more equitable, more resilient and promotes a cleaner and healthier future for our communities. I know we feel strongly about that. I wanted to focus my questions for the secretary today on a Renewable Energy. Specifically solar energy. The office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, eere, has been a smart return on investment for taxpayers. A net benefit i think of about 230 billion. And particularly for low income families. These kinds of programs in eere help reduce barriers allowing low income communities to reduce Energy Consumption which also saves money. In fact, acee has found families living in large cities, the average low Income Household Energy burden was more than three times as high of that of low income households. 7 compared with about 2 for their wealthier counterparts and certainly during this time of economic instability, reducing that Energy Burden and cost savings is a way we can help these communities move forward. Solar energy in particular has been an economic driver in pulling over 240,000 americans. Generating 17 billion in investment in our nations economy. Unfortunately with covid19, weve deployed 37 less solar capacity than was forecasted and developers have had difficulty securing financing under these conditions and again, it does disproportionately impact Small Businesses and ultimately, households. Secretary, in your testimony, you mentioned the administrations support for solar in the portfolio. But i have to say that the administrations budget doesnt reflect that support. There was a proposed cut of over 70 to the er in the Solar Energy Technologies office, which we tried to reverse. Im pleased to say in the house appripriations bill thats been released, but in the face of such economic uncertainty, i would hope we could count on the doe, which has all of these benefits that are related to workforce cost to consumers and so forth. I i feel this particularly because in baltimore, weve worked in the past with the department of energy to bring this potential to low income homeowners through a program called baltimore shine and it would allow all communities to take advantage of low cost solar energy. Mr. Secretary, will you commit to ensuring that communities, especially low income and vulnerable communities, are able to take advantage of the low cost energy and skill Job Opportunities offered by solar toblg as we are trying to recover from the covid19 pandemic . Yes, i can, maryland, that hits particularly close to home for me. Thank you for your service and the question. I look forward the working with you on this. We do support Solar Technologies and ill tell l you really quickly what were looking a at. Were looking at some of the next generation of Solar Technologies. Muc much of whats on the market today, i dont want to call them antiquated. Theyre not completely, but theyve been around for a very long time and theyre somewhat mature, so when we look at investing Research Dollars at the department of energy, weve made a decision that perhaps rather than continuing investments in mature technologies like photo, we want to move to the next generation and will work closely with our national Renewable Energy laboratory in colorado to develop things like krecreases the solar panel it. We have technologies where you literally point a window and the window itself becomes a small electric generation machine or, its able to develop enough electricity to power some small alliancppliances. Its a fascinating type of technology. Its that type of technology id like to see komfo market more quickly. With regard to Energy Efficiency, its important we balance not only the Energy Savings that are developed by these types of newer technologies, but also the cost of the appliance or the cost of the generation itself. In our view, we agree with the Energy Efficiency goals that the congress has set. We have no disagreement there. But it doesnt do us much good to save 2 on the electric bill if its going to cost us many thousands of dollars to buy the new appliance or generation facility. In our view, weve not done low income families much justice in that case. So we want to balance the equation very appropriately and i would look forward to working with you on that. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Olson, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And a big old texas welcome to a friend, energy secretary, dan. Dan, im so sorry we miss ed eah other last week there in texas. I suspect youre even more sorry because you get to relive gulf coast heat of summer. No sucking crawfish heads like you did with mr. Tozer. So lets make that day sometime in the future. I have one question for you. Its not about covid19. I want to ask about the disposal of mercium 241. Its a pla tone yum production. Its used for smoke detectors and down hole oil well logging. Its very radio active and cancer causing. America stopped using this product in 2005 despite the fact we still had the best in command. And so for 15 years, weve been importing this product. In 2015, had a a little bout with this product. A small spill that released some cesium 137 and rare season 241 half a mile from my sons high school in strickland, texas. But since this radio active isotope came from a poforeign source, we cant store this in the waste isolation plant, so there it sits. A National Security risk, an environmental risk if it spills. So i have three questions for you about this issue. Number one, can you access the risk of letting this sit across the country, number two, can they handle all this isotope we have in america and do you support my bill to give your department more authority to get this stuff out and store it in a wipp . Its great to see you again and i am sorry i missed you last week. It was great to be back in my adopted home of texas. It was hot, but it was fantastic to be home. I hope that we can get together again soon down in texas or elsewhere. But with regard to your question on ann mariecium, i have not reviewed your bill in detail, but if it is for authority, it would be something that i think we would probably support. Id like to take a close look at it. I am familiar with the situation you faced down in sugar land and youve identified the problem for us is that we doent know te source of that particular product and were prohibited by law of accept iing it in new mexico, but perhaps through ledge igs lative changes or some other process we can prove forward the accept that material and put it into the web facility. Its very important we remove this from the communities. Your community is not unique in that sense. There are many communities across texas as well as other part of the United States, where the source, its known as a source, are still sitting in strip malls without much security. So its very, very important we remove this product and store it safely. Can does it have the capability to handle all these products sm ive heard its overfilling. Can you confirm a that . Do you have room to store this waste . Id have to double check on the room, im assuming we do, but we certainly have the technical cableablety of storing it. Yes. One final question. Federal reserves main Street Lending program. This program is essential to, for mid sized people involved in oil and gas operations. They have to have this money coming through because theyre getting hammered by covid and this pricing war going on between saudi arabia and russia. So can you talk about how important this program is for the suppliers of energy, the midstream guys in particular and how this should be open to them as well . Sure. Ive worked closely with secretary mnuchin to ensure that all of the programs that under all of your leadership you passed and made available to american businesses, including the energy business, ive had many conversations with the midstream producers, the independent producers in texas, some have availed themselves to these programs and its important we continue that good work. Were in a unique situation here with this pandemic. Texas has long experienced boom and bust cycles in the oil business. You know how to handle that very, very well, but weve never experienced a situation in which we had a market event like what happened in saudi arabia and russia or under the auspices of opec, combined with a lack of demand that was you know, generated by this pandemic you know, with economies around the world appropriately closing or slowing down. Weve never seen that before in u. S. History. Weve never seen it in the oil weve never seen it in the oil business. It presents a unique challenge. Im supportive of what the congress did to make these programs available to not only all american businesses, but in particular the Energy Businesses as well. Thank you. Im a sailor. Join me in saying, go navy, go army, go air force. The gentleman yields back and the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york for five minutes. Can you hear me . Quite well. Thank you. Secretary, welcome back to the energy and commerce committee. Mr. Secretary, the administrations budget requests once again has zeroed out funding for the weatherization assistance program, a program that we know is there to support the health and safety and Energy Efficiency of lowincome americans as they maintain their homes. Due to the covid19 pandemic, we know more people are unemployed and staying at home. We also know that state budgets have realized great shortfalls. Given these conditions, do you see some additional value in weatherization monies that can be used once economies reopen . I do. Thank you for your conversation yesterday. I appreciated the opportunity to trade some notes on some of these important programs. And i appreciate the concern that you have about the president s budget with regard to the Weatherization Program in particular. I think its important for us to remind ourselves from time to time, though, that what we do at the d. O. E. Is, we look all across the enterprise and we just talked about Energy Efficiency, and thats an important component of the Weatherization Program. We have programs where we take monies from e. R. A. , money from the science labs and other places where we can develop technologies that are put into the marketplace. You may see a reduction in the Weatherization Program, i want to ensure you that the work on Energy Efficiency is broad based. Its not one bucket or one line item in a budget that reflects the commitment to Energy Efficiency. With regard to covid insis inefficiency, we have taken initial steps and expanded some of the grant programs. But to make it just more available to people who are utilizing the program. What weve done is appropriate and i would be more than happen to come up and spend for time with you and go through the exact steps that weve taken so far. Okay. Thank you. Were certainly going to be quite active on behalf of our households that require the Weatherization Program. I also want to focus on the role d. O. E. Can play in reducing costs to encouragement deployment of existing energy products. D. O. E. Has identified inconsistent permitting requirements as a significant cost. The patch work of permitting requirements across thousands of local jurisdictions causes unnecessary delays and certainly adds administrative costs. Its not only increases Energy Prices for our consumers, but also stifles homeowner and Business Investments in these technologies such as rooftop, solar. Other countries like germany and australia have sought ways to streamline permitting. The average cost of a solar installation in australia is less than onehalf of the cost in the United States. Mr. Secretary, d. O. E. Has worked on reducing these permitting costs. Do you believe d. O. E. Or other another federal entity can continue to play a role in helping to streamline the permitting process for residential Energy Systems . Absolutely. I dont think theres any doubt about that. The challenges i hear, you know, have to do with not only solar but also offshore wind, for instance. Weve seen some challenges with permitting some of the facilities on the east and west coast. Look, its very important that we have Community Involvement in the permitting process. Im not suggesting for a second that we deny individuals or communities an opportunity to be a part of a permitting process. But we should look very closely to see if there are certain redundancies in the process that are not not conductive or instructive or not allowing the process to move forward in a forthright way. I would be open to that type of conversation with you or your staff or anyone on the committee. Thank you. Finally, i believe the advanced Manufacturing Office is an incredible resource for our United States manufacturers to become more competitive and sustainable. Industrial sectors responsible for our roughly onefifth of Greenhouse Gas emission and consumes onethird of the primary energy here in the United States. In recent years, congress has taken a bigger interest in these challenges. The Clean Industrial Technology act has bipartisan support and this legislation discussion draft has a new d. O. E. Secretary of industry. I know other groups have called for reorganization of deo to better reflect the challenges our nation faces. Do you have any thoughts whether through reorganization or otherwise, the need to get greater resources for d. O. E. S Manufacturing programs . Thats an interesting idea. I would love to take a look at your bill and talk to you about the organizational construct of d. O. E. The importance of advanced manufacturing cannot be understated as we start to look at more of these Energy Efficient or the Renewable Technologies that are coming online. I had an opportunity to talk to representative kennedy about some of the Manufacturing Processes and some of the things that he would like to bring to his Congressional District. Were going to focus on the funding opportunities we have at the department of energy. We released 44 million over the course of the last few weeks and its focused almost exclusively on advanced manufacturing techniques and capabilities. Its a very Important Role for the d. O. E. To play. A laboratory has been a world leader in developing 3d printing as well as other technologies that allow advanced manufacturing to occur more efficiently. With regard to your bill, aisle take a look at it, sir. If i might reserve the right to respond to you in writing, i would be more than happy to do that. Sure. Thank you, mr. Secretary. And mr. Chair, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Mckinley of West Virginia for five minutes. Thank you, my friend, for having this hearing. And welcome back, mr. Secretary. Series of questions, if i could, many of them are yes or no. Under president obama said, chairman of the joint chief of staffs, general dempsey, once said that, quote, improving our energys security improves our National Security. Do you agree with him . Yes. If gas fired power plants provide 40 of Americas Energy, do all gasfired power plants get their natural gas from pipelines . Yes, in america, pretty much. In america. If 90 of our natural gas is transported by pipelines, is it fair to say, therefore, that pipelines are an essential part of your National Security . Yes. Thank you. But the environmental left doesnt seem to agree with you. And they posted this headline the other day about delay wins the day. They want to delay. What theyre referring to are the delays that occurred over the the loss that occurred was the Dakota Access pipeline, which was operational for three years, the Atlantic Coast pipeline that went through 17 permits, federal, government, and 16 state permits. It even went to the Supreme Court and got approval with it. And now theyre challenging the Mountain Valley pipe line transporting gas from West Virginia to other states. My question, could the loss of these pipelines that we just mentioned, could they pose a challenge to our National Security . In my view, yes. And it appears that some of your governors, like cuomo and inslee may be abusing their 401 permit or their authority. Because of cuomo, states in the northeast, maine, New Hampshire, massachusetts, have to get their electricity from canada. And their natural gas from russia. Whose economy is cuomo helping . Certainly not is it putins . Its certainly not ours. So if i could, mr. Secretary, as you know the administration is about to finalize a new reform, significant rewrite. Its my understanding that nothing in the reforms get rid of any existing rules. But rather, you all have developed something that might streamline the permitting process and primarily so that the environmental left cant weaponize the permitting process. Let me switch gears just for a minute. The government has called on manufacturers to produce more ppe. Hundreds of millions, hundreds of millions more of respirators, plastic face shields, gowns, gloves are going to be necessary. Theyre all produced from this, this is natural gas. This is resins from natural gas. Wont we need pipelines to produce more ppe . Yes, sir, ultimately, we will. And to address your National Security concerns, at least with regard to the Atlantic Coast pipeline, it begs the question, we have an enormous naval facility down at norfolk. Its important that these facilities have ready access, reliable access to electricity because they depend upon the private grid for the purposes of their power generation. I have a couple more questions. Wall street, as you know, works on certainty. They depend on it. And the litigation and delays created by the environmental left have created the opposite, especially as it relates to what happened to coal. Are we about to see the same thing on wall street developing concerns about pipelines and natural gas . Do you think there could be a threat . Perhaps we are. The regulatory uncertainty will lead certain investors to back away from these type of projects. My last question, if 70 of your energy comes from fossil fuels and if wall street stops financing gaspowered power plants and pipelines because they dont know if theyre going to be built or not, is this a positive or negative sign for our National Security. In my view, its a negative sign. Thank you. Can you explain a little bit about maybe what d. O. E. Is doing to address this streamlining process and prevent the abuse . Through the process, we are contributing to the efforts which i understand are going to be released very, very shortly. To your point, theyre not to reduce in any way, shape, or form the Environmental Concerns that the American People have raised. What were simply doing is eliminating redundancies. In the case of d. O. E. , i made a decision that if another group had conducted an analysis, that the d. O. E. Would rely upon the other analysis. Theyre quite capable in conducting the analysis. If theyve done the work once, theres no need for d. O. E. To do a second analysis. Eliminating that step will save an enormous amount of money for the applicants who are looking to build these export facilities. Its one small example, but a step in the right direction. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes mr. Loebsack for five minutes. Thank you, chairman, for holding this hearing today. Thank you, secretary, for testifying today as well. As you know, the Biofuels Industry has been hit hard by the covid19 pandemic. Of course, the pandemic only exacerbated the pain that this industry had already been experiencing in no small measure due to the explosion of small refineries exceptions granted by this administration which have wiped over 4 billion gallons of bio fuel since 2016. In january, as you know, the tenth Circuit Court of appeals found that an order for a small refinery to be eligible for an exception, the law requires that that refinery have an exception in place to extend, meaning they must have receive an exception in order to be eligible for a future exemption. Many small refineries have submitted waiver petitions dating as far back as 2011 in an attempt to fill in the gaps in years where they did not receive a waiver. According to epas own data, there should be no more than seven small refineries eligible for future exemptions. And the epa has confirmed they received 52 petitions which would equate to a loss of 2 billion of bio fuel demand. Mr. Secretary, i have a series of questions here im going to try to get through all of them. If i cut you off, i apologize. The first question is, have those gap year petitions been scored by d. O. E. And sent back to epa . If not, when will that happen . Thank you, mr. Loebsack. I appreciate the thank you. Thank you for your conversation earlier this week. I will get back to you on the 50plus applications that may have come from epa. Im not sure where we are in the process. Ill state there are differing legal opinions about this tenth circuit case. I think some are reading it as an opportunity to file these gap applications, if you will. I will also just, you know, state for the record that if epa sends us the application, were required to evaluate it. Im assuming that were doing that today and ill get you a precise answer as to where we stand in the process. I want to ask you for your opinion, do you believe that the law does allow epa to grant these gapyear petitions . Do you believe that the law allows the epa to grant these applications . Im not certain about that. I would have to review the case very closely. Im not an attorney. I would hate to give you a legal opinion. Yeah, because my next question has to do with that, actually, d. O. E. , im sure, in its review of the opinions conform with the courts opinion. Could you say the last part of that again . Ill do the whole question. Will d. O. E. Ensure its review of petitions conforms with the courts decision . Oh, sure. Well do everything according to the law, our understanding of the law. Theres no question about that. Ill get with our counsel at the department of energy and will ensure whatever we send to epa is going to be fully compliant with not only the tenth Circuit Decision but the federal statute. And you may or may not be able to answer this next question. But has the epa sent you any exception petitions from refiners who submitted a petition for the exact same year but were denied a waiver the first time around . I will find out and get right back to you. And do you know if d. O. E. Has changed its methodology or approach for scoring small refinery exemption petitions . No, weve not. We conduct this analysis the same way weve always had and provide our findings for epa for their decision on the application. If its not changed the methodology, then doesnt it stand to reason that d. O. E. Would have no choice to score these doover petitions the same way the department did the first time. Weve not changed our methodology. Weve done this in the same manner in which weve done since the creation of the program back in 2005. Okay. Other than the 52 gap year waiver pe sigstitions, theres petitions pending. Has d. O. E. Completed review of those petitions and made recommendations to epa . I will get you an answer on that. I will have to check the status of the applications. Okay. I look forward to the answers and i appreciate our conversation we had prior to this hearing. I appreciate what youre doing at the d. O. E. And i know youve got a lot of great history with the committee and i appreciate that. We got to make sure that were doing the right thing for these biofuels folks and we have to make sure that epa and d. O. E. Are complying with this tenth court Circuit Decision, making sure that everybody abides by the law. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from virginia mr. Griffith for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, how are you this afternoon . Mr. Secretary, one of my priorities as weve discussed in the past is Research Parity between the Renewable Research and our fossil fuel research. As we look at the many issues that were discussing today as well as the Global Environmental wellbeing, its critical that we invest in the research and development of fossil fuels as well as renewables as you and i have discussed previously, of course. Subsaharan africa, asia, developing nations are using their coal supply and theyre going to use their coal supply. One of the things i would hope we would do is figure out how to use that the most effectively so we can move forward not just in the United States but globally to reduce emissions coming from coalfired power plants and other fossil fuel burning plants. Do you agree that we should strive for parity and continue to invest in fossil research in the United States . Can you hear me, sir . I can. Yes, i do. I think we need to continue our research and Development Areas like ccus for the purposes of making call more efficient and cleaner. Developing nations will continue to use this very important resource that they have all around the world, our own eia projects that the use of fossil fuels will continue at very high levels well into the 2040s, perhaps even out as far as 2050. If thats the case, we have an obligation to develop the technologies that are necessary to use those fuels very cleanly. So things like ccus, r d work at the department of Energy Related to Carbon Capture are very, very important. And i think we should continue that work. If its the direction of congress to increase that type of work, which i would hope it would be, we would certainly welcome that opportunity. Well, and i appreciate that. And of course im excited about some of the things that are happening here in my district, which is a coalproducing and natural gasproducing area. We have technologies out of the new river valley that is doing some flatbed technology where they run the gasses through various substrates and im theres a very crude analogy. But theyre running it through the substrates and pulls that individual pollutant so you dont have an issue with, you know, a series of things that have to be done. They can be sold commercially. I also think that the chemical looping has great promise and anything we can do to find additional uses for Coal Products as we move forward, is there anything in particular that youve looked at that you find to be an interesting and exciting new technology. Yes, actually. I was up in the western part of pennsylvania visiting a coal facility there and i saw technologies that to me were absolutely fascinating. Going back to your first question, though, and the use of coal. I want to point out that i think its also important, because we have enormous reserves here and your district is a big part of that in the United States, the export opportunities for coal are enormous around the world. And that means jobs here in the United States. So i would hate for us to close off that opportunity for the use of this product because it creates so many jobs not only in virginia but also West Virginia and out in wyoming as well. Many, many states produce coal. So my point is that, lets continue the Clean Technologies we need to make this product cleaner as we export it around the world. Were extracting critical minerals, beginning to figure out how to extract rare Earth Elements which are absolutely vital for the development of Battery Technologies. So as we look to the future and perhaps see more and more use of Renewable Energies and we try and research that holy grail of gridscale battery storage, its going to be our knowledge and perhaps the research that we do today on coal that might allow us to break some of the supply chain restrictions and vulnerabilities that we currently are experiencing today. China as you know from our conversations, you well know this, is that china today owns about 80 of the rare Earth Element market. So were incredibly dependent upon, as i pointed out earlier, an adversarial nation to the United States. If we can develop these products from coal, weve strengthened not only our Energy Security, but our National Security as well. I appreciate that. Theyre doing work Virginia Tech is doing work on that. Theres a lot of new technology out there. I appreciate your leadership on those issues. Mr. Chairman, i see my time is up, and i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair will now recognizes the gentleman from vermont mr. Welch for five minutes. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you mr. Secretary. Its terrific to see you. Sorry were not all there with you. I want to ask you questions in two areas. One is, in the energy and water efficiency audits. And then second, Staffing Levels in the department of energy that are essential for us to pursue Energy Efficiency. First of all, on the energy audits, my understanding is your report shows that only 43 of the federal agencies have actually completed their audits. Only 6 out of 28 have done it fully. As we all know, there is immense opportunity for savings through Energy Efficiency. Theres 7. 8 billion of efficiency measures that have been identified which would result according to your report, 800 million in financial savings. What are the obstacles . What is the problem with getting these energy and washington audits done . Can you speak to that . Im sure there are many reasons why theyre not being done, sir. What ill do, ill go back and ask for my own independent audit and get an update for you to figure out why this is not getting done in the manner that you would it done and the committee wants it done. We have a tremendous opportunity here. Im looking at some of the data here in front of me. Especially with regard to the federal facilities. Were looking at roughly savings of the government, according to the data that i have here, theyre in the billions of dollars. Its enormous. I think we ought to proceed at a very aggressive rate. I will commit to you here publicly that i will get back to you very, very shortly with an update on those audits. I appreciate that. I think theres a lot of bipartisan supports in our committee for these audits and the savings we can get. And let me state candidly, my sense about the failure of this to have happened before is that it reflects a slow walk approach towards getting this done. So i really will appreciate you getting back to us. But i think all of us will really appreciate getting the audits done. When you get back with your report, the question is not so much why they arent getting done, but when will they be done. Does that sound fair. Sounds very fair . Ill commit to you here that well get you an answer within the next would ten days be appropriate for you . It would be great. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Also, theres a question on staffing. Weve been working on the hope for homes act which would allow homeowners to do installations for Energy Efficiency, get help from the government, and it has a real benefit of putting local contractors to work. This wont work even if we are as successful as we think we will be in getting the money unless theres staffing in the appropriate departments and the department of energy for Energy Efficiency. And our sense is that our information is that weve been very slow to fill the positions that are available. Can you speak to that and what steps will be taken to fully staff up in anticipation that were going to be moving forward on Energy Efficiency. Sure, yeah, im happy to address that. That issue was raised in another hearing. It came to my attention very recently. And, you know, im not happy with the answers i received. But there was some initial delays with things as simple as badging of employees. It would take an enormous amount of time to get people to the through the employment process and provide them with a badge to do the work that were attempting to hire them to do. As a result, people have these very specialized skills, very technical skills. They were taking jobs, other jobs that were available to them at the moment, we lost out on the competition. Its disheartening and disappointing and weve taken steps to address simple measures like that. I could get you an update on the staffing that weve done since that hearing and since that last conversation with the assistant secretary dan simmons who was here before the committee. Okay. Thank you very much. I yield back, mr. Chairman. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from ohio mr. Johnson for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And mr. Secretary, its good to see you this afternoon. Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to brief us on your departments important activities around this covid19 pandemic. Y you and your team have done some tremendously helpful work, work that has benefitted all americans. I commend you for your work filling the Strategic Petroleum grid and utilizing laboratories and supercomputers in the fight against covid19. Covid19, there is no question, its associated economic challenges has put america on its heels and our adversaries are looking to exploit this crisis. Its critically important that we as members of this subcommittee dont loose focus on maintaining our global Energy Leadership. My time is limited. As you know very well, mr. Secretary, my district in eastern and Southeastern Ohio is blessed with an abundance of gas. This is an economic lifeline to my constituents. This cheap and abundant resource, if its able to be efficiently transported and brought to market into the form of liquified natural gas, it helps america push back on adversaries. We need to cut red tape and regulations. I introduced the unlocking our domestic potential act to do just that. So two questions and one here. Can you explain, mr. Secretary, in your dealings and negotiations on the global stage why its so important for us to maintain a strong domestic Energy Sector here at home and what benefits do americans see from exporting some of our excess Energy Resources such as lng in the global marketplace . Yes, sir, im happy to. Ill give you the latest example of the importance of having a very strong and diverse Energy Sector here in the United States. We mentioned earlier the conversations that were occurring and the dispute that occurred between saudi arabia and russia earlier. The president directed me as soon as we saw that there was a dispute, importantly, when we saw the reaction of one of the parties to that dispute, the reaction was very plain, they both increased their production and lowered the price which we feel was intended perhaps toward russia, but the impact was felt here in the United States. The president immediately engaged and said, reach out to your counterparts. Figure out whats going on. It became clear in the conversation that it was not going to get resolved at my level with my counterpart. It got elevated to a head of state level. When the president engaged, he did so with a position of strength that was not available to president s when i was growing up as a young kid in louisiana. When we were importing nation, not an exporting nation, we didnt have the authority, we didnt have the positioning in the world marketplace that would have allowed a president then to do what this president did and that was to bring these parties together and resolve this dispute immediately which brought stability to the world Energy Markets and the world oil markets. Its that ability to provide leadership in a Foreign Policy context that makes us understand why is it important that we have this energy industry. Yeah, and i agree with you 100 . And another corollary to that is commercial Nuclear Energy and our commercial nuclear entrepreneurs. Weve got to win that battle with the chinese and the russians as well. Under your leadership, d. O. E. Has launched a variety of new initiatives, including the advanced Reactor Program to accelerate the commercialization of new designs that are cheaper and smaller with additional safety benefits. And i was proud to reintroduce the strengthening America Nuclear competitive act to streamline the export of u. S. Civilian nuclear technologies. So how does your work to formulate more Nuclear Cooperation agreements recent International Development finance action to repeal its limitation on Nuclear Deals and legislative part 810 reforms that i propose, how does that fit together to position American Nuclear entrepreneurs to seize this immense Global Economic opportunity and why is it important for us . Sure. In a nutshell, sir, its very important for us to export u. S. Nuclear technology around the world because it comes with it, as you point out, certain restrictions, things like 123 restrictions, section 123, part of the u. S. Code that restricts the use of Nuclear Fuels for the purposes of developing warheads. Very important nonproliferation aspect to the export of nuclear technologies. China and russia doesnt recognize that. They dont have those types of restrictions. To the extent that countries want to buy those technologies, we also accept the risk that they may develop a warhead. Its very, very important to our National Security that we export u. S. Nuclear technology. You mentioned the other things that were doing, moving forward with things like the advanced test reactor which allow us to develop the reactor technologies but also the materials that are needed to build these reactors and the nuclear components. If we can do that with the advanced test reactor, develop under the auspices of the law that was passed recently, if congress chooses to fund that, we can test materials that make the u. S. Technologies even cheaper and more competitive on the world market. As we do that, again, we create Economic Opportunity here. We create National Security because those technologies will come with it, the nonproliferation safeguards that the u. S. Law requires. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, thanks for indulging. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Kennedy for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, good to see you. Thank you for being here. Im glad to have this opportunity to speak with you about an issue that i believe this country must make a priority. Its not going to be a surprise to anybody in this committee, offshore Wind Development. As members know, this has been a priority of mine since i first arrived in congress. I discussed this issue with a few of your predecessors and i look forward to this conversation as well. The Research Development and critically the deployment of offshore wind in the United States holds immense promise. From the climate benefits of utilizing abundant National Resource to the rate payers, the benefits are undeniable. In new england, we pay the highest retailed electric rates than the lower 48 states, taking advantage of a renewable Natural Resource we have off the coast makes perfect sense. Beyond the climate and economic benefits, the promise of offshore wind is the growth of a new entindustry. It includes direct and indirect jobs. It will require skilled labor. In march of 2020, the American Wind Energy association released its u. S. Offshore wind power assessment. Among the findings, we estimated that, quote, developing 30,000 megawatts of wind could support 83,000 jobs and deliver 25 billion by annual output. Thats the potential on the east coast. As you know, the federal government is currently evaluating proposals off the coast of massachusetts. How is d. O. E. Coordinating with other federal agencies including the bureau of Ocean Energy Management to address the jurisdictional issues surrounding offshore wind . Thank you, sir. I appreciate the opportunity as well to catch up with you by telephone over the weekend. I enjoyed our conversation and look forward to working with you. We work closely with the epa if its dealing with offshore wind to ensure that the permitting processes are streamlined. We mentioned early, our efforts and other things were working on. Were going to continue that effort because we do recognize that, you know, the provision of wind energy, the provision of solar energy, Nuclear Energy, the provision of other forms of energy, hydro, are key to our Energy Diversity here in the United States. As we talked about earlier with regard to National Security, its that diversity that allows us the strength that we need in america to continue growing the economy at the pace at which were going to grow it. Im very supportive of your efforts locally. Im happy to help you any way that i might be able to. I appreciate that, sir. Building off that, i want to get a sense of what d. O. E. Is doing to ensure that offshore wind can connect to the grid but get that grid to power given the permitting issues that you have discussed. Sure. We need to continue to develop infrastructure here in the United States, Transmission Infrastructure so we can get the power where it needs to be. We have unique challenges here in the United States with the prosi provision of Renewable Energy. Theres lots of sunshine in places like arizona, new mexico and the southwest part of the country. Getting that electrical power to chicago or high density areas in the United States can be a challenge. And, you know, while we are very sensitive to the ability of local communities and states to be a part of the regulatory process or the permitting process, i should say, its also important that we find a path forward to develop the infrastructure that we need to move the power from where its generated to where it needs to be. Its an ongoing effort not only of the department of energy, but the epa, department of interior, other bodies, state and local institutions as well, and its been a very robust conversation and i look forward to being a larger part of it. And, mr. Secretary, just as my time is running a bit short here, i wanted to flag that you and i had discussed previously about taking advantage of the potential of offshore Wind Development in the northeast and the Economic Impact that this would have along the east coast and southeastern massachusetts about center of excellence on offshore wind. I sent a letter to the assistant secretary of Renewable Energy a few weeks ago and would love to get a response and keep in contact with your agency to figure out what we can do to make that come about. Sure. I will follow up with dan simmons and get you some additional information. I would like to get together with you and i would also, if i might, sir, take this opportunity to invite you to our laboratory in golden, colorado. You would be pleased with that center of excellence. Thats one of its focal points. I look forward to it, sir. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. The chair now recognizes the congressman from indiana. I would like to focus on grid reliability and resilience. The covid19 impact has made it even more front and center. As you know, key principle to a resilient grid is a need for a diverse fuel and generation supply for the electrical sector. I believe each fuel mix plays a key role in our grid, during a Public Health emergency. However, its important that we dont forget the Critical Role base load energy such as goal and natural gas play to our grid reliability. Its more important than ever that our grid has a reliable back done to make sure that our lights stay on and the frontline workers have the electricity they need. I want to applaud the d. O. E. At remaining committed to clean coal. As you discussed earlier during our hearing. By announcing the Coal First Initiative which will work to make coal plants, flexible, innovative and transformative with having these plants be emission free. In southwest indiana, we have all of the coal in the state of indiana. Our state at one point had about 85 of its power from coal. Its now quite a bit less. But still substantial based on our expansion of Renewable Energy sources. But a couple of things, questions i have, can you explain maybe what if any lessons you learned and continue to learn during the covid19 pandemic that can help ensure our grid remains reliable and resilient . Sure. Im happy to do that. It is the most striking example, obvious example, is the importance of electricity in everything we do. If we imagine for a moment the horror that would result from a loss of power in say new york city, the loss of power there would just be devastating. Our ability to replace the power is limited. Some of these folks have backup generators or whatnot, but those are short in nature. Just the importance of the electricity grid is just, you know, first and foremost. It forced us to recognize, you know, as i mentioned to mr. Kennedy and others, the need for additional infrastructure in the United States, the additional emphasis that we place on cybersecurity throughout this pandemic. If youre an adversary, you would look at this as potentially an opportunity to do some damage to the grid and to the american economy. Our vigilance has been raised as a result of this pandemic. To your question about clean coal and the announcements that we made with coal first, i think thats a fascinating program at the department of energy. Its designed to bring the next generation of coal generation to market. The facilities that were looking at are smaller. Theyre much more efficient. And importantly, when theyre combined with things like bio mass, the technologies that are available to us in the coal first, have the ability to have a net negative Carbon Emissions footprint. Its a Fascinating Technology that we want to continue to work on and develop and potentially see move into the private sector at some point in the future. Thank you for your interest in the program and i look forward to keeping you updated on it. Thank you. And again, thanks to what the department of energy is doing in the research realm. And i want to reiterate what other members have said and i think you have said during this hearing is that it is important that we dont limit ourselves to research and development in only one area of energy generation. Theres a push right now to forget about coal, forget about natural gas and other fossil fuels whereas with Innovative Research and development, this can be a substantial contributor as far as our lifetimes and probably into the future, and also be a major contributor to making sure that we have a more reliable and resilient grid that will help protect us, as you mentioned, on the National Security front. But more importantly, improve the lives of the citizens that we represent. Thanks for your work and continue the good work youre doing more broadly across the energy space and i hope that the Congress Continues to support that. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair will now recognize the gentle lady from New Hampshire for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much, mr. Chair. Sorry, im having a little difficulty with my computer. Just trying to get to my remarks. Oh, well. I wanted to ask a question today about the responding to covid19 and the economic recovery from covid19 and, thank you, mr. Secretary, for being with us. Its important for americans to see that their government is doing everything in their power to help keep them safe and i know from our discussion yesterday that you the department of energy has been helpful in combatting covid19 directly. And i think my constituents would be pleased to hear how the department of energy is leveraging the full range of its facilities in the fight against this terrible disease thats been so disruptive in our country. How are researchers at the department of energy using the massive Computing Power at their disposal to help us understand covid19 and explore potential treatments and how might this Research Help us get this pandemic under control . Sure. Im happy to address that. The National Laboratories have been front and center on some of the early findings with regard to covid. So, for instance, at argonne National Laboratory, they use light beams. And what they were able to do is identify certain protein strains that would further lead to potential drug compounds that would have positive impacts on this particular virus, this covid19. They were able to do that because of the supercomputing capacities at oak ridge and other National Laboratories in very, very short amounts of time. The very practical or for myself, a laymans way of understanding it. Rather than taking a year or two to go through billions of pages of academic research, they could do that in a day or two days by using the speed of the drug compounds to find the first 70 or 77 or so that they could identify as having a potential positive impact on this virus. So its using that ability that allowed the cdc, allowed the researchers and the doctors at hhs and other partners to make those key first decisions and potentially limit the impact of this pandemic. So i want to direct my comments to the disruption thats been caused by covid19. You and i discussed yesterday the opportunity to build back better than before. And i would love to hear your thoughts on the dramatic advancements that have been made in increasing solar and Wind Energy Production and how we can envision a role for Renewable Energy that will place our economic recovery from the covid19 pandemic and keep us moving forward so that we can not only rebuild our economy, but come back stronger with jobs here in america. Thank you for the conversation yesterday. I really enjoyed that. With regard to the future of some of these Renewable Technologies, i do think we have an opportunity in america not only as a result of the pandemic, but i think just as a result of the changing consumer desires to develop of advanced technologies. For instance, solar, which we discussed yesterday, i may have mentioned in the earlier part of this hearing, you know, we at the d. O. E. , we look at photo e volunteer take. Theres been some slow down as a result of the pandemic. But the technology is available to most u. S. Consumers or world consumers. What were looking at is the next generation of solar technology, the use of other materials that perhaps are organic here in the United States or around the world or they may be manmade technologies or manmade materials that we use to make the next generation of solar panels. If we can unlock that and move forward with that technology and get it to the marketplace through either our office of Technology Transition or other methodologies to get it to the marketplace, we have an enormous Economic Opportunity ahead of us. We support all forms of energy. We will continue to do so. As i mentioned earlier, we feel very strongly that it adds to our economic and Energy Security, but our National Security as well. Thank you very much. My time is up. I did have a question on negative emissions and direct air capture, but i will submit that for the record. Thank you. I yield back. The gentle lady yields back. The chairman recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Flores, for five minutes. Please unmute your thank you, mr. Chairman. And secretary, its great to have you testifying, again, to us today. Just want to let you know, its 100 degrees here in my part of texas and my solar system is producing 100 of my energy needs. Doing my part for the grid and also for the emissions of the country. Mr. Secretary, as you know, weve talked quite a bit today about maintaining National Security and maintaining u. S. Energy dominance and that those are key inputs for continued Economic Opportunity for hardworking americans. And as you pointed out in one of your earlier responses, we need to aggressively support innovation and private sector partnerships, particularly when it comes to the use and development of advanced Nuclear Reactors to regain our Global Leadership role when it comes to Nuclear Energy. You also mentioned the critical need to make sure that low enriched uranium is available in sufficient quantities. You did say earlier that the department of energy is working on trying to make this fuel source available. Can you give us a little bit more detail, a little bit more substance about what the Energy Department is doing so that we can regain that leadership role in the Nuclear Space and then also if you think theres additional legislative support thats needed, let us share that information as well. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Flores. Keep that ac on. It gets really hot down there. It was great to be in texas last week. Im sorry i missed you. With regard to the project that youre talking about, what weve instituted is a pilot project. Were going to do this in ohio where we had an existing facility. Our intent is to spend about 115 million that was appropriated by the u. S. Congress to take some centrifuges that we had in oak ridge, move them to ohio and create this high assay leu. The project is underway. The casings have moved to ohio. We have additional instruction to do inside of the facility. We hope to have this completed sometime midpoint next year and begin producing in limited quantities this particular fuel source. We are also at the same time using our Idaho National laboratory to move forward with research and develop and potentially some more aggressive work, actually, deployment, of a Small Modular Reactor which doesnt use this type of fuel but is a Newer Technology that we would like to see come to market soon with regard to the fuel that i mentioned earlier, we will use that for an advanced or microreactor and inl is at the tip of the spear in the development of that technology as well. Were going to work closely with them. Were going to work closely with the u. S. Department of defense who has indicated an interest in these small Nuclear Reactors for perhaps some deployment to remote locations where radar stations are, you know, located around the world and quite candidly, they dont have access to Energy Sources as we do in the lower 48, perhaps. Im thinking about alaska. Places like the aleutian islands. Were moving aggressively to move this technology out to the marketplace. Very good. And as you know, my bill has passed the house not only in the last congress but also in this congress and it helps give you the Statutory Authority you need for the development and transportation of this fuel by setting up privatepublic partnerships. Were hoping the senate will act soon. What other legislative support do you need to help us gain our dominance in this area. That bill is important. Thank you for your leadership there and thank you for the support of the technology as well as the Program Within d. O. E. I look forward to supporting that all throughout the process. With regard to other legislative authorities. At this point in time, i dont have anything for you in terms of specific need. But im happy to discuss this with you further. And look through our legal authorities and see if there might be anything that might present a roadblock to us in the future. Okay. And thank you for your testimony. Thank you for your answers to my questions. And let me know when inl is open up for business again, because thats thats on my list of places to visit. Thank you. We would love to have you. The gentleman yields back. The chair will now recognizes the gentle lady from illinois, ms. Kelly, for five minutes. Thank you so much, mr. Chair. Thank you for convening us and thank you, mr. Secretary, for spending part of your day with us. I wanted to ask you about the department of energy in creating jobs through modernization and all kinds of jobs, whether you have a diploma or your masters. What are you thinking about that . What am i thinking about it in terms of the Economic Development . What will be opportunities. I didnt quite understand that. I apologize. Thats okay. How is d. O. E. Envisioning creating jobs through grid modernization, whether its if you just have a high school dee employee diploma. At the d. O. E. What were interested in doing is creating opportunities not only for scientists, the vast bulk of the population of the workforce at d. O. E. Including engineers, nuclear physicists, other types of scientists throughout our laboratory system. What we need to do, though, is perhaps be more aggressive in developing the pipeline for that sort of talent. What were now focused on is the development of programs, internships, fellowships that would be used by Even High School seniors or High School Juniors in some cases to come and spend the summer with us. Come and spend a few weeks with us. And let us show you what it is that we do. Through that process, perhaps, generate some interest in s. T. E. M. Education curriculums that would perhaps lead to these students coming back to us as perhaps post docs ten years later. So we are very aggressively pursuing that. Were also looking for opportunities to partner with private industry as well. We dont pretend to have a monopoly on the development of talent here in america at the department of energy though i do think we do a pretty good job of it. We do want to partner with our colleagues in private industry and work with them to develop s. T. E. M. Criurriculum in certai cases and more importantly just develop the opportunity for students to come in at a very early age and see what it is we do. Thats wonderful. I hope when youre thinking of that you think about a diverse pipeline, also. Then i wanted to move to empty buildings and working with our cities and towns to think about reconfiguration of existing buildings so theyre healthier, they incorporate more touchless technique, create better air ventilation, and spacing. So what do you recommend to cities and towns to i guess just have healthier buildings . More Green Buildings . As we discussed earlier, focusing on efficiency, focusing on the programs that we have, we have the federal Energy Program for federal buildings. We are focusing on Energy Efficiency and what we might do to improve some of the efficiency is important. I might add this is going to be a much larger issue for us perhaps in the next few months or perhaps years as we, you know, address the changes in society as a result of this pandemic. Ive talked to several colleagues in private industry who have already indicated to me that perhaps telework may be the future for many employees at their respective companies. If that is the case, were going to have some Additional Space available in these buildings all around, including in the small communities that you mentioned earlier. If you i dont know if you know the answer but if you were to give i know there is not one grade a through f but how do you feel our towns and cities are doing as far as greener, cleaner, more technically sound buildings . Do you feel like we have lots and lots of work to do or were half way there . I dont know with regard to specific buildings or towns. I couldnt provide that kind of grade. I will provide a pretty high grade, though, for the development of the technologies that are leading us to more efficient use of energy all across the country. What private industry is doing i think is absolutely remarkable. As we mentioned earlier in this hearing what our scientists are doing in our National Laboratories, the development of new Solar Technologies, the development of new technologies that allow us to capture carbon in certain instances not only from fuels like coal but perhaps even natural gas and others, i give them very, very high marks for the work being done there. Thank you for your work and thank you for joining us. I yield back. Thank you. The gentle lady yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentle lady from california for five minutes. Im sorry. Mr. Chairman, am i . Im sorry. The chair recognizes mr. Hudson for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary for being here with us today. I also want to just thank you and President Trump for your incredible leadership on behalf of our Energy Sector during this most trying time for our country. As you know, i represent the amazing men and women of fort bragg in North Carolina. These include the nations Immediate Response force the 82nd airborne, our army special forces, and other Critical Military components. As we face threats around the globe, its of paramount importance, our bases at home and our forward and remote operating bases have a Sustainable Energy supply they need to keep us safe. You and President Trump have made this a priority and for that i am very grateful. This committee and your department develop new Energy Technologies to adequately supply our armed forces, i believe the future of our Defense Energy supply and our focus should reside with small modular and advanced Nuclear Reactors. Back in 2018 i had the amendment to the National Defense authorization act that requires the department of energy and department of defense to develop guidelines for a pilot program, the development of micro reactors, critical d. O. E. And d. O. D. Sites. I am very interested in this reports recommendations for our operating bases and creating Energy Resilience at bases like fort bragg. Unfortunately the report is still at omb so i appreciate anything you can do to assist me getting this report finalized so we can move forward. A little bit of what mr. Flores was asking about there was a recent report from the Nuclear Fuel Working Group which outlined how america can reestablish itself as a Global Leader in nuclear technologies. This supported next generation Nuclear Reactors. Can you comment on this report and some of your work on advanced Nuclear Reactors . Sure. Happy to do that. Thank you as well for the conversation we recently had on the telephone. I appreciated learning more about your Congressional District and i might also i am a little bit envious of your representation of fort bragg as a former Army Tank Commander and drill sergeant i spent a little time down in North Carolina and i miss my days there. Thank you for your service and thank you for your representation of that important army installation. With regard to your question about the Nuclear Fuels working group, what we had discussed earlier, i think, is very important for the future of Nuclear Energy not only here in the United States but around the world. As i mentioned in one of the earlier questions weve lost our leadership in america on Nuclear Power. Were losing it very quickly to places like china and russia. In the case of china, theyre using technologies that i think can be fairly characterized as american technology. Westinghouse is perhaps the worlds leader in the development of advanced nuclear technologies. They created a reactor called the ap1000, a fantastic product. China developed a reactor that looks awfully similar. Were seeing them deploy that around the world. Importantly, as i mentioned earlier, they deployed around the World Without the safeguards, without the nonproliferation safeguards we as americans feel are very, very important. To the extent we dont focus on that, we only increase our defense needs around the world. We allow rogue nations to develop this technology and from that develop warhead programs, we only increase our need for a Strong Defense here in the United States. It is very, very important that we connect these things together in a way that allows us to move forward and perhaps regain our leadership in this nuclear area. The working group is the first step of that. We have many steps to go. We do feel it is a very credible strategy that lays out a road map for america to retain or regain our leadership in this case in the Nuclear Space. I agree with you, and i think that work is very important and appreciate your leadership. Did you know in order to effectively run an advance reactor you must have the necessary fuel. This committee has done work on advance fuels, mr. Flores and mr. Mcmurray, as mr. Flores mentioned right before me on the uraniuim enriched fuels, would you talk about what d. O. E. Is doing to help with accident tolerant fuels which are critical for existing and these advanced reactors . Sure. Absolutely. The accident tolerant fuels are absolutely necessary in my view not only for the development of the advanced reactors and the smaller reactors we talked about earlier. It is important as well for a change in the Public Perception about Nuclear Power in the first instance. We are still dealing with the overhang in america of things like 3 mile island. We obviously are dealing with the overhang of International Events like chernobyl and fukushima. We all know about those horrible accidents. If we can develop a fuel that allows us to develop a technology that in certain cases you can turn the cooling off to the reactor and nothing happens, it simply shuts down, it is completely accident tolerant, thats important to changing that Public Perception and perhaps will increase Public Acceptance of this Important Energy source. As i mentioned earlier as well, it is important that we have all forms of energy but nuclear in particular because it provides such an important base load component to our electric grid here in the United States. And until we have the Battery Technologies that were all working on, then there is no physical possible way for us to move to a 100 renewable world if thats what some are pursuing. We cant do it today without base Load Electricity and Nuclear Energy is just such an important component of that. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentle lady from california, ms. Merriman, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary for joining us. My first question is over 620,000 Clean Energy Workers have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic, including over 100,000 in california. You were vocal in your testimony about supporting the fossil fuel industry. Can you tell me what you are doing to help the Clean Energy Industry rebound . And if you could do that in 60 seconds i have a number of questions im trying to get to, mr. Secretary. Yes, maam. I am happy to do that. Yes, i have been very vocal in my support for the energy industry, all forms of energy. The pandemic has hit all sectors of the u. S. Economy. I dont know if its been an equal distribution, but the pain has been felt all across the United States. Im supportive of the programs that you and your leadership in congress, others in congress have done in the last two, perhaps three months passing programs like the cares act. Other steps that you have taken to stabilize the u. S. Economy as we deal with this pandemic. I want to ensure thank you, mr. Secretary. If i could just interrupt you i am trying to get to the questions. Is there anything specifically you can tell me about you what are going to do to help the clean Energy Rebound . Anything specifically you might be able to mention . I think under the Energy Program we are going through our funding opportunity processes. Weve released in the last two or three months weve announced we have about 220 million in funding opportunities coming exclusively out of the Clean Energy Space in our Energy Efficiency programs. Were going to continue to make those available to the private sector so they can move forward with some of the newer technologies they want to bring to market and hopefully that will add some economic assistance to their businesses as well. Okay. Thank you, sir. It was reported in april that your agency is holding back 43 billion of loan guarantees earmarked by congress for Clean Energy Projects. Why withhold support for the Clean Energy Projects . Well, i would disagree slightly with the characteristication. It is the loan Program Available within the department of energy but it is not available exclusively to clean energy. Were not withholding that money from the Clean Energy Industry. What i have done is undertaken a review of the loan program because coming from the Banking Industry i was a little concerned about some of the requirements that were being put in place that might prevent loans from being made. That review is still in process and i helped to complete it very, very shortly. And at some point in the future we will move forward with the lending program. Well, i hope you will work as quickly for the Clean Energy Projects and sector as you have been for the fossil fuel industry, sir. I happen to represent a district that is almost 90 latino africanamerican. They are surrounded by three freeways, the port, and urban oil. Mr. Secretary, what is environmental injustice or Environmental Justice mean to you . It means the availability of energy to all sectors of our nation and all communities in our nation. My commitment to Environmental Justice is very broad. We talked today a lot about Energy Efficiency and making energy cheaper. I think that is very important for us to do. That is part of this program and it is my commitment to you, my commitment to this congress to pursue those types of technologies that allow the distribution of energy very, very efficiently in america and, importantly, very cheaply in america. Well, sir, much like your predecessor when asked this question, you were talking about consumer pricing, but let me just tell you, environmental injustice is when there is a disproportionate impact to our communities of color. Our black and brown communities are suffering a much higher rate of air pollution. And so when you talk about rolling back air standards, when you talk about making it easier for the fossil fuel industry youre talking about harming the health of our communities of color. And then covid hits and guess what . Theyre dying at higher rates because they have higher asthma and theyre more exposed to this air pollution. So it is very challenging if you havent noticed there are protesters all across this country right now demanding justice and that includes Environmental Justice. So i would ask you to take a very serious look at efforts that you can take to help fix this huge problem that we have. Do you believe in environmental racism . I understand your concern and we happen to agree on the need for cleaner technologies going into the marketplace. I would add that what is important is not only we have the development of mr. Secretary, the question was whether you believe in environmental racism. Im not sure what you mean by that. Do you yes or no . I dont know what you mean by that. Well, it is a term to describe environmental injustices that occur across our country to certain communities including black and brown communities that are disproportionately impacted. I believe that there are communities that are perhaps disproportionately impacted. I just dont understand what you mean by the term environmental racism. Okay. Well i can certainly follow up with you and we should have this conversation because it goes hand in hand about whats happening across this country and why our communities of color are disproportionately impacted. Sir, i know my time is expired. I will follow up on the conversation. With that i yield back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from michigan mr. Wahlberg for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and mr. Secretary for being here. Thank you. It is very important like the administration does it is very apparent that like the administration does you have reached out to talk to us members of this committee and subcommittee on both sides of the aisle and i appreciate that openness to hear our concerns and ideas and get to know us a little better as well. Appreciate the fact that youll be coming to michigan later this week, also. On the glide path in the airport most likely youll look down and see my district and why it is the Energy District of the state with nuclear, with coal, one of the most uptodate modern coal plants thats still allowed to function as well as natural gas and manufacturing of wind energy as well in my district. So were delighted to have you there. Plus, unlike some of my texas colleagues you wont find hundreddegree weather. When i left the airport today it was 70 degrees, very low humidity, blue skies, and pure michigan. We look forward to sharing that with you. Four years ago ferc held a Technical Conference to discuss a needed modernization of rules relative to perpa, a 1978 law, that had very strong, positive results in moving us toward Renewable Energy and doing it in such a way that right now its worked so well that all Energy Providers have moved into that realm. But its also in its present format causing unnecessary billions of dollars to be paid by consumers because of the outdated launch. As you know ive been heavily involved for years now in trying to reform that and im pleased that ferc had undertaken four years ago an attempt to modernize it and is currently preparing to adopt a critical component of reform included in legislation that ive championed over the past several congresses. Due to covid19, utilities in my home state of michigan have reported an increase in residential usage due to more people staying at home. Mr. Secretary, in your opinion, what impacts would reforms to perpa such as waiving the mandatory purchase obligations for qualified facilities have on lowering utility costs for consumers at a time when domestic demand for electricity increased in this new stayathome economy . Thats a great question and probably requires a more thoughtful answer than ill be able to provide you in 30 seconds. Look, generally, sir, perpa needs to be reformed. It was written many, many years ago, i think 1978 or so to be exact. Give or take a few years from there but i think 1978. Much has changed since then. We talked about Technology Today quite a bit but the markets themselves have changed. Back in that point in time, you know, utilities were vertically integrated. Today theyre not. We have very competitive markets. I think its, you know, appropriate for congress, for ferc, for others to go back and take a look at this law and see if it still meets the needs of the American People. I might suggest there are some changes that are long overdue with regard to perpa. So i would support a review of the law. We appreciate that and im glad to see what is being done with ferc. I do believe that ultimately we need to do it ledges slautivegi it is permanent but has some flexibility unlike the 1978 law. The office of cyber and Energy Response leads the departments Emergency Preparedness and coordinated response to disruptions to the Energy Sector including physical and Cyber Attacks, natural disasters, and man made events. Two questions. The first is, can you please describe the role of the office over the last few months as it relates to covid19 outbreak and, secondly, mr. Rush and i, chairman rush and i have introduced the Energy Emergency leadership act, which would help ensure the durability of d. O. E. Leadership in energy emergencies. As the house considers future measures in response to covid19 outbreak, would d. O. E. Be better positioned to carry out these functions in the long term if the assistant secretary were made permanent in the d. O. A. Organization act and had Clear Authority through congressional authorization . To answer your last question i think i would answer that question yes and i want to say thank you to both you and chairman rush for your support of that particular office. Its been absolutely essential. As we saw in this particular pandemic it has become increasingly important not only for purposes of its role with regard to Cyber Security but its role with regard to the catastrophic response efforts. It was the Caesar Office that provided the mask and the testing kits and delivered those to the utilities. It was the Caesar Office that worked closely with the ceos of the utilities all across the country to ensure that the control room personnel in particular were quarantined and had done the proper social distancing so that we didnt lose them at some point in this pandemic. Very Critical Role within the department. I think a very Critical Role within the industry, itself. I think if you mention this to other utility utility ceos, youll find a similar response. Thank you. I appreciate it. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Peters from california for five minutes. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you to the secretary for being with us today. During this administration, sir, theres been a shift in what to do with Nuclear Waste. Can you tell us what you think is the appropriate path forward on spent or fuel storage . Right next to my district is the facility which is now closed for better or worse and leaving it on the coast near a military base and near that population just doesnt make any sense. Sure. Yes, sir, im happy to address that. We feel very strongly in the administration that we have to address the issue of spent nuclear fuel that is currently being stored at all of these utilities all across the country. You mentioned santa nofre. That is a familiar site and familiar topic of conversation for me inside of the d. O. E. It is important we address this but also very clear that congress has chosen not to fund any activity related to what was designated as the final repository years ago. And as a result of that we are prohibited from moving forward with that particular repository and we wont move forward with that repository until congress decides that it will, you know, may want to do that. In the interim, however, we will focus on some measures that we might take to provide interim relief from the private storage or the storage that currently exists today. Weve just begun that process. It will be open. It will be inclusive. I want to work not only with the policy makers here in congress but also with the governors and the local officials as well. So that together we might find an appropriate solution but for the moment, we are frozen by the congress and the lack of funding for anything related to the final repository. Would you recommend to congress that in requests as part of your budget requests that we do fund the next steps in processing for for finalizing the permitting of Yucca Mountain . I think what we proposed a request for funding that might lead us to develop some of these options. With regard to licensing i have to go back and look at the budget request and see what the specifics were. Id be happy to respond in writing with that answer. Thank you. You take a legitimate shot at congress and i was in the last congress we actually passed a bill that would have moved yucca ahead. That is not the case with this congress. At the same time weve heard mixed signals from the administration. If you want to get back onboard with yucca id appreciate knowing that directly. A question about transmission of Renewable Energy. One thing ive heard and i want your opinion is one of the obstacles in getting Renewable Energy from wind farms in places like texas and from solar farms in places like arizona is that interstate transmission is difficult to build. Is that your sense and what is it that congress could do to make transmission of those resources easier to places like chicago and detroit where people might need that Renewable Energy . It is my sense. Weve talked about grid modernization for several years and weve begun some important work. The example you point out is absolutely on point. Were developing generation sources all across the country. We lack the ability to move the power from point a to point b. Much of our electricity grid is many years old and it is time we upgrade these facilities. We have to make them smart. We have to get them permitted. Importantly i think for the transmission of electricity we need to look at these Large Infrastructure Projects that allow us to do exactly that. It is akin to what we discussed in the other area. America is now the Worlds Largest producer of energy in terms of oil and gas and our challenge today is not the production. Our challenge in many cases is actually getting the product to the marxpla the marketplace and the same thing exists with electricity. Does the Administration Support particular reforms for permitting interstate transmission lines that would serve those northern cities, say, with renewable sources from out of state . If so, what particular reforms would you support . You know, i would really like to get back to you with a more thoughtful answer because i think there are some things we can Work Together on to make this a little easier, you know, for the development of this type of infrastructure so rather than perhaps giving you imprecise or less than thoughtful answer i would appreciate the opportunity to perhaps respond in writing. I look forward to that, mr. Secretary, and mr. Chairman, my time is expired. Thank you very much. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes mr. Ohalloran for five minutes. Mr. Ohalloran, please mute your phone. Unmute, rather. Still having technical difficulties with the microphone. Mr. Ohalloran, we are experiencing some technical difficulties. Let us move on. Ms. Rochester, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you so much, secretary, for joining us today. One of the many things that covid19 pandemic has taught us is the importance of preparation. As we start to rebuild our economy from this ongoing Public Health pandemic we must be intentional about how we rebuild. That means rebuilding an economy powered by clean energy so that we can have safer and healthier communities. It also means working together to be better prepared for future Public Health emergencies. Last month i introduced the open back better act. This legislation will ensure that our nations Critical Infrastructure like hospitals and schools is more resilient, more Energy Efficient, safer, and more reliable to guard against future threats and while creating good jobs and prioritizing the communities hit hardest by this pandemic. During a National Emergency like a pandemic with the additional risks from wildlife, hurricanes, and other climate related disasters, we need more resilient infrastructure. These upgrades are especially important in communities that have been over burdened by the impact of pollution, Public Health emergencies, and natural disasters. This is why my legislation prioritizes funding for Environmental Justice communities who have been disproportionately impacted by the covid19 pandemic and which we talked about earlier. As we emerge from this health and economic crisis, we must do better, and we must ensure that we are better prepared for the inevitable future emergencies. Mr. Secretary, can you discuss why resiliency upgrades to Mission Critical facilities such as our hospitals is so important during a pandemic . Yes, maam, i can. You know, as we have seen with this pandemic and candidly as weve seen in other parts of American History, our reliance upon the electric grid has increased exponentially over the course of the last few decades. Almost everything that we do depends in some way, shape, or form on the provision of energy and electricity in particular. So as we looked at the pandemic we obviously were concerned about the hospitals and the provision of health care throughout america. But as now weve gotten beyond at least some of the initial moments of the pandemic, and we start to look at how the economy is going to change, were looking at things like teleworking. I dont have to remind anybody in this hearing because were doing it today, you cant telework without wifi. You dont have wifi without electricity. So the importance of the grid to our daily life is only heightened by this pandemic. We all see it. It is important we think about things like resiliency and reliability in perhaps a different way than we have in years past. Weve created at the department of energy a resiliency model, which is going to allow us when fully developed, and we are very close to bringing this out, we can see the entire grid in real time and address challenges that we may face in almost every part of the country so be it a cyber threat or be it a load threat, we work closely with the utilities and we can see these things in real time and address them in real time. In certain cases as we further develop the model we may be able to predict where we will have load challenges or particular threats we need to address so we can ensure the safe, reliable provision of electricity. Mr. Secretary, thank you for that answer. Youve kind of preempted one of my questions and we have many more that we will send to you in writing. As you were talking i am very focused on the future of work and as you said whether it is distance learning, telework, or telemedicine, telehealth, we have seen an increase in the need. And im curious during the pandemic ive been talking to companies about what has changed in the way that they operate. Can you talk about what has changed in the way your department approaches working with other federal and state partners to ensure continued reliability of the u. S. Electric system . Sure. I dont know that weve the work force has changed quite dramatically so were in the maximum telework environment now. I dont have an exact number for you but id be happy to provide you an update. If i had to guess today id probably suggest that perhaps 60 of the work force at d. O. E. Is now teleworking. There are certain Job Functions at the department, the delivery of a Nuclear Warhead to the United States navy or the u. S. Air force, you simply cant do that over the telephone. You have to physically deliver it. So we are taking the precautions are you working differently with other agencies though . Has anything changed or have you noticed anything not so much in that sense. We are still very, very interactive. Our teleworking capabilities we have learned that our networks i. T. Networks are very robust. Weve adapted to the new workplace much like the rest of america has. Well, ive run out of time but i will follow up with you to ask how does the upcoming Hurricane Season impact the electric systems reliability in the Health Crisis. Thank you so much for your testimony and thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. The gentle lady yields back. Mr. Ohalloran, you are recognized for five minutes. Are you there, mr. Ohalloran . Your audio is not working. Please unmute. Mr. Ohalloran, while you are working on your audio, the chair will recognize mr. Ohalloran, are you there . The chair now recognizes two individuals who have for the purpose of questioning a new witness and the chair wul question the gentleman from illinois for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and, dan, great to have you here. One of my last times to harass a secretary of energy, and i had to waive on. I feel like a freshman. I had to wait like two hours. It is an important issue and you know the issues. I had a dropoff talk with the corn growers on fuels and those questions have been asked by dauf lobseck. You also know a lot of my career has been spent on nuclear fuel and Nuclear Waste. And i want to talk about, start with the closing of the fuel cycle. And the current federal law is that the federal government should take title to the nuclear fuel and the defense waste. The Nuclear Policy passed in 1982 and 1987 identified that is our responsibility. Is that correct . It is. Yes, sir. And would you also agree that it is the International Scientific consensus that long term geological repository for high level Nuclear Waste and defense waste is the International Scientific consensus . I would agree with that. I think there is a general consensus in the Scientific Community that that is the best long term way to dispose of the spent fuel. Yes, several looking at it. You know where im going. It is no surprise we have the law of the land for failure of the appropriators to spend the money or our spent fuel should be going and our defense waste should be going to Yucca Mountain in nevada which has done the research, due diligence, and has passed the skrut in hi of the science. So we will continue to drive those issues hopefully in other venues. Let me go to the other really important issue which is the beginning of the fuel cycle. In the beginning of the fuel cycle when we are reprocessing, how many plants do we have that reprocess to help create nuclear fuel in this country . Im sorry. I didnt quite hear. How many plants do we have that reprocess . Yeah. That do the yellow cake to the process of like we see at metropolis. That do the conversion processes . Right. To my knowledge i think we only have one. I will double check that. That one is that one we believe is in metropolis. Is that operating right now . They are in a stand by mode as i understand. They are not fully operational. So we appreciate this Nuclear Energy working group which addressed the uraniuim reserve which we talked about off line and i appreciate that. As i raised to you in our call, there is a gap of where that may help the reprocessing in the future since there is a shutdown now. The concern is were not going to have a facility to deal with this front end even with this domestic uraniuim reserve. Can you talk about some options that might be on the table to help places like honeywell and metropolis, illinois . Sure. Im happy to do that. You know, as we pointed out in the Nuclear Fuels working group it is not enough for us to simply create a uraniuim reserve, it is not enough to pull it out of the ground and stack it up someplace and have it available for some future use. You must convert it. You must enrich it. You must have it available as fuel for it to have any practical value. That is our intent with the working group. That is why we requested 150 million in the president s budget to establish this reserve. We fully respect the right of congress to disagree with that but we think it is important for us to do as a nation. With regard to that one facility, you know, that you mentioned earlier, we think it is important to maintain that type of capability here in the United States. To my commitment to you, our departments commitment to you to be focused on that over the course of the next few days and weeks because i understand the critical economic condition in which that particular facility is in. And i look forward to working with you to see what we might do in terms of finding options or solutions to maintain this important capability here in the United States. Thank you very much. Chairman, my time is expired. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes mr. Ohalloran. Are you there . The chair now recognizes the final member today, who is also waived on. You are recognized for five minutes. I thank the chairman for letting me waive on. I was a member of this subcommittee for over a decade but when i was called to the rules committee i had to give up one of my subcommittees. Happy to be with you mr. Secretary as we are looked upon by your portrait up on the wall. It is significant youre here today. Fascinating discussion. You are talking about Getting Energy from where it is created to where it is needed. Your predecessor secretary perry when he was my governor the longest serving governor in Texas History by the way created these Competitive Energy renewal zones as a state program but bringing wind energy from west texas to the Population Centers in the eastern part of the state. Of course those crossed the district i represent and as you might imagine, a pipeline or a highway bringing those high tension electrical wires across your district west to east can create a great deal of attention. It is not just the pipe lines. Its not just other areas. But were being in favor of wind energy means you also need to be in fauvor of the infrastructure that is deliverable to get it to where it is needed. Again, your predecessor when he was governor of texas was certainly very involved in that. On the issue of the Petroleum Reserve and weve had an opportunity to talk about this can you speak to where we are with the modernization of the strategic Petroleum Reserve and what you see its future utility might be over and above what the National Security implications have been in the past . Youd be happy to. Thank you for your service to texas. It means a lot to all of us who luff there. Even as an adopted son i appreciate your service to the state and the country. You know, the strategic Petroleum Reserve is a National Asset and as you well know because of your long history on this kmutcommittee and in texas is important to our National Security. What we need to do in my view is to continue the Life Extension Program that was started sometime ago. The facility has become quite old. It is important we continue to maintain it in a way that allows it to be helpful to the nation. I would also suggest that Congress Might want to consider perhaps upgrading some of the facility as well. When it was designed it was designed to take in oil. It wasnt designed to discharge oil. Not very effective im sorry. I have that backwards. It was designed to take it out not put it in. It is very important we think about whether wed like to upgrade the fass ucility so it d allow us to take in oil more efficiently than we can currently do so today. As you know the president directed me to fill the strategic Petroleum Reserve and weve been doing exactly that. We are somewhat lumped imited b amount and volume we can take into the facility itself. As we move forward id love to work with this kmutcommittee an congress more broadly to think about how we might upgrade that important facility. I think it was an oversight to leave the purchase of additional petroleum for the Strategic Reserve out of the cares act and i do have a bill designed to do just that. And i do want to work with you on that. Can i just ask you a question, since i am also on the rules committee were going to be hearing about the National Defense authorization act and the rules committee at the end of this week and the whole issue of the talking the authority from the department of energy to some other location for the americas Nuclear Weapons. Historically youve maintained and had authority over the Nations Nuclear capability. Can you speak to why civilian control of the Nuclear Arsenal is so important . I think i dont know that i can give you all of the details around it, but it is a long standing military. Its a long standing tenet in our National Security apparatus here in the United States and one of the reasons i think especially when talking about Nuclear Warheads, were not talking about side arms. Were not talking about, you know, nine millimeter rounds. Were talking about weapons of mass destruction. These are very large warheads. From the very creation the Atomic Energy commission was created as a civilian agency because it was civilian scientists who helped develop the technology. It has been those scientists and there successors who have maintained that capability here in the United States. Its always been in the department of energy. Its always been in the scientific realm and that is why weve developed these National Laboratories. Its also why weve developed the super computing capabilities that allow us to simulate things like testing today. The United States stopped testing its warheads in 1992. As the warheads now age it is very, very important that we monitor the aging process and we ensure the safety and effectiveness of the stock pyle. To do that we rely upon the National Laboratories that are all part of the d. O. E. Network and part of the d. O. E. Enterprise. That is why if congress is considering a change i would urge it to leave it within the department of energy so that the nnsa can con ton to rely upon these National Assets. Ill just commit to you and anything in the future this committee can do to ensure the security, national Nuclear Security agency stays within the department of energy i think is critically important. Ill make that commitment to you as well. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. We have some unanimous consent requests i want to itemize here and request unanimous consent to enter the record a letter from former secretary to the Armed Services committee, a letter from the secretary of energy to chairman inhoff, a letter from chairman pollone and Ranking Member to the Armed Services committee. A letter from norm augustin and Richard Mears to ndaa. A letter from the former d. O. E. Secretaries to the ndaa a letter from the Ranking Member and former chairman to the Armed Services committees, a february 2016 memorandum from the secretary of Energy Advisory board. And finally, may of 2020, the secretary, and hearing no objection, the unanimous consent request is approved. This concludes the witness questioning portion of our hearing. I want to thank you, mr. Secretary, for your participation in todays hearing. Its been a lengthy hearing. Thank you. But an excellent hearing. We thank you for your excellent testimony. I do remind members that pursuant to Committee Rules they have ten Business Days to submit additional questions for the record to be answered by the secretary who has appeared before this subcommittee. I ask the secretary to respond promptly to any such questions that you may receive. And at this time, the subcommittee is here by adjourned. During the summer months, reach out to your elected officials with spouns congressional directly. It contains all the Contact Information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies, and state governors. Order your copy online today. At cspan store. Org. Tonight on American History tv, our series landmark cases. Produced in cooperation with the National Constitution center we explore the issues, people, and places involved in some of the most significant Supreme Court cases in our nations history. At 8 00 eastern we begin with the slaughter house cases from 1873, holding that the 14th amendment protects privileges and immunities guaranteed by u. S. S u. S. Citizenship but not the rights guaranteed by state citizenship. At 9 30 lochner vs. New york which States Liberty to enter contracts was protected by the due process cause of the 14th amendment. And striking down a state law