On the Hill in 2022: A Breakdown of Climate, Energy, and Environmental Congressional Hearings | Article

2022 has been a historic year for climate action on Capitol Hill. While providing oversight on implementation of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L. 117-58) enacted in November 2021, Congress also passed two significant and complementary bills—the CHIPS and Science Act (P.L. 117-167) and the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169).

Standing Congressional committees held 138 hearings, 80 in the House and 58 in the Senate, on climate, energy, and environmental topics. In the Senate, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee ran 53 percent of all Senate environmental hearings, ranging from topics like energy storage to shoreline restoration. House committees, including the Science, Space, and Technology and the Energy and Commerce committees, provided coverage of topics such as science and energy research needs, hydropower, and reclaiming brownfield sites.

Both the Senate and the House Agriculture committees had active hearing schedules as Congress prepares for the next Farm Bill, with five and 13 hearings, respectively. As detailed in EESI’s 2023 Farm Bill Hearing Trackers, hearings covered the wide range of issues addressed in the multiyear omnibus bill, from rural energy development and conservation programs to urban agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s role in addressing climate change.

In addition to the standing committees, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis held 12 hearings throughout 2022, aligned with its role of exploring climate change as a cross-cutting issue that touches on the jurisdiction of all committees across Congress. Beginning the year with a hearing on manufacturing clean energy technologies in the United States, the committee also covered grid resilience, ocean climate solutions, and solutions to reduce methane emissions. As the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis concludes its work with the end of the 117th Congress, Chair Kathy Castor’s (D-Fla.) staff produced a final report, Solving the Climate Crisis 2022: Key Accomplishments and Additional Opportunities, which highlights key ways that the next Congress can continue to advance policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to climate impacts.

Over the course of the year, hearings from across Congressional committees highlighted particular interest in energy security as well as energy technologies, including clean hydrogen, offshore wind, electric vehicles, and fusion energy. House committees held a number of hearings addressing the role of coal, oil, and gas companies in exacerbating the climate crisis. The House Oversight and Reform Committee, in particular, led an investigation into greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry with hearings including Fueling the Climate Crisis: Examining Big Oil’s Prices, Profits, and Pledges. Three hearings from the Senate Indian Affairs, House Natural Resources, and House Oversight and Reform committees specifically focused on environmental justice.

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee brought attention to climate adaptation through a hearing featuring leaders from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Government Accountability Office, which covered how these agencies are advancing adaptation and resilience work. The House Financial Services Committee heard from experts during a hearing on the intersection of wildfires and the insurance market, highlighting the cascading ways that climate change impacts different sectors of the economy.

As the 118th Congress gets to work in January 2023, committees will start with extensive climate, energy, and environmental information that they can draw upon to address the climate crisis. To keep up with all the hearings that the House and Senate set out for the next session of Congress, be sure to bookmark EESI’s weekly Environmental and Energy Congressional Round-Up and biweekly newsletter, Climate Change Solutions.

Find a list of all of the climate, environmental, and energy Congressional hearings EESI tracked in 2022 here.

This article is up to date as of December 16, 2022. Legislative, budget, and nomination hearings are not included in the hearing totals.

Authors: Nick Solis and Anna McGinn