Capitol

After being a point of focus on the Capitol Hill agenda for most of 2007, climate change legislation looks like it will continue to be a top priority in both the U.S. House and Senate during 2008, according to speakers at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) annual Winter Committee Meetings in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Dashing the hopes of renewable energy advocates and some lawmakers, the $150 billion economic stimulus package ironed out by the Bush administration and Capitol Hill leaders last week failed to include an extension for renewable energy tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Democratic negotiators on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on a final energy bill that lawmakers could take up as early as this week, congressional aides said.

Democratic negotiators on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on a final energy bill that lawmakers could take up as early as next week, congressional aides are reporting.

Despite what Capitol Hill lawmakers, regulators and energy consumers may think, natural gas producers aren’t raking in the big bucks, said Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon last Thursday.

Despite what Capitol Hill lawmakers, regulators and energy consumers may think, natural gas producers aren’t raking in the big bucks, said Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon Thursday.

In the end, last week’s Capitol Hill photo-op for the green side turned out to be a broad, nationwide public relations/lobbying effort to urge federal powers in Washington, DC, to frame a national response to global warming. Twelve states, 20 financial services firms, and a dozen each foundations and business leaders comprised 65 signatories to a “call to action” in the nation’s capital.

Former Vice President Al Gore last week was back on Capitol Hill, not to announce any future election plans, but rather to appear before his former colleagues and testify about an issue he first held hearings on as a congressman from Tennessee 20 years ago: global warming.

Nevada attorney Jon Wellinghoff was sworn in last Monday as a new FERC commissioner by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada at his Capitol Hill office. He is the last of the three FERC nominees to take the oath of office. The commissioners already are at work at the agency, according to a FERC spokeswoman.