Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Energy Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL) announced today that the Energy Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Thursday, March 7 at 10 am in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) delay of 16 appliance energy efficiency standards and its illegal failure to publish Final Energy Conservation Standards. The hearing is entitled “Wasted Energy: DOE’s Inaction on Efficiency Standards and Its Impact on Consumers and the Climate." The hearing, initially scheduled for Feb. 12, was postponed due to the funeral service for the late Chairman John D. Dingell.
“Every day, energy efficiency programs administered by DOE help consumers save money on their energy costs while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Pallone and Rush said. “We’re concerned that DOE is seriously undermining this success by failing to publish energy efficiency standards finalized in December of 2016, and by refusing to update appliance and equipment standards, which is required by law. DOE has a lot of explaining to do, and we look forward to hearing from the Department at this important hearing next week."
Pallone and Rush recently sent a follow-up letter to DOE Secretary Rick Perry with Oversight and Investigations Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) to their Nov. 1, 2018 letter requesting information on DOE’s troubling record on the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program rulemakings since the beginning of the Trump Administration. DOE’s response to the November letter was not substantive, so the three Committee leaders sent their follow-up letter on February 5.
Information for this hearing, including the Committee Memorandum, witness list and testimony, and a live webcast, will be posted HERE as they become available.
