WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today applauded action by the committee to approve five Executive Branch nominees for key vacant positions.
During today’s business meeting, the committee approved the nominations of Clarence “Bud" Albright to be Under Secretary of Energy, Kevin Kolevar to be Assistant Secretary of Energy (Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability), Lisa Epifani to be Assistant Secretary of Energy (Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs), James Caswell to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and Brent Wahlquist to be Director of Surface Mining and Enforcement.
Prior to today’s vote, the Energy Committee held hearings to examine the nominees’ qualifications. Albright, Epifani, Caswell, and Wahlquist appeared before the committee on July 12, 2007, while Kolevar appeared before the committee on Nov. 12, 2006.
“I’m pleased that the Energy Committee today gave its approval to five of President Bush’s nominees for key positions with the Department of Energy and the Department of Interior. These nominees all demonstrated their competence during prior hearings and are unquestionably qualified for the jobs that they will assume," Domenici said.
“It is my hope that the full Senate will be able to take swift action on these nominees so that they can get to work at their respective departments as soon as possible," he continued.
Also Wednesday, the Committee gave its approval to:
S. 169, to amend the National Trails System Act to clarify Federal authority relating to land acquisition
from willing sellers for the majority of the trails in the system;
S. 278, to establish a program and criteria for National Heritage Areas in the United States;
S. 289, to establish the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area;
S. 443, to establish the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area in Colorado;
S. 444, to establish the South Park National Heritage Area in Colorado;
S. 471, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to The Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark
Interpretive Trail and Visitor Center Foundation, Inc., certain Federal land associated with the
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in Nebraska;
S. 637, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of establishing the
Chattahoochee Trace National Heritage Corridor in Alabama and Georgia;
S. 645, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide an alternate sulfur dioxide removal
measurement for certain coal gasification project goals;
S. 647, to designate certain land in Oregon as wilderness;
S. 722, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly conduct a study
of certain land adjacent to the Walnut Canyon National Monument in Arizona.
S. 800, to establish the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area in New York;
S. 817, to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to provide additional
authorizations for certain National Heritage Areas;
S. 838, to authorize funding for eligible joint ventures between United States and Israeli business and
academic persons and to establish the International Energy Advisory Board;
S. 955, to establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois;
S. 1089, to amend the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act to allow the Federal Coordinator for Alaska
Natural Gas Transportation Projects to hire employees more efficiently;
S. 1148, to establish the Champlain-Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission and the Hudson-
Fulton 400th Commemoration Commission;
S. 1182, to amend the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor Act of 1994 to
increase the authorization of appropriations and modify the date on which the authority of the
Secretary of the Interior terminates under the Act;
S. 1203, to enhance the management of electricity programs at the Department of Energy;
S. 1728, to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to reauthorize the Na Hoa Pili O
Kaloko-Honokohau Advisory Commission;
HR. 85, to provide for the establishment of centers to encourage demonstration and commercial
application of advanced energy methods and technologies;
HR. 247, to designate a Forest Service Trail at Waldo Lake in the Williamette National Forest in Oregon
as a national recreation trail in honor of Jim Weaver, a former Member of the House of
Representatives; H.R. 407, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine
the feasibility of establishing the Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area in Washington and
Oregon;
HR. 407, an act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of
establishing the Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area in the states of Washington and
Oregon and for other purposes.
HR. 995, to amend Public Law 106-348 to extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the
District of Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the
Armed Forces of the United States;
HR.1100, to revise the boundary of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina; HR.1126, to reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness
Act of 1988;
H.Con. Res. 116, expressing the Sense of Congress that the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson, Wyo., shall be designated as the “National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States."
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