[Senate Hearing 116-370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-370
MENEZES NOMINATION
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
to
CONSIDER THE NOMINATION OF MARK WESLEY MENEZES TO BE DEPUTY SECRETARY
OF ENERGY
__________
MAY 20, 2020
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-916 WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho RON WYDEN, Oregon
MIKE LEE, Utah MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
STEVE DAINES, Montana BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan
CORY GARDNER, Colorado MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico
CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
MARTHA McSALLY, Arizona ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
Brian Hughes, Staff Director
Lucy Murfitt, Chief Counsel
Brianne Miller, Deputy Staff Director of Energy
Renae Black, Democratic Staff Director
Sam E. Fowler, Democratic Chief Counsel
Darla Ripchensky, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Alaska.... 1
Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from
West Virginia.................................................. 3
Cassidy, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from Louisiana................ 4
WITNESS
Menezes, Hon. Mark Wesley, nominated to be Deputy Secretary of
Energy......................................................... 5
ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED
American Exploration & Production Council, et al.:
Letter for the Record........................................ 76
American Gas Association:
Letter for the Record........................................ 78
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers:
Letter for the Record........................................ 79
Cassidy, Hon. Bill:
Opening Statement............................................ 4
Industrial Energy Consumers of America:
Letter for the Record........................................ 80
Manchin III, Hon. Joe:
Opening Statement............................................ 3
Menezes, Hon. Mark Wesley:
Opening Statement............................................ 5
Written Testimony............................................ 8
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 35
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa:
Opening Statement............................................ 1
MENEZES NOMINATION
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:32 p.m. in Room
SD-106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lisa Murkowski,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
The Chairman. The Committee will come to order.
This is our first hearing since the onset of COVID-19--
clearly, a very, very different world that we are facing. The
pandemic has killed tens of thousands of Americans, infected
more than 1.5 million and affected every single one of us.
The Senate has necessarily been focused on aid, relief and
economic security over the past few months. But we also have
core duties to fulfill, including the timely consideration of
the President's nominees for the Executive Branch. That has
grown in importance as we seek to ensure federal agencies are
ready to help us recover from the pandemic.
Our hearing today is to consider the nomination of Mr. Mark
Menezes to be the Deputy Secretary of Energy. I would like to
thank Mr. Menezes for appearing before the Committee and for
the time that you took to speak with me by phone last week.
As you can see, our format today is very, very different
than any hearing that we have conducted, certainly during my
time as Chairman. For starters, I am joining you from a small
room at the Seattle Airport. I am en route back to Alaska. We
have other colleagues that are participating virtually. Those
of you that are there in person are in a larger room rather
than our usual Energy Committee hearing room. We do not have
our normal in-person audience, and we are streaming online.
We have previously provided guidance as to how this hearing
will be run to Committee members and staff, but I just wanted
to briefly reiterate here:
The Committee room, again, has been configured to
maintain the recommended six-foot social distancing
between Senators, the nominee and others who are needed
to conduct the hearing. We have kept all in-person
staff to a minimum.
For those joining remotely, once you start speaking,
there will be a slight delay before you appear on
screen, but that is normal and to be expected.
To minimize background noise, we would ask that
Senators who are using the video-teleconference option
to click their mute button until it is your turn to ask
questions.
And then, departing from our normal ``early bird''
rule, we will have questions from Senators by order of
Committee seniority, alternating between Republican and
Democrat members.
If there is a technology issue, we will move on to
the next Senator until it is resolved, and then return
to the member who had difficulty.
We ask that all Senators and the nominee adhere to
the five-minute time limit. For those Senators who are
joining remotely, you will notice the view labeled,
``Timer'' that will show you how much time you have
remaining.
At the conclusion of my statement I will turn to
Senator Manchin for his opening remarks. Senator
Cassidy will introduce our nominee and swear him in.
After that, we will hear from Under Secretary Menezes
for his testimony and then begin member questions.
Before I turn to Ranking Member Manchin, I want to
reiterate that I appreciate Mr. Menezes appearing before the
Committee today. We thank him for his willingness to serve our
nation in a new role at the Department of Energy.
As members will recall, the Senate confirmed Mr. Menezes to
his current role, as Under Secretary for Energy (DOE) by voice
vote in November 2017. In that role, Mr. Menezes has been
responsible for many programs that are key to fostering energy
innovation, including nuclear energy, fossil energy, energy
efficiency, and renewable energy. He helped create the
Department's cybersecurity office, which was carved out of the
Office of Electricity. That experience will serve Mr. Menezes
well as Deputy Secretary.
I know that he has the full confidence of Secretary
Brouillette, who has already given you additional
responsibilities at the Department while the Deputy position
has been vacant. Having a full view of the Department's
capabilities will serve Mr. Menezes, as well as everyone else,
well as we seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our energy industry has been hit particularly hard by this
crisis. Whether the oil supply shock that was compounded by the
Russia-Saudi price war, lower electricity demand, or the lack
of liquidity in the markets for new energy projects, we have
seen significant economic and job losses in recent weeks.
The expertise at the Department and its 17 national
laboratories will help us navigate new realities in the energy
industry as our economy reopens, stabilizes, and begins to grow
again.
It is also important to note that the Department has been a
key federal partner in addressing COVID-19, and uses its
tremendous resources in the computing capacity of
supercomputers at our labs for epidemiological research and
virus modeling to identify possible treatments. DOE's
scientists and researchers are uniquely situated to tackle big
challenges quickly and they have been hard at work since the
onset of the pandemic.
Mr. Menezes, again, thank you for the work you are doing at
the Department as well as your continued willingness to serve
in this new role. We thank you for that.
With that, I will turn to Senator Manchin for his comments,
and then we will turn to Senator Cassidy for the introduction
and the oath.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I want to thank
you for holding this hearing on Mr. Menezes' nomination to be
Deputy Secretary of Energy. I want to welcome Mr. Menezes and
his lovely wife, Dr. Lee. I appreciate your willingness, sir,
to take on this important post, for taking time to talk to me
on the phone last week, and for being here with us this
afternoon. We really appreciate it.
Because of the pandemic, this is the first hearing the
Committee has held since March the 10th. Since then, 36.5
million Americans have filed for unemployment, nearly 1.5
million have contracted COVID-19 and over 90,000 have perished
from the disease. The world is a different place, as we have
noted before, and our work in the U.S. Senate is that much more
critical as we respond to this devastating pandemic and turn to
rebuilding our economy.
The Deputy Secretary plays an important role as the second
highest ranking officer in the Department of Energy and, as we
will discuss today, the Department has been playing an
important role in helping the nation fight the Coronavirus. The
Department of Energy is a scientific powerhouse. Its national
laboratories are some of the nation's premier scientific
research centers. Labs are using what they learn from Smallpox,
Anthrax and Ebola to develop models to help determine how the
Coronavirus behaves and the lab's supercomputers are helping us
screen drug compounds to expedite vaccine development.
DOE and its labs can also play a vital role in supporting
the scientific research and development needed to rebuild our
economy. The Deputy Secretary's job will be a critically
important one in this effort. Taking a broader view, the law
creating the Office of the Deputy Secretary simply says, ``that
the Deputy Secretary shall act for, and exercise the functions
of the Secretary when the Secretary is absent.'' But the job is
much, much bigger than that.
The Deputy Secretary is the Department's Chief Operating
Officer. He or she is responsible for managing the Department's
wide-ranging mission and a budget of over $35 billion. I have
already mentioned the importance of the national laboratories
and the Department's scientific mission. In addition, the
Department is responsible for maintaining the nation's nuclear
weapon stockpile, making the fuel that propels the nuclear navy
and guarding against nuclear proliferation.
The Department manages one of the world's largest and
toughest environmental cleanup programs at Hanford and the
other cold war nuclear weapon sites. It oversees four Power
Marketing Administrations that supply electricity produced at
federal dams to customers in 34 states, and the Department is
responsible for ensuring our energy security and protecting the
nation's energy sector from cyberattacks. As I said, the Deputy
Secretary job is an extremely important one.
For the past two and a half years, Mr. Menezes has ably
served as the Under Secretary of Energy, the third highest
ranking position in the Department. His long history with
energy issues goes back over 30 years. He has worked for an oil
services company, for an electric utility, as Chief Counsel to
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as an energy lawyer
for a major law firm, as head of the federal relations for
Berkshire Hathaway Energy and, for the past two years, as the
Department's principal advisor on energy policy.
Mr. Menezes, you certainly have the experience for this
job, and I want to thank you for your willingness to take it on
and for being here with us today and having your lovely wife
with you also.
Thank you, Chairman Murkowski. At this time, I will turn it
over to Senator Cassidy.
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL CASSIDY,
U.S. SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA
Senator Cassidy. Thank you, Madam Chair and Mr. Ranking
Member.
It is a privilege to introduce Lillian, Louisiana native,
Mark Menezes, to be our next Deputy Secretary at the Department
of Energy. Mark's Congressional and private sector experience
and current service as Under Secretary of Energy makes him
eminently qualified.
As colleagues recall, the Senate confirmed Mark to his
current role as Under Secretary for Energy by voice vote in
November 2017. In that role, he oversees many programs
important to energy innovation, including nuclear and fossil
energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy. He also helped
create the Department's cybersecurity office. Proudly, I say he
is a fellow LSU Tiger where he earned a Bachelors and law
degree.
Today, his role within DOE impacts working Americans across
the globe. The position of Deputy Secretary carries
responsibility including promoting policies to rebuild our
energy economy and to give hope to Americans whose livelihoods
have been affected by the Coronavirus epidemic.
Prior to joining DOE, Mark served at Berkshire Hathaway
Energy developing extensive experience interacting with federal
agencies and Congress. Prior to joining Berkshire Hathaway, he
was a partner at Hunton and Williams managing the regulated
markets in energy infrastructure practice group. Throughout his
career, Mark has worked collaboratively with federal agencies
to achieve important outcomes. On Capitol Hill, Mark served as
Chief Counsel on energy and environmental issues to the U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. He
secured passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as the chief
negotiator and legislative architect for the House majority. He
served the Senate as Staff Counsel for the Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation focusing on maritime and
energy issues.
I mentioned earlier that Mark's new position carries
greater responsibility for rebuilding our energy economy. What
I have not mentioned is the breadth of his experience. Mark
worked as a roustabout on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of
Mexico. It is those folks who ultimately will depend upon the
decisions we make and that you make. And it is those folks who
are most vulnerable to the Coronavirus downturn. So the fact
that you can fully empathize and relate to that guy on a
helicopter coming back for two weeks to go back two weeks more,
and how he feeds his family and everything that depends upon
that, I think, Mark, is your greatest qualification of all.
I know that he has the full confidence of Secretary
Brouillette who has already given you additional
responsibilities at the Department while the Deputy position
has been vacant. Having a full view of the Department's
capabilities will serve you and everyone else well as we seek
to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Again, Mark, thank you for your willingness to serve.
Before you deliver your prepared remarks, I must swear you in
and ask standard questions required of all nominees coming
before this Committee.
The rules of the Committee which apply to all nominees
require that they be sworn in, in connection with their
testimony. Please rise and raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are about
to give to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Menezes. I do.
Senator Cassidy. Before you begin your statement, I will
ask you three questions addressed to each nominee who appears
before this Committee.
Will you be available to appear before this Committee and
other Congressional committees to represent departmental
positions and respond to issues of concern to Congress?
Mr. Menezes. I will.
Senator Cassidy. Are you aware of any personal holdings,
investments or interests that would constitute a conflict or
create an appearance of such a conflict should you be confirmed
and assume the office of which you have been nominated by the
President?
Mr. Menezes. I do not.
Senator Cassidy. Are you involved or do you have any assets
held in blind trust?
Mr. Menezes. I do not.
Senator Cassidy. You may proceed.
STATEMENT OF MARK WESLEY MENEZES NOMINATED TO BE DEPUTY
SECRETARY OF ENERGY
Mr. Menezes. Chairman Murkowski, Acting Chairman Cassidy,
Ranking Member Manchin, members of the Committee and staff,
thank you for scheduling this confirmation hearing,
particularly during this challenging time, and for the
flexibility of your demanding schedules to be here in person
and virtually this afternoon. I would like to thank President
Trump for nominating me for the Deputy Secretary of Energy
position, and I am humbled to appear before you today.
Thank you to those who have spoken to me prior to this
hearing to present your concerns, your ideas, your
recommendations for improving the Department and our working
relationship. I have been fortunate to serve as the Under
Secretary of Energy for the past two and half years with
Secretary Perry, now Secretary Brouillette, working together
with this Committee to address the challenges our country
faces. I thank them for their leadership, guidance and
friendship.
Thank you, Senator Cassidy, for introducing me to the
Committee. As native Louisianians we share a unique perspective
on the role our nation's energy plays in our economy, our
national security and our workforce.
Joining me today is my wife, Dr. Yun-hyang Lee, who is,
herself, a committed public servant as the Division Chief of
the Interpreting Services at the State Department. Watching
from home and unable to be here are our children and their
families, Marisa and her husband, Justin, Will and his wife,
Hannah, my seven-month-old granddaughter, Simone Frances, and
her parents, Paige and Matt, Stephanie, live-streaming from
Tokyo and in Louisiana, my mother, Doris, a retired public
school teacher, who is most responsible for my life's
achievements, and many family and friends across the country
who have been supportive over the years.
If confirmed, I will endeavor to advance the hallmarks of
this Administration advocating for U.S. energy of all kinds
around the world while increasing accessibility and
availability of energy here at home, broadening our
supercomputing capabilities and innovation at our national
labs, providing for a strong national defense through a modern
and dynamic National Nuclear Security Administration and
honoring the commitment to the cleanup of our nation's
Manhattan Project and Cold War legacy sites. I am proud that
the Department of Energy has been in the fight to combat the
devastating impact of COVID-19.
Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary
Brouillette, DOE has marshalled the capabilities of our
nation's best scientists, researchers, facilities and most
powerful high-performance computing resources to significantly
advance the pace of scientific discovery in the fight to stop
the virus. The Department's 17 national labs each play a
critical role in advancing America's leadership in scientific
research and development, energy technology and nuclear
security. Our national labs are also part of a unique public-
private consortium spearheaded by the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, to include government, industry
and academic leaders to unleash the power of America's
supercomputing resources to combat COVID-19.
Recognizing advancements in energy accessibility and the
need for strong deterrent--be it tactile or cyber--the
Department took the extraordinary steps of bolstering
cybersecurity and emergency response, as well as artificial
intelligence, by establishing two new offices focused on these
emerging priorities. We have committed to build three new
exascale computing systems and, following Congress' leadership
in passing the National Quantum Initiative Act, we are evolving
our quantum science capabilities. Breaking down silos and
elevating our cross-cutting efforts across the Department is
another hallmark of this Administration. Over the past three
years the Department's committed professionals have come
together across program areas to leverage high priority
research and expertise to maximize the impact of federal
research capabilities, expenditures and partnerships. The
Department has pursued a number of these initiatives such as
the Critical Materials Initiative, the Energy Storage Grand
Challenge, the Plastics Innovation Challenge and the Grid
Modernization Initiative which brings together all five applied
energy offices.
I am proud that innovation at the Department has advanced
under the Trump Administration's commitment to clean water,
clean air and clean energy. America is now the world's second
largest producer of wind and solar energy, and America leads
the world in the reduction of energy-related carbon emissions
by orders of magnitude. Cutting-edge research and development
at our national labs will ensure America continues this
progress for years to come through technology to advance all
forms of energy. Recognizing interdependencies of our energy
and water systems, the Trump Administration launched the Water
Security Grand Challenge. This DOE-led effort advances
transformational technology to meet the global need for safe,
secure and affordable water.
I commit to each of you today that if I am fortunate enough
to be confirmed, I will work earnestly with you to address the
challenges and opportunities of today and tomorrow.
Members of the Committee, I wish to thank you again for
allowing me to be here today. It is indeed an honor to come
before this Committee, and I ask for your favorable
consideration of the President's nomination. I look forward to
your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Menezes follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Mr. Menezes, thank you for, for that really,
very comprehensive view of the role of the Department of Energy
and just a reminder, again, of the great value that comes to us
at this time of all that our national laboratories hold, the
extraordinary opportunities that we now have because of our
supercomputer capabilities, the matter of quantum science. All
that is going on within the Department is very important and
certainly critical at this time that you speak to the level of
innovation that goes on at DOE. And there is much, much, much
to be proud of.
You and I have had an opportunity to speak about many
things and you know that more often than not, my conversations
will come back to the issue of the Arctic and the role that the
Arctic plays when it comes to, not only our energy sources,
really the opportunities that abound in an Arctic environment,
both from an environmental perspective, resource perspective,
but also some of the challenges that we face in building out
some hybrid solutions such as the microgrids.
Can you give me an update, if you will, on the Department
of Energy's efforts to reestablish the Arctic Energy Office and
if you want to add anything, just very briefly, about the
efforts that the Department can make as it focuses on the U.S.
role as an Arctic nation and how we develop our Arctic
infrastructure?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, for that
question and the opportunity to update you on our efforts on
establishing the Arctic Energy Office.
As I had mentioned to you on the phone, as a recognition of
your efforts to get directing language in the appropriations
bill, we are expanding the Arctic Energy Office and within the
next few weeks we'll be able to designate the initial
transition staff. As I had mentioned, we are on pace to have
this office opened by the end of the Fiscal Year and it pleases
me to report that we have been able, even during this time of
COVID-19 and difficulties of getting folks employed, we have
been able to have a number of people whom we will dedicate to
serving this office and it includes an interim director at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks as well as a senior advisor at
Los Alamos National Lab and a senior advisor in our
International Affairs Office. Additionally, we've requested in
the Secretary's budget, a request for additional resources so
that we can have a coordinating position at headquarters. All
of which will be dedicated to the Arctic Office.
And for your colleagues to truly appreciate the importance
of this, you know, we are an Arctic nation and increasing our
energy interest in the Arctic is a national security priority
both for the vital and strategic resources. You've mentioned a
few of the things. In addition to oil and gas and the methane
hydrates, but all the critical minerals that are there as well
as the technical support to serve the remote Alaska native
groups, in addition to research in the atmospheric conditions
up there. All of these help us develop innovative, interactive
grid solutions that can apply in remote locations for both
national security and to serve these remote populations.
So I'm pleased to report that we have good news on that
front.
The Chairman. That is good news indeed. I thank you for
that. I also want to acknowledge and thank you for the effort
that you made between the National Renewable Energy Lab and the
Cold Climate Housing Research Center there in Fairbanks. There
is good news on that front. I want you to know how much we
appreciate that as well.
Let me turn to the issue of Alaska's natural gas. As you
know, we have extraordinary resources up there. We do not have
infrastructure in place to get the resources to consumers
around the world. We have a pretty significant national asset,
that is, for all intents and purposes, stranded. Right now, the
Alaska LNG project is on the agenda before the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) tomorrow. There is momentum at a
time when the market is challenged. But just very quickly,
would you agree that Alaska's natural gas is uniquely
positioned for export with no existing domestic market that
would be competing for it would certainly help to address a
great deficit. This is something that [inaudible] great value
[inaudible] some time in [inaudible] every effort that
[inaudible] would have in procuring that Alaska's natural gas
opportunities for communities for continued export [inaudible]
is significant and important.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, for the
question. It was a little difficult to hear everything that you
were asking me.
The Chairman. Sorry.
Mr. Menezes. However, I believe that it is the LNG export
facility that's pending at FERC. And indeed, we have, we have
been able to develop facilities around the Gulf of Mexico on
our East Coast to help export this U.S. LNG to the world who
wants our natural gas. They want our natural gas because they
would like to have choices from other countries. They are also
replacing other types of fuel, whether it's Japan looking for a
replacement for nuclear and whether it's other countries
looking to replace their current indigenous fuels, the U.S. LNG
is a great opportunity for that.
On the West Coast we have limited LNG export facilities.
Being able to have an LNG export facility in Alaska speaks for
itself. Currently, Asia countries have to go from the Gulf of
Mexico over to Asia. And clearly, to have a strategic LNG
export facility on the West Coast will help our Asia friends
and partners and it would serve the U.S. producers of U.S. LNG
as well.
The Chairman. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's go to Senator Manchin, please.
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you,
Mr. Menezes.
I recently spoke with Dr. Fatih Birol of the International
Energy Agency about the impacts of COVID-19 on the energy
sector and what we need to do to get it back on track. He
strongly urged the consideration of a once-in-a-generation
scale aid package to invest in innovative energy technologies
that will help our energy system become cleaner, cheaper, safer
and more reliable while creating many new jobs, technologies
like renewables, storage, energy efficiency, advanced nuclear
and carbon capture. The American Energy Innovation Act, which
our Committee spent the last year and a half putting together,
would invest billions, billions of dollars in those sectors.
Innovation has historically been a catalyst for economic growth
and job recreation, and I believe our bill steers the course to
much needed investments in a strong and globally competitive
economy.
So my question would be, DOE is in the business of
innovation. Do you agree with Dr. Birol that energy innovation
should be a critical part of any stimulus plans?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Ranking Member Manchin, for that
question.
Yes, absolutely. It is innovation that will drive the
breakthrough technologies that we all need to be able to meet
all of our goals as we go forward.
Senator Manchin. Have you had a chance to look at the
energy bill that we passed? What are your feelings on that bill
and do you believe that it hits the right mark on things we
were trying to do in a balanced way?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
As you know we're continuing to look at that piece of
legislation. We, of course, stand ready to work with you and
offer some technical advice, if necessary, on that. However, a
reading of that legislation clearly points that the Committee
understands what's necessary to set the stage for a very
dynamic energy policy of the future and it includes the new
industries, for example, and it includes training for the
workforce, which is very important because we're moving on now
from things like, it used to be ordinary computer science and
now it's artificial intelligence.
It captures, you know, the key industries, such as
cybersecurity, critical minerals, smart manufacturing. It's a
looking-forward bill. We're continuing to review it, but we
look forward to working with you, your staff and members of the
Committee as we go forward.
Senator Manchin. I am also very proud the national labs
have been able to leverage many of their capabilities to aid
the nation in response to the Coronavirus, and I am pleased
that we were able to secure $99.5 million in the CARES Act for
these purposes. So can you update us on the DOE's COVID
response efforts using the tremendous national labs'
capabilities?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
You know, immediately after the COVID virus was identified,
our national labs went to work using the high-performance
computing abilities it did. And in relatively short order, it
identified the protein structure of this virus and put it out
into the medical and research communities so that they could
begin to develop vaccines and therapeutics. It also used
artificial intelligence and its high-performing computers to
also go through the several hundred of different compounds that
were potentially able to be used to develop vaccines and
therapeutics. So we were able to reduce that number down to a
manageable number, and we put that out into the medical and
research community.
We also created, what we're calling, what we call the
National Virtual Biotechnology Lab. This is, all 17 of our labs
participate in this and the idea here is that we're making our
user facilities available to those that are doing research on
this and that includes, you know, our light and neuron
facilities as well as nanotechnologies. I mentioned the high-
performance computing, but also don't forget our advanced
manufacturing in the 3D printing, the genomic sequencing, the
molecular structure determination that I had made and we're
moving to create devices to break through the supply chain
problems that you've all been reading about. And of course,
we're beginning to offer testing facilities for sampling.
Senator Manchin. I have one final question, very quickly.
The oil markets have hit historic lows over the last few months
including even reaching negative oil prices, which I have never
heard in my lifetime, for the first time in history. Although
prices have come back up a bit, to about the $30 range, they
are still at record lows. That means the great prices at the
pump for you and me, but it could lead to some negative
consequences like bankruptcies, even more job losses and
international instability among developing countries.
So I am aware of DOE's interest in using the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve to relieve some of the pressure on the
industry during this time of depressed demand, but what other
tools does DOE have to respond to the global market instability
and are you concerned about the stability of some developing
oil-producing nations and, if so, what do you think that we can
do in Congress or should we do anything?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
Indeed, it is an incredibly trying time. We talked about
the demand disruption caused by COVID-19 but we must remember
that preceding COVID-19 there were actions by Saudi Arabia and
Russia in which they decided, you know, to increase supply and
Saudi Arabia to cut prices to such predatory pricing levels it
would be illegal in this country to do so. But that double
whammy really hit the U.S. producers who had come forward in
the past several years, really to meet the demand, due to our
economic revitalization. These are U.S. producers that
primarily were unconventional shale plays, but they were the
ones who came forward to make America the number one producer
of oil and natural gas.
So where we were, the Department was able to play a role is
we were able to support the President in his conversations with
OPEC. So the first time in history the U.S. was able to dictate
to OPEC countries to get together and to control their supply
and, frankly, talk to Saudi Arabia about reestablishing the
prices. All of that helped. The point I'm making is that
without the policies and the technologies that were in place to
put the U.S. in that position, we would never have been able to
bring that to bear against the OPEC countries.
So on a going-forward basis, we need to make sure that we
continue to lead the world in being able to be the leading
producer of oil and natural gas when necessary. Other countries
then will look to us for leadership and therein, I think, we
would play a strong role in determining the pricing going
forward.
Senator Manchin. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Menezes.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
Let's go to Senator Barrasso, please.
Senator Barrasso. Well, thank you very much, Madam
Chairman, for holding this meeting. Thank you also, Ranking
Member Manchin. I appreciate and congratulate you on the
nomination to this high and important position. Thanks to
Senator Cassidy for introducing you and for your background in
Louisiana. The current Secretary is from Louisiana as well and
a fine man, and we appreciate the job that he is doing. So we
are looking forward to having you confirmed for this position
as well.
You know, in April, the Department of Energy released the
Administration's plan to reinvigorate the nuclear fuel supply
chain. The report clearly states that Russia has weaponized its
energy supplies to advance their strategic interests. This
includes the uranium that we use to power our homes and our
businesses through nuclear power plants, 20 percent of the
electricity in the United States.
As a result of the market manipulation, American uranium
production is at its lowest levels in 70 years, and I believe
we cannot really tolerate Russia's behavior in this. The
Commerce Department is currently negotiating uranium import
limits with the Russian Federation, and today I am sending a
letter supporting the Commerce Department's efforts to extend
and reduce how much Russian fuel is used in America's nuclear
reactors.
So, Mr. Menezes, do you support decreasing America's
reliance on Russian uranium in order to protect our energy and
national security interests?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question, Senator.
Yes, as you pointed out, you know, the--America is on the
brink of losing its ability to produce, you know, its nuclear
fuel and producing our own uranium. The President's leadership
on this, I think you had mentioned it, the Department of
Commerce had received the petition. The President established
the workforce. We met over quite a period of time, but it did
result in the release of the strategy to restore America's
leadership. And that will allow us to put in place what's
necessary for us to reestablish our own ability to produce the
uranium that we need for, to both serve the nuclear deterrent
that we have, our Navy propulsion as well as our civilian
fleet. So as, umm--and it's important that we can do it here.
So it's a comprehensive program. The answer to that is yes.
But we're also in the business now of setting up what we can do
in this country to ensure that we have the mining capability,
the conversion, the enrichment and the fabrication. These are
things that we need to ensure that we can provide the uranium
and the nuclear fuel that we need for both our domestic and our
security purposes.
Senator Barrasso. Well, I appreciate it. It is very
important to me and to the nation's security. You know, for
Fiscal Year 2021 your budget request from the Department of
Energy proposes to establish a uranium reserve to preserve our
nation's domestic nuclear fuel supply. The proposal in the
budget comes more than two years after U.S. uranium miners
petitioned the Commerce Department for assistance. The American
uranium production in 2019 was about 90 percent less than the
previous year. We can't afford another year of inaction.
Given this urgent need to salvage this critical industry,
will the Department identify immediate funding to establish
this uranium reserve this year?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question.
You know, establishing the reserve, I mean, is a key
priority for our Office of Nuclear Energy. And so, we have put
in place programs that will feed into the establishment of that
Strategic Uranium Reserve. We're happy to do so. It's been a
long time coming, and we look forward to working with you and
the appropriators to ensure that we get the requested amount
that we need to make sure that we can have this going forward
into the future.
Senator Barrasso. In 2018, several colleagues and I led
successful efforts, bipartisan, to expand and extend the 45Q
tax credit for carbon capture, for utilization, for storage,
all related to carbon dioxide. As you are aware, we have been
waiting for more than two years for the IRS to issue more
detailed guidance to get these projects started. This was
raised yesterday in a lunch with the President and a number of
members of the United States Senate.
The Department of Energy has supported the IRS as it
developed the proposed rulemaking. I appreciate that support. I
continue to urge the IRS to release the rulemaking as soon as
possible. We took it to the President yesterday.
Can you talk about the importance of large-scale carbon
capture, utilization and storage for the United States?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Senator.
And you are correct. This has been a top priority of our
Department to work with Treasury and the IRS to try to get
these rules to follow up on Congress enacting 45Q. The reason
that Congress extended the tax benefits, the tax credits for
45Q for carbon capture and utilization security technologies,
is that we can create an economic incentive to take action now
to drive down the cost of carbon capture technologies, put them
on existing units to help eliminate some of the carbon
emissions that we have. We have facilities, whether it's power
generation, whether it's manufacturing, whether it's
refineries, we have industries that can benefit from this 45Q.
So, as you had mentioned, Secretary Perry sent two letters.
Secretary Brouillette has weighed in with Secretary Mnuchin and
others. I have had many calls with the IRS in the efforts to
try to get this out. We have some good news to believe that
it's going to be forthcoming, but when everybody on the
Committee to fully appreciate what is available here. There is
capital out there, ready, to drive down the cost of this
technology and put it on existing and new facilities, and this
will go a long way for us to maintaining our leading role in
reducing emissions in the United States.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you. Congratulations.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Barrasso.
Let's turn now to Senator Cantwell.
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to
the Ranking Member. Under Secretary Menezes, it is good to see
you again and thank you for your work. It was good to be with
you in the Tri-Cities last summer at the PNNL, Pacific
Northwest National Laboratories, event. And so, thank you for
participating in that.
One of the things the community has brought up, the
Hanford, larger community, obviously, we are always fighting to
make sure that we get the appropriate amount in the budget and
Administration to recognize that Hanford can never be cleaned
up on the cheap. So, getting that done and recognized is a
long-time process with every administration. But now, as we
face this pandemic and the economic impacts of that, just like
the previous recession, people have suggested maybe we use this
opportunity to create a higher investment and quicker reaching
of milestones at Hanford. I think last time the Budget Recovery
Act had $6 billion in it for an environmental management
program, and I think $2 billion extra went to the Tri-Cities,
to the Hanford cleanup.
Is that an idea that we should be looking at? How will it
help us meet the Tri-Party Agreement? And what else could it
help us do if we looked at that kind of an economic investment?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you, Senator, for that question
and let me, you know, make the commitment to you that we will
do everything that we can to meet our legal and moral
obligations to cleanup those sites, to your constituents in
Eastern Washington. And we also pledge to maintain the great
relationship that we have established with the state and with
the union and with the workers there.
You make an excellent point. A trip out to Hanford is one
that would make any American proud to see, both what it
accomplished when we needed it during World War II and yet,
what it has become today. The challenges are many, but when you
go out there and you see the process--the progress that has
been made and the people, you know, out there, you realize that
we have an opportunity here to build on the successes that we
can. I was talking to the site manager yesterday and he said,
we have developed this concept of a virtuous cycle and that is
progress, when you can demonstrate that you can make progress
at these very difficult cleanup challenges, that enables an
advocacy to continue to tell the story and you can then get the
resources that you need to continue the progress. And I am
proud to say that, particularly under Secretary Dabbar's
leadership, we have been making tremendous progress at Hanford.
We're on target for DFLAW and we're really excited about that
and I think that we've, you know, did some, have really
accomplished things with K Basin, with the burial grounds and
with shoring up the PUREX tunnels.
But the short answer is, again, yes. That would support you
can demonstrate progress if you can demonstrate the need, and I
think it is out there at Hanford. Then you can put together a
serious attempt to see what resources are needed.
Senator Cantwell. Well, I like that answer. So thank you
for that.
I think it is worth considering and continuing to remind
people this is an economic investment, but it is an obligation
and we need to accomplish both of those tasks, make the
investment and get Hanford cleaned up.
I wanted, in my few minutes left here, to ask you about the
Department's assurance to the workforce that we will establish
the right kind of safety measures at the Hanford site to
address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Menezes. Yes, thank you for that question.
Yes, I would like to reassure all the workers at Hanford
that we are going to have adequate safety measures, because
their safety and health are really our number one priority
there. As you are aware, we are moving to reopen some of the
facilities, but we are being careful to ensure that we meet the
gating criteria at each of the facilities. So it will be data-
driven and that data will be, you know, the downward trend on
the testings of any cases, whether it's positive cases of COVID
or influenza-like symptoms. It's also being driven to ensure
that they have sufficient medical supplies and needs there by
the local health officials there. It's also being driven by the
fact that the facilities that you open have to be able to
accommodate the social distancing requirements. Of course, it's
also informed by the Governor's decisions and the locally-
elected officials as well.
So you have our pledge that we will do that. We will do it
in a measured way, and we would do it as the gating criteria
allow us to do.
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cantwell.
Let's go to Senator Risch.
Senator Risch. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you for
holding the hearing.
Mr. Menezes, first of all, thank you for your willingness
to serve. I know you have been actively involved in the
Department's efforts to develop nuclear hybrid energy systems
and you are probably, hopefully, you are aware of the bill that
Senator Manchin and I have co-authored that authorizes an
Integrated Energy Systems Program at the DOE that will improve
the grid resiliency and the long-term competitiveness of the
nuclear industry.
Could you give us your thoughts and guidance as we move
forward on these enterprises?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you very much for that question.
And indeed, I was delighted to read the Integrated Energy
Systems bill. As you may be aware, a couple of years ago over
at the Department and working with the leaders in the White
House, we decided to bring together our three applied national
laboratories, INL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the
Idaho National Lab and yeah, and NETL, I'm sorry, the National
Energy Technology Laboratory. And in doing so we wanted to see
how it is that we could integrate these hybrid systems. What is
it that each lab brought to bring into an integrated, you know,
modern grid system?
It needed to be flexible. It needed to have different
fuels. It needed to be able to take advantage of a lot of the
energy that is created. As you know, whenever you, you know,
might have different forms of generation you can create thermal
heat. That thermal heat can be used to for maybe, for
electrolysis to create hydrogen, different fuels, new products,
new technologies. And so, it was a comprehensive approach. The
three labs got together and they, we had several meetings on
this and we laid out, really, if you had an opportunity to
really collaborate in a comprehensive way on cross-cutting
technologies what can you come up with and it had many of the
similarities that are incorporated in your bill.
So we're excited to see that. I will say that the
Administration has not taken a position on the bill, and we are
prepared to continue to offer technical advice on them. But as
you say, it looks very familiar to what the minds at those
three applied labs came together and identified as lines of
effort that we can go forward to really try to take advantage
of what all these three labs bring together in our energy
systems.
Senator Risch. Well, thank you very much for that.
I think that your vision in that regard is to be greatly
commended as the world moves over the next decades and
centuries to conversion to mostly nuclear energy which it has
to unless there is something that is out there that we human
beings have not heard about yet that can create energy. So
thank you for that.
Changing gears for just a second, you know, at one time, of
course, the United States had the sole position on nuclear
energy. Indeed, at the Idaho National Laboratory, in my state,
the first reactor was built. We still have the first three
light bulbs that were lit by nuclear energy. We built about 52
reactors there. Things have slowed down, obviously, in the
United States. Our nuclear fleet of 90+ sites are actually
being reduced while most of the world is actually going the
other way. There are 50 nuclear reactors under construction
today and every time a country decides they are going to go
that direction, which all countries will eventually, there are
a lot of bidders there. China is there. Russia is there. France
is there. We are there.
Give us your thoughts on how we can continue to compete,
actually improve our competitiveness as we compete on the world
stage to build these reactors. We all know that our interests
are broader than our competitors. We use what is called the
Gold Standard and are very interested in seeing there is
nonproliferation. Some of our competitors have no interest in
that whatsoever. That gives them a cost advantage sometimes.
Give me your thoughts on that, if you would, please.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for the question, Senator, and happy
to do so. You know, nuclear power is an important industry, not
only for our current civilian nuclear fleet but also, it's
important that we maintain the global leadership in the
technology that goes along with building the current fleet and
building, importantly, the next generation fleet.
Now why is that? We know how expensive it is, but why is it
that we should seriously look at this? The fact of the matter
is that we have benefited from the fact that other countries
have always looked to the U.S. to have the best nuclear
technology. We had the best--we had the highest safety
standards and health standards and, indeed, they wanted to use
our technology. And so, the way that the global nuclear fleet
generally developed was that they would enter into a 123
agreement. Now that's under the Atomic Energy Act, which
requires that countries that use U.S. technology agree for
nonproliferation and non-enrichment purposes. And as you had
mentioned, we had the Gold Standard in place in some places.
We now find ourselves in competition with other countries
on nuclear technology--China, Russia, the other countries you
said. They are going in and to the countries, for example, in
the Middle East, now that we are economic competitors of the
Middle Eastern OPEC countries, they are turning to nuclear
rather than oil or natural gas for the electricity generation
because they want to preserve their oil and natural gas for
export, for their revenues. Thus, they are talking, we are
actually competing with China, Russia, for the opportunity to
develop and build the nuclear facilities in these other
countries.
Now it's important to note that when you do this you really
are developing a relationship with that country over 40 to 100
years because it's the next generation technology. It's the
regulatory systems. It's educating them. It's keeping their
expertise. It's making sure that they understand the
technology, they can operate the plants and it's all of this.
And typically, it would involve a relicensing process.
So we, as Americans, should care greatly that we continue
to develop that expertise. When you look at what the Department
is doing, we're supporting the development of future technology
by investing in the next technology. We think the small,
modular reactor is there. Congress has approved advanced test
reactors so that we can look at different fuels in the fuel
cycles. And indeed, Congress has directed us to establish and
fund and build and design a versatile test reactor, all of
which goes to our allowing the U.S. to continue its leadership
and that will serve us well. Indeed, it will serve the world
well so that other countries will not use other countries that
don't share our value, their technologies. These other
countries will not require them to have Gold Standards in place
for nonproliferation and non-enrichment.
Senator Risch. Well said. Thank you much.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Risch. Mr. Menezes, thank
you for outlining that. It was good to see last week the
Department announcing the launch of the Advanced Reactor
Demonstration Program. We have been working on our NELA bill
for some time. So we look forward to working with you on that.
Let's turn to Senator Heinrich, please.
Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Menezes, do I understand it to be correct that in your
existing position you have not had a chance to visit the DOE
facilities in New Mexico at this point?
Mr. Menezes. I have not. I did have a trip planned;
however, I was unable to make it out to New Mexico.
Senator Heinrich. Well, I would be remiss if I did not say
as things settle out and obviously people are working at Los
Alamos, are working at Sandia and we are testing extensively
that workforce. So I would be remiss if I did not invite you to
come see those facilities and/or WIPP when things become safe
to do so.
Mr. Menezes. I would look forward to that opportunity.
Senator Heinrich. One of the things that I am a little
frustrated by, and I have talked to the Secretary about this,
maybe a little frustrated, would be a dramatic understatement,
is I think it is abundantly clear that the FY21 budget request
for cleanup work at Los Alamos is just not at an acceptable
level. There is simply no valid justification for a cut of
nearly 50 percent. Have you looked at the budget request for
environmental cleanup work at Los Alamos, and can you explain
how the planned scope of work at Los Alamos can be executed
with half of the resources?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for the question.
First, let me assure you that we remain committed to
cleaning up the Los Alamos waste sites and while I did not have
a role in establishing, you know, the budget, I've been briefed
on it in preparation for the hearing. So I know, generally,
that we were in a situation where we were spending some
carryover funds, if you will and then we made a request and we
received money in the Fiscal Year 2020 which we will also be
able to spend and then we've made a subsequent----
Senator Heinrich. Let's drill down a little bit on this
because between my staff and the Department there continues to
be a lack of clarity about just how much, if any, prior year
carryover funding is going to be available to sustain that work
next fiscal year. So can you provide me, for the record, the
current amount of available carryover and the amount expected
carryover into FY21 so we can figure out exactly where we
stand?
Mr. Menezes. I'm happy to do that.
Senator Heinrich. Great, thank you.
Senator Heinrich. I want to complement Secretary
Brouillette. I have spent a lot of time on the phone with him
as a result of this emerging crisis, working through hiccups
in, sort of, the ability to be nimble in the face of a crisis
at our national labs, in particular. The labs are doing
amazing, amazing work. Some of it at the global level, some of
it very focused on things like supply chain issues and
establishing the safe practices for times when we were looking
at the necessity to reuse PPE and issues like that. But there
have definitely been hiccups along the way where the labs just
were not able to cut through some of the red tape.
Do you have ideas for how to streamline and remove the
barriers that allow us to maximize the laboratories leaning in
to be the problem solvers for national security issues ranging
from the nuclear to the novel Coronavirus?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
And indeed, you did describe a situation where the labs are
both leading the world in many ways to try to find, to combat
COVID-19, and I know that you have been in contact with
Secretary Brouillette. Indeed, he and I have had multiple
conversations about that. You know, I believe the answer is
what you see in the way Secretary Brouillette has been handling
your responses. He acts. We have a good relationship with the
lab. We know the management. We know the leadership over there
and we're able to hopefully work with the Governor, with your
office, so that we can get to yes and we can get to yes in a
way that, you know, would not rely on the ways we have done in
the past.
Now one thing that we have all learned during this COVID-19
crisis is that we cannot continue to do business as usual.
Senator Heinrich. Yes. These labs are such powerful weapons
in this fight, and I just want to see them be utilized to the
fullest because that is what the workers there want to do as
well. They are bringing solutions forward every single day, and
we want to use those solutions.
I am out of time. But I will let you know I am going to
introduce for the record, I have been very frustrated with the
lack of meeting statutory deadlines when it comes to energy
efficiency standards at DOE and so, that is a question that I
will have you respond to for the record.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, that has been a high priority of
mine, and I look forward to providing you answers to that.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Heinrich.
Let's go to Senator Lee.
Senator Lee. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, sir,
for joining us today and for your willingness to serve.
I would like to ask you a question about the Renewable
Fuels Standard (RFS) and, specifically, how you plan to
exercise the Department of Energy's crucial role in the small
refinery exemptions during your tenure as Deputy Secretary.
During your tenure as Deputy Secretary for the Department of
Energy, are you willing to consider the past year applications
and would you be willing to use the post-2017 Sinclair decision
scoring for compliance years that fall before the court's
decision date?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
As you know we take our obligations under the RFS to be,
serve in a consulting role with EPA, very seriously. The EPA
sends us the small refinery exemption applications and we
diligently review them, and we make determinations on
eligibility regarding disproportionate economic impact on the
small refineries. And I want to point out to members of the
Committee that these are small refineries that, you know, that
are entitled to make the application on the applications.
I'll be perfectly honest, having been part of some of the
drafting that was going on in EPAct of 2005 when RFS was put in
place and drafting some of the waiver requirements, it was
somewhat of a surprise to see the Tenth Circuit decision, to be
honest, where they interpreted, you know, certain phrases of
``at any time'' to include that you had to have for every year
since 2011, you had to have requested an exemptive, an
exemption. I think, I just, I think that has created a problem
with what EPA is going to do.
I can assure you that, as EPA sends over these gap filings,
if you will to be consistent with the Tenth Circuit decision,
we will review them expeditiously and we will return them as
promptly as we can to the EPA with our determinations as we
have done in the past.
Senator Lee. Thank you. I appreciate that, and I appreciate
your willingness to work as expeditiously as you can on it. It
is an important issue.
My Governor, Utah Governor Gary Herbert, along with several
other governors, recently sent a letter to the EPA
Administrator asking him to invoke Paragraph Seven of the Act,
allowing for the Administrator, in consultation with the
Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, to ``waive the
requirements of the mandate in whole or in part based on a
determination by the Administrator that the implementation of
the requirement would severely harm the economy of the state or
region or the United States.''
So how engaged has the Department of Energy been on this
particular issue so far, and can you give me some estimate,
some forecast as to when we might be likely to see a response
on this subject?
Mr. Menezes. Well, the Department of Energy, along with,
you know, the Department of Agriculture has been engaged on the
RFS issues throughout this entire Administration. It's been an
important issue for President Trump. He wants to make sure that
he can take care of both, you know, the refiners in the United
States as well as, you know, the ethanol producers. So it's
been a key priority for the Administration on this. Our role in
the RVO waiver is, again, consultative along with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, unlike the SRE where it's the
Department of Energy in the consultative role.
However, we will, I'm sure, when EPA begins to act on it,
we will provide our assistance in evaluating the application. I
will say that it's a little bit different from the
disproportionate hardship impact on a small refiner. This is a
severe economic harm to a state or to a region or to the
economy.
Senator Lee. Speaking of differences, how does the research
and development conducted by the Department of Energy compare
to or differ from the R&D conducted by a private company?
Mr. Menezes. Well, the biggest difference is that the role
of the Department is one, for basic research to do on
technologies that the private sector would not either have the
resources or the willingness to go on. They would not have the
capacity that we have to take the technological risk. They will
invest in things that might improve their products or to be a
breakthrough product. The government's role is to see what
breakthrough technology might result in new products and that's
the role that we see the government should play in R&D. It's
more basic R&D at the early levels of the technology readiness
levels as opposed to doing a lot of research at maybe,
technology ready level nine where it's almost commercially
available. That would not necessarily be a role that we see.
However, it's always important to ensure that the
technologies that we develop can actually be commercially
deployed at some point. Thus, we established the Office of
Technology Transitions to allow that to take place. We do serve
a role as to try to push this technology that was developed
through research dollars at the Department and through public-
private partnerships, but to get it out into the, into industry
and into the commercial world so it can be deployed.
Senator Lee. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Lee.
Let's turn to Senator Hirono.
Senator Hirono. Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome, Mr.
Menezes.
I ask every nominee who comes before any of the committees
on which I sit the following initial questions.
Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted
requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical
harassment or assault of a sexual nature?
Mr. Menezes. I have not.
Senator Hirono. Have you ever faced discipline or entered
into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?
Mr. Menezes. I have not.
Senator Hirono. Last week the American Council on Renewable
Energy (ACORE) and others released a study estimating that
600,000 workers in the clean energy industries had lost their
jobs in March and April, an 18 percent unemployment rate. In
Hawaii the solar industry is estimating a 36 percent decline in
jobs. Hawaii has set a goal of leading this country toward 100
percent renewable power by 2045, a transformation that will
require thousands of new workers and well-paying jobs like
installing energy efficient equipment, building renewable power
sources and energy storage systems in homes and businesses and
building clean vehicles and recharging networks.
To support this, I have worked with the Chair, the Ranking
Member and Senator Cantwell on expanding DOE's workforce
development programs and the American Energy and Innovation Act
the Senate considered in March, and I hope we can pass those
workforce development improvements into law soon.
Question, in the meantime, what are you going to do to lead
DOE in helping to restart the clean energy sector and train
students and unemployed people to be ready to take jobs in
clean energy?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question, Senator. Allow me
to tell you what we have been doing of late. I mean, during the
COVID-19, for example, and this is what I know ACORE was, an
article related to it, is that the Secretary and I basically
ordered the Department, all departments, to look across,
including EERE, our Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Office, to see if we could forebear any of the cost share
payments, for example, on some of the renewable projects that
we fund and go out. Maybe we can negotiate with them on the
cost share, perhaps push milestones out or timetables out.
We've also worked with the Loan Program Office to see if
they can also give some kind of forbearance, if necessary, on a
needs basis, of those in the Loan Program Office. But we also
asked the Loan Program Office to go out and solicit those that
might be interested in making applications with the Department
that we could consider. So we were taking that, we were taking
that role.
Now, during COVID-19, since March, we have issued several
FOAs. We have been pushing them out in rapid fashion. We have
issued, I think, three solar FOAs. These are Funding
Opportunity Announcements----
Senator Hirono. So, excuse me. I am running out of time.
It sounds as though you are doing quite a few things, and I
would like to have your commitment that you will continue to
support the renewable energy sector and not just put a lot of
focus in supporting the fossil fuel side of the energy
equation.
Mr. Menezes. Oh, you absolutely have our commitment. I
think our record speaks for itself on renewables. Thank you.
Senator Hirono. Good.
The United States has historically acknowledged a duty of
individuals who serve the United States to report misconduct,
fraud and violations of law. Do you acknowledge the
contributions of whistleblowers and inspectors general to
combat abuse, fraud and violations of law and to help safeguard
the national security of the United States?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question.
Yes, we absolutely believe that there's a----
Senator Hirono. That is all I need to know.
[Laughter.]
Running out of time.
So if you are confirmed as Deputy Secretary, will you
commit to protecting whistleblowers within the Department from
retaliation as required by the Whistleblower Protection Act?
Mr. Menezes. We will certainly comply with the law.
Senator Hirono. Under what circumstances do you think it is
appropriate for the President to fire an Inspector General in
the Department? Do you think that any such firing should be for
cause?
Mr. Menezes. Again, we will follow the law at the
Department.
Senator Hirono. Well, the law says the President can do
that. I think the law also says that there should be
justification. So I would expect that that law would be
followed.
I do have one more question, but I will submit it for the
record, Madam Chair, because I have run out of time. Thank you.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Senator.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hirono.
Let's turn now to Senator Cassidy, thank you.
Senator Cassidy. Mr. Menezes, thank you again for being
here. Again, Louisiana is very proud to have two folks at the
top of the office. But you also know that Louisiana has been
one of the states hardest hit by both the demand destruction
for oil and to a lesser extent for natural gas and, as a former
roustabout, you understand the implications this has for a
family's livelihood. So as I mentioned in my remarks, with this
job comes the kind of responsibility, if you will, to get the
energy economy going back to work. Now some of that is just
related to how do we get the economy going again, but to what
degree do you feel that expanding storage or other options may
help preserve some of these energy paying jobs that families
depend upon?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question.
You know, we're all in this together. And so, I think all
departments have an obligation to get U.S. workers back to work
in whatever way they can. At the Department we've identified
some of the authorities that we have whereas we sought to and
have a request before Congress to provide the resources that we
can purchase U.S.-produced oil, for example, to fill the SPRO.
On the SPRO, it's interesting to note, Congress gave us
authority for one billion barrels of SPRO capacity. We
currently have physical capacity total of 713. Congress decided
to give us additional resources so we could build that out to
have additional storage so that we can add the capability of
putting U.S.-produced oil, when necessary, into storage. That's
one thing that can be jobs.
Much of this new storage, of course, would require some
investment. So that, too, would create U.S. jobs. We would have
the benefit of employing U.S. workers as well as providing
future storage capacity going forward. That's one thing to
consider.
The other thing, of course, is that, as Chairman Murkowski
pointed out, LNG facilities continue to make their way through
the regulatory process. We, too, commit to do our review on
that so that we can, where it's economically feasible to do so,
have the facilities in place. That, too, will be U.S. jobs.
So we're committed in many ways. You heard what I was
saying to Senator Hirono. We have been pushing the funding
opportunities out. These result in jobs and projects. And so,
we're willing to do whatever we can with the authorities that
we have and the resources that we have.
Senator Cassidy. Now you mentioned the SPRO and the
increased storage space, obviously, caverns. Will the
Department be issuing any additional notices to lease further
SPRO cavern space?
Mr. Menezes. Well, at this point we have been receiving
several requests to consider additional places for storage and
all of those places are being studied, they're being looked at
and as I had mentioned, in each instance, it's likely to take
some investment. We'll have to do some, you know, structural
improvements there. It won't be a near-term solution to our
current storage requirements or needs, but it's certainly worth
an investment that in the longer-term, we can make these
investments, get Americans back to work and to create
additional storage in the future.
Senator Cassidy. So then, let me ask you kind of a related
question. Of the storage space which you currently have, will
you be leasing any more of this space to producers?
Mr. Menezes. Well, we currently have an RFP out for the
purchase of up to a million barrels, and that's the purchase of
a million barrels. And we are also, as you are probably aware,
we had completed an RFP for leasing the space. We had 23
million barrels, so of the 77 million, we had 23 out. We'll
probably buy another million. So, you can see that we'll
probably have 53 or so million barrels still available, and
we'll be looking at our options going forward.
Senator Cassidy. Okay.
We had spoken earlier about carbon capture and
sequestration projects, and obviously there is a lot of
ancillary infrastructure associated with that. Can you describe
some of the regulatory challenges in building carbon dioxide
pipelines and how the Federal Government can help reduce that
burden for that associated infrastructure?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question and the
opportunity to elaborate on that. I mean, the CO2
pipelines are necessary, you know, for either the transporting
of CO2 that's captured off an existing plant,
whether it's coal or natural gas or a refinery, and it would go
to either enhanced oil recovery or permanent geologic
sequestration. It needs that pipeline.
However, pipelines are like all pipelines and, that is, in
this country while you may have a certificate of need, you may
have certain permits, it is very difficult in some areas of the
country to be able to get the regulatory approvals that you
need. So I think this is something that all states should look
at whenever they're looking at seeing what pipelines serve what
purpose. It's our belief that the states should be using their
delegated authority under federal law to actually get to yes
and not to be an obstruction to necessary pipelines.
Senator Cassidy. Music to my ears.
Madam Chair, I yield back.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cassidy.
Let's turn to Senator King. [Pause.] Senator King, you have
your mute button on. Go ahead and push that----
Senator King. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am not only on the
clock with the Committee, but my phone just told me my battery
is about to run out so I am going to try to be very succinct
here.
Mr. Menezes, first I want to thank you for your service
thus far. You have done a great job at the Department, and I
think you have been a real asset. You mentioned in a speech
earlier this month about a whole list of really significant
accomplishments. One of the things you mentioned was the
relationship between the national labs and our universities,
and I want to bring one to your attention. Oak Ridge and the
University of Maine have really established a wonderful hub and
spoke relationship on advanced manufacturing. The largest 3D
printer in the world is at the University of Maine. In fact,
last spring I was there and they printed a boat, if you could
believe it. But I want to commend that project to you and the
whole concept. I hope that is something that you can pursue and
emphasize in your work with the universities and with the
national labs. We would love to have you come to the University
of Maine and see that 3D printer.
Mr. Menezes. I'd love to do that. I'd love to take you up
on that, and I note that what you mentioned also was awarded
three Guinness Book of World Records for the largest 3D printed
device. So congratulations on that, and we look forward to
going up there and actually seeing them.
Senator King. Well, thank you and I hope, we would love to
see this relationship memorialized in a more permanent program,
perhaps in next year's budget. So, if you could keep that in
mind. Lamar, Senator Alexander, and I visited Oak Ridge
together with a delegation from Maine. As you know, the
national labs are absolute gems.
Let me turn to another specific issue. One of the most
important areas of research, and you emphasized it and having
emphasized it, is in energy storage, not the oil kind, but the
electricity kind. I know you are funding a lot of research in
that area. I think that is one of the most important things you
can do. Something that is worrying me about that, however, is
the supply chain of the minerals and the materials that are
necessary. I hope that that can be part of the research and
part of the discussion that is taking place, because we can
have the great technology, but if we are dependent on a country
that may even be an adversary for critical minerals, that could
be a real problem and, certainly, energy storage is a place
where those minerals are used.
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question. You might
have heard in my opening remark that I had mentioned some of
the initiatives that we have started here. These are
initiatives that are comprehensive, cross-cutting and
collaborative. One of them is the materials initiative. The
goal there, as you mentioned, it is to diversify the supply to
create and potentially find substitutes, you know, to drive the
reuse and recycling of these into, for more efficient use of
these. It's a collaborative effort over with several of our
offices and we look forward to working with you on that.
Senator King. I just want to commend you for the comments
you made in answer to a prior question about the fundamental
role that government plays in basic research, how it fills in
where, in research, where the private sector really, the
investment doesn't make sense for the private sector, but we
are providing the underpinning, the basic research that leads
to the breakthroughs that then the private sector can run with.
So I just wanted to commend you for that.
One other quick point, in terms of, I have spent the last
year working with a national commission on cyber and
cybersecurity. One of the things that we have--the electric
grid has worked very hard to maintain the level of their
cybersecurity. It worries me that we don't have, I don't
believe, an equivalent level of attention to cybersecurity of
gas pipeline systems. And in New England, anyway, the gas
pipeline system is part of the grid because it supplies 50 to
60 percent of our electricity.
So I know it is not, it is really more FERC, but I think
when you are thinking about cybersecurity and you have the new
office there in the Department of Energy, please pay some
attention because if we had a cyberattack on one of our gas
pipeline systems around the entire system, it would be truly
catastrophic.
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that observation and, I
believe, question. I will tell you that, you know, Congress
designated us as the sector-specific agency over the energy
system, and as a result of that we have regular meetings with
and established a great working relationship through our CESER
office with the oil and gas sector-specific commission. So,
well, I meant, we're also working with FERC on that, but as a--
we work well with our oil and natural gas folks. I think you
also have to keep PHMSA in mind as well and so together, we
jointly work with the industry to ensure that they have the
latest cybersecurity protection, that they're aware of the
threats. We share these threats frequently with them. We let
them know when our risk level exceeds the amount on any pieces
of equipment that might be put on their systems. I think we
have a good working relationship with them, with the trade
associations there, and we're going to continue to remain to be
very vigilant about that because, as you indicated, our energy
system has become more targeted on cyberattacks and we take
that very seriously and we're doing what we can to ensure that
our energy system, including oil and natural gas pipelines,
remain safe and secure.
Senator King. Thank you. I like the word vigilant, just
keep that in mind.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator King.
Let's turn to Senator Hoeven, please.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to thank
Secretary Menezes for being here and for the work you have been
doing in your acting capacity.
A couple items I am going to follow up on, you have
commented on, first is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As you
are aware, I have legislation, bipartisan in both the Senate
and the House, that would provide both funding and
authorization to purchase oil for the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve. Do you support that legislation and are there any
other aspects to it that you think should be included?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question, really
thank you for your leadership on this and your willingness to
introduce and pursue bipartisan support of this. This bill,
were it to be enacted, would provide us with the sufficient
revenues that we needed to be able to purchase oil and put it
into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from the U.S. producers
which is what our goal is.
Senator Hoeven. Also, 45Q, something that you have been
working on. As you know, I have been working on it as well.
Please address the importance of getting the rule in place for
45Q.
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that opportunity and as I
mentioned before, this is a great opportunity, right now, to
unleash the capital that can take advantage of these tax
credits to develop and put in place economical carbon capture
technologies to capture the carbon, process it and put it in
either permanent storage or for use for enhanced oil recovery.
We've been working very diligently, as you know, with the IRS,
with the Department of Treasury and with OMB to ensure that we
can get this rule out.
It's our understanding that it's forthcoming, and we're
looking forward to that release.
Senator Hoeven. Do you feel that projects like Project
Tundra and the PCOR, the partnership relationships that you
have with institutions of our higher education system like the
University of North Dakota Energy Environmental Research
Center, do you think those are important tools for you to
continue to develop carbon capture and sequestration and do you
support them?
Mr. Menezes. Well, we do. Indeed, they are key. They are--
it's a great relationship to be able to have with our
universities. We are particularly pleased with the one that we
have been having for years in North Dakota. You had mentioned
the CCUS, but there's also other technological advances and
research that can be done there with Project Tundra and with
the energy and environment research council up there. It's--you
have unique geologic formations there in North Dakota, for
example, and I think the work together with that university and
with that organization resulted in North Dakota being able to
be at the forefront of the unconventional shale play.
Senator Hoeven. Are you concerned about early closure of
critical baseload assets and the impact that it will have on
reliability and resiliency of the grid and what are some of the
things you think we can and should do to address it?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for that question.
Indeed, we are concerned about the premature closing of
baseload units, whether it's nuclear, whether it's coal, even
natural gas has been closing, in part because of some of the
pricing mechanisms that had been in place. Certainly under the
leadership of Chairman Neil Chatterjee at FERC, he has
attempted to address some of these inequities, if you will, in
the market formation in certain ISOs and RTOs around the
country. And so, we've been working in support of that to get
policies in place to ensure that the actual cost of providing
electricity is reflected in the cost and that all types of
fuels would be treated equally when it comes to pricing.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Secretary Menezes. I appreciate
your work and look forward to working with you.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
Let's turn to Senator Cortez Masto. You are still muted.
There you go.
Senator Cortez Masto. Alright, there we go.
Thank you, Under Secretary Menezes. First of all, let me
just say thank you for the conversations that we have had as
well as the outreach from the Department of Energy that hasn't
heard--so appreciate it.
Let me just start with this, because I know this was the
topic of our conversation when we first spoke. I want to put
this to bed and give you an opportunity to address a
conversation that you had on the House side. In response to a
question during the House Energy Subcommittee, you stated, and
I quote, ``What we are trying to do is put together a process
that will give us a path to permanent storage at Yucca
Mountain.'' So let me ask you, is the Administration pursuing
Yucca Mountain as a permanent high-level nuclear waste disposal
site?
Mr. Menezes. Well, thank you for the question, Senator and
I, too, appreciate the opportunities to talk to you over the
last couple of days.
Let me be very clear about this. The President has been
very clear on this. The Administration will not be pursuing
Yucca Mountain as a solution for nuclear waste, and I am fully
supportive of the President's decision and applaud him for
taking action when so many others have failed to do so.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
And can you address interim storage? Does the
Administration intend to pursue Yucca Mountain as interim
storage site?
Mr. Menezes. Yes, so as you are aware in our budgets, in
the President's budget request, we have requested $27.5 million
to ensure that we have an interim storage program in place that
will be a comprehensive approach to look at finding a solution
and implementing one that is flexible for both interim and
permanent storage down the road as well as to handle both spent
nuclear fuel and high level waste. We're going to engage all
stakeholders and we look forward to working with the
stakeholders as we go through to put together a comprehensive,
durable and flexible plan.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
Let me follow up with that. As you know, I have introduced,
along with the delegation from Nevada, legislation, the Nuclear
Waste Informed Consent Act, which would ensure that all
affected states, including Nevada, local governments and tribal
communities are given a voice in any deciding process, that
includes interim storage. I also know that the Chairwoman has
introduced the Nuclear Waste Administration Act which would
also establish a consent-based siting process. However, as it
is written, the proposed Yucca Mountain project prevents Nevada
from participating in that process and, let me just say this, I
appreciate that the Chairwoman and the Ranking Member have
committed to work with Senator Rosen and I to address our
concerns with the bill.
But have you had a chance to see those bills, and let me
ask you this, does the Department intend to work with Congress
on new legislation to ensure that every state can have a voice
in the consent-based siting process, including Nevada?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question.
I know that the bills are under review. I, myself, am not
that familiar with them, but I do promise to look at those
bills and to offer any technical assistance and the
Administration has not taken a view, a position, on those
bills. However, we do know that the solution for nuclear
storage will rest with Congress and we do pledge to work with
you as you develop the legislation, we will provide the
technical assistance as necessary and we will certainly be able
to work together to accommodate all stakeholders.
Senator Cortez Masto. Under Secretary Menezes, in Fiscal
Year 2020 in the Appropriations Act, Congress directed DOE to
provide the House and Senate with a report within 90 days that
analyzes the innovative solutions for the disposition of high-
level waste and spent nuclear fuel with priority given to
technological options that are cost-effective and can be
implemented in the short-term and that consider stakeholders in
the siting process. Do you know the current status of this
report?
Mr. Menezes. I'm unaware of the updated status but if
you'll allow me, I will, I will find out and report back to
you.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
I have further questions for you. I will submit those for
the record. Thank you again, and congratulations on your
nomination.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you, Senator.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cortez Masto.
That concludes the first round.
Mr. Menezes, you have gone through a pretty exhaustive list
of issues that come before the Department of Energy, everything
from the innovation that we see at our national labs, I asked
you about the Arctic focus, you have hit on workforce training,
COVID-19 response, uranium reserve, cleanup at Hanford, Los
Alamos, RFS, SPR, cybersecurity, and I think you have responded
in a very forthright and clearly, clearly, very well-informed
manner.
I have one last question, and I understand that Senator
Manchin has one as well. You and I have had an opportunity to
talk and visit about the Office of Indian Energy (OIE), and as
you know, in my state this is an important program for many of
our remote Alaska native villages. I know that throughout
Indian Country there is a great deal of interest in having an
Office of Indian Energy that is robust and can be helpful in a
way that is meaningful. We have talked about the opportunity
for the Department to be able to utilize more local experts in
the work of the Office of Indian Energy to also have better
working relationships, particularly with our Alaska native
groups.
What we have seen is many of the communities have limited
access to financial resources, some have even been reluctant to
apply for the OIE grants because of the cost share requirement.
So it really just puts the grant out of reach for them.
Just very quickly, your thoughts on what the Department
could do to open funding opportunities to some of our most
vulnerable and high-cost energy communities?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question, Senator.
As you know, in our conversations together, our commitment
is to really have a strong Indian Energy program. I think the
Director, Kevin Frost, has done a great job. As you are aware,
we have also made a program policy factor, different from other
Administrations, that if you were, if you had high energy costs
you could be, it could be something to consider in granting a
funding opportunity and also whether or not you were a first-
time applicant or a first-time recipient and under both of
those scenarios, you know, we were pleased to inform you that
for the first time we had Alaska, a native win these funding
opportunities and in the past they never had the opportunity.
So now that they have them, the question, as you point out,
and we do share your concerns about the 50/50 cost share. The
50/50 cost share is for applied funding opportunities, if you
will, and that does put a burden on the recipient. While we
have some flexibility in negotiating the 50/50 cost share, we,
the Secretary and I, have directed the Indian Energy Office to
look at all applicants and to consider using the Secretary's
authority to renegotiate those cost share obligations. And so
we are in the process of doing that right now. It is subject to
our current available funds, but we have begun that process and
we're happy to do, to continue it.
The Chairman. Good, good, I appreciate that response and
look forward to working with you on not only this initiative
but on so many of the others that you have raised today. I
didn't go into my question regarding advanced nuclear. I felt
that you responded well to Senator Risch when you spoke about
the future of nuclear here in this country. So I appreciate
that response as well.
Let me turn to Senator Manchin for any follow up questions.
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I appreciate
it.
First, let me just thank you again, Mark, for being here.
You have done a great job in answering directly and that is
what we like. I just have one final follow-up question, if I
could.
For over a decade the Department of Energy, the DOE Title
XVII Loan Program has helped commercialize advanced energy
technologies all the while maintaining a default rate that is
lower than most conventional banks and providing over $2
billion in interest payments to the Treasury. However, there
are currently billions of dollars in unused loan authority that
DOE could use to help build the next generation of energy
infrastructure which, as we look to recover from this economy,
from the downturn that we have had, it is going to be an
important tool that we already have in our tool box, if we do
nothing else which we will.
On top of that, I understand the Government Accountability
Office found last year that the Title XVII Loan Program
obligated only eight percent in Fiscal Year 2018 and only 40
percent in Fiscal Year 2019. I expressed these concerns to
Secretary Brouillette at the budget hearing in March, and he
shared that he initiated a new formal review of the program and
its requirements. So my question would be, do you have an
update or can you provide me an update with that formal review
and share what DOE is doing to ensure that the program will
obligate its full appropriations?
Mr. Menezes. Thank you for that question.
We share your concern about the Loan Program Office having
resources and yet not being able to get money out the door, so
to speak, and as we said, we've requested them to do outreach
on that. One thing to consider is that, you know, the Loan
Program Office initially included in that Energy Policy Act of
2005 and then later amended by Congress has several statutory
requirements to meet before any applicant is qualified to
receive any funds and that is, you know, it's to lower the
emissions and the second one is that it's new technologies.
Now, traditionally these are, if you will, they're
technical hurdles to meet. And so, what we've done is we have
asked for a review. We've asked for a review of our regulations
and our policies to see if there's anything we can do on either
of those statutory requirements.
Senator Manchin. If I can interrupt, just one second, Mark,
if I may.
When there are so few participants or such little amounts
of the obligated funds that you could put out the door,
something happened. Either the way they apply or the amount of
bureaucracy that might be involved, which is what you are
looking into, and I applaud you all for that. But, please,
rapidly do something because something is stopping us from
being able to engage and use that funding for what it was
intended. And you said, new technologies, things that can be
brought forward to the energy market to make it more efficient,
the grid system, so many things, storage. We are looking at
storage in West Virginia, because the storage capacity for our
liquid gas that we get out of our natural gas production would
be tremendous for manufacturing again too. We have had a hard
time but we have been notified that we are being considered,
but that has been a couple years.
Mr. Menezes. We are looking into it. We've asked our team
to give us some lists. They have done some. Some are statutory.
And also----
Senator Manchin. Tell us what we can do to help you,
really, tell us, Mark, whatever we can do to help you, I
guarantee you--the Chairman and I will do all that we can to
help you.
Mr. Menezes. Well, after we get the report, we're going to
share that with OMB and we're going to see if we can come up
with some recommendations going forward.
Senator Manchin. Thank you. Thank you again for coming
today.
Mr. Menezes. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
Mr. Menezes, thank you. You, as I mentioned, have done a
good job, a very thorough job and a very competent job as you
have responded to the questions from all of the members. We
thank you for that.
I will just leave with one final note. You mentioned in a
response to Senator Manchin in his first question that you were
continuing to work to review the Energy Security Act, our
energy bill that we hope to be able to move across the finish
line. We feel that it updates our energy policies in a way that
is meaningful and necessary and we would look forward to
working with you to address any of the outstanding matters that
you may have, but I recognize that with all that we are tasking
you to do, it always helps when you have updated policies and
that is what this legislation does after almost a decade of a
dry spell in not having updated energy reform. So we look
forward to working on those initiatives with you.
I want to thank you for being here. I want to thank your
family for supporting you, not only in your current position,
but as you have been asked to assume the role of Deputy
Secretary. I look forward to advancing your nomination to the
full Senate for confirmation very rapidly, and I would hope
that you would enjoy the same strong bipartisan level of
support that you saw back in 2017. I think everything that you
have shown to the Committee today is just further demonstration
of the good work that you have done, the trust that the
Secretary, Secretary Brouillette, has placed in you and
President Trump as well. So we look forward to moving that. I
will note that--well, I need to ask unanimous consent that
letters of support to the hearing record be included. They will
be so.
I would also note that we would ask that any questions for
the record from members be submitted to the Committee by close
of business tomorrow.
I would also like to acknowledge as we are closing the work
of the technical experts, to Darla Ripchensky and her team, but
all those that have helped us with this hybrid nomination
hearing today. We are all becoming a little more adept with the
technology and capacity that we have, but I think it is fair to
say we couldn't do it without our tech support. So we
appreciate all that they are doing there.
With that, if there are no further comments to be had, the
Committee stands adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:15 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.]
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