The House Natural Resources Committee will examine the importance of public lands for clean energy development. About one-third of the nation’s land mass and all of its offshore areas are in federal hands. Currently, federal lands host a significant portion of the nation’s renewable energy generating capacity, including 15 percent of hydropower, 7 percent of wind power, 48 percent of geothermal energy, and 33 percent of solar energy.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will discuss the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. The bill, introduced by Chairman Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, seeks to bring together the private and public sectors to develop next-generation reactor technology. The bipartisan legislation will fund research for more modular and compact reactors as well as set up pilot programs for early deployment of these technologies. The bill also extends the length of federal power purchase agreements from 10 to 40 years to better fit the technology.

The House Natural Resources Committee will discuss the reorganization of the Department of the Interior. The U.S. Senate recently voted to confirm David Bernhardt as Secretary of the Interior. President Trump’s pick for the position has been acting secretary since Jan. 2 and has been strongly criticized by environmental groups and leading Democrats over conflicts of interest related to his previous activities as well as the way he has been spending his time at the agency since joining in 2017. The 70,000 strong department manages 500 million acres of public lands, subsurface rights, and offshore areas that produce approximately 19 percent of the nation’s energy.

The U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce will review the Pipeline Safety Act and discuss ways to confront new safety and security challenges and improve pipeline infrastructure. Three million miles of pipeline transport oil and gas throughout the country. President Donald Trump recently signed two executive orders aimed at speeding up the federal process for cross-border energy infrastructure projects and restrict the role of states in the permitting process for siting pipelines and other fossil fuel projects.

The U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce will analyze the growing costs associated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup efforts. The department faces nearly $500 billion in environmental liabilities related to cleaning up nuclear and hazardous waste which poses serious risks to human health and the environment.