In late June, 45 Senate Democrats signed onto a letter that was sent to all 50 governors seeking feedback about the first substantial national energy policy action since the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. Stressing the importance of the state and federal government partnership in advancing “commonsense updates to our national energy policy,” the senators requested that the governors provide input on five principles outlined in the letter, including: clean energy investment, empowering consumers, modernizing infrastructure, cutting carbon pollution and waste, and investing in research development. State Energy Offices may want to consider coordinating with other state agencies in offering feedback on the principles contained in the letter, as well as challenges raised in the recently released federal Quadrennial Energy Review.
In the Senate, negotiations on an energy bill are continuing between Chairman Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Cantwell (D-WA) with mark-up planned for July. On the House side, mark-up of their energy bill is planned for July.