Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works — Briefing pack

Personalisation — person + organisation + alignment

Named recipient

Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Chair and Ranking Member (projected), Senate Environment and Public Works
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Recent work

Capito has been Ranking Member through the 118th Congress — presumptive Chair if Republicans hold majority. Whitehouse chairs the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety; senior Democrat positioned as successor to Carper (retired). Whitehouse has been the most consistent Senate voice on climate-finance i

Signals the recipient responds to

Whitehouse: rigorous on carbon-market integrity
Capito: pragmatic on environmental regulation; WV coal-country representation
Subcommittee Chair/Ranking: Mullin/Markwayne (R-OK)/Whitehouse

Organisational context

Positions

EPW oversight of EPA Clean Air Act authorities, voluntary-market guidance, and state-level programmes (CA ARB, RGGI).

Active initiatives

EPA voluntary-market guidance; Clean Air Act implementation; climate-disclosure oversight.

Pressures

Whitehouse's rigour + Capito's pragmatism produces bipartisan space for disclosure-integrity framing.

Specific alignment

Why this recipient benefits: A Capito-Whitehouse joint hearing on voluntary-market integrity with Haya, Cullenward, EPA staff, and a state regulator (CARB) witness list is the Senate companion to the House E&C hearing. Report-language directing EPA to convene a public process on per-tonne evidentiary standards with a time-certain deliverable is tractable.

Why now: Mid-session of 119th Congress.

The ask: Staff briefing; hearing witness roster; draft Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosure Improvement bill text (technology-neutral).

Committee: Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Target members: Chair and Ranking Member; Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee.

Jurisdictional frame

EPA authorities; Clean Air Act (including offset provisions); federal voluntary-market oversight.

Framing

Senate companion to House E&C. Per-tonne evidentiary disclosure under existing EPA Clean Air Act authorities.

Specific asks

Hearing: 'Voluntary carbon market integrity and federal oversight.' Witnesses: Haya, Cullenward, EPA staff, a state regulator (CA ARB).
Committee request letter to EPA on voluntary-market guidance and per-tonne evidentiary properties.
Report language directing EPA to convene a public process on per-tonne evidentiary standards with a time-certain deliverable.
Bill text for a Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosure Improvement provision, technology-neutral.

Briefing appendix materials

CA ARB protocol comparison. EPA voluntary-market guidance status. Proof-pack schema executive summary.