Blunt Announces Series of Member-Level Energy Forums

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) announced this afternoon that the House Energy Action Team (HEAT), a group of members committed to expanding our nation’s access to affordable energy, will be hosting a series of energy-focused issue forums over the next two weeks on Capitol Hill.

The panels, four in total and one each specific to coal, oil/natural gas, nuclear energy, and home heating oil, will draw on the knowledge and experience of energy experts across the country to highlight the economic and strategic importance of several of our nation’s most critical — and by some, most maligned — sources of essential energy.

“As the majority gets set to roll out an ‘energy’ bill premised on the idea that power comes from a light-switch, and the solutions to our nation’s energy problems come from new taxes and mandates, we thought it important to present an alternative viewpoint,” said Blunt, who heads up HEAT. “The list of experts we’ve assembled for these four issue forums represents a broad cross-section of the policy and political landscape — from academics, to scientists, to small business owners, to everyday Americans who will be asked to bear the biggest burden if this lights-out energy bill were to become law.”

The following represents the updated schedule for the forthcoming forums, which will be open to the press:

   Clean Coal — Wednesday, December 5, 2007   Chair: Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)   Longworth 1334, 2:00 – 3:30p    Oil and Natural Gas — Thursday, December 6, 2007   Chair: Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.)   Longworth 1334, 1:30 – 3:00p    Emissions-Free Nuclear — Tuesday, December 11, 2007   Chair: Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)   Rayburn 2322, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.    Home Heating Oil — Thursday, December 13, 2007   Chair: Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)   Location/Time: TBD  

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt

CONTACT: Antonia Ferrier or Amos Snead of the Office of House RepublicanWhip Roy Blunt, +1-202-226-7022