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Senate Committee Holds Hearing for Mark Menezes

By Doug MacGillivray posted 05-21-2020 10:59 AM

  
On May 20, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a nomination hearing for Mark Menezes to be Deputy Secretary at the Department of Energy (DOE). In the committee’s first hearing since the coronavirus pandemic emerged, Menezes saw mostly bipartisan support from Senators. Questions for Mr. Menezes included topics on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Renewable Fuel standard, national labs, agency funding, nuclear and renewable energy, cybersecurity, and energy storage.

Mr. Menezes currently serves as the Under Secretary for Energy at DOE, being confirmed on a voice vote. Prior to serving at DOE, Menezes held roles at Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Hunton & Williams, and as Chief Energy Counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska) noted that she would look to move Menezes’ nomination to the Senate floor swiftly.

APGA joined several other associations in voicing support for Mr. Menezes’ nomination in a letter to Committee Chairwoman Murkowski and Ranking Member Manchin (D- W.Va.). Text of the letter can be found below.

Dear Chairwoman Murkowski and Ranking Member Manchin:

We write to express our strong support for Honorable Mark Menezes’s nomination to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy and urge your support for his confirmation.

We believe Mr. Menezes’s integrity, experience and managerial expertise, demonstrated during his many years of senior leadership positions in the public and private sectors, including Berkshire Hathaway Energy, American Electric Power and Chief Counsel for Energy and Environment for the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, uniquely prepare him for this important role. Mr. Menezes’s deep qualifications and broad support is also validated by his previous U.S. Senate confirmation for Under Secretary of the Department of Energy in November 2017.

We share Mr. Menezes’s commitment to ensuring that our nation’s growing energy demands continue to be met by American innovation, technology, efficiency and free enterprise. Continued access to abundant, durable and affordable energy – to power our homes, businesses, transportation, communications networks and more – is critically important to economic growth and American security.

We again respectfully request your support for the confirmation of Mr. Menezes to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy and look forward to continuing our strong partnership to strengthen American energy security and drive innovation.

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