The week ahead: Budget battles, gas exports take center stage

This week is likely to bring floor debate in the House and Senate over competing federal budget plans that offer starkly different priorities on energy.

The GOP-crafted House plan would mandate approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline and expand federal lands available for oil-and-gas leasing.

Senate Democrats, in contrast, are touting their plans’ investments in green energy research and addressing climate change.

Watch The Hill’s E2-Wire updates during the week.

Energy will also take center stage at a slew of Capitol Hill hearings. Among them:

On Tuesday, a subpanel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will look at Energy Department (DOE) review of natural-gas exports.

DOE is weighing an array of industry applications to greatly expand natural-gas exports — proposals that have touched off a political battle in Washington.

Major petroleum industry and business groups support the export plans and say they will bolster the U.S. economy.

But several big manufacturing companies that rely on natural gas are urging major constraints on exports, fearing they would boost domestic prices. Some environmentalists are also opposing the plans.

Also Tuesday, a subpanel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear from two members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, among other witnesses.

They're speaking at a hearing on “The role of regulators and grid operators in meeting natural gas and electric coordination challenges.”

On Thursday, a subpanel of the House Natural Resources Committee will examine bills to boost U.S. access to critical minerals and other mining policy bills.

Other events to watch:

Monday and Tuesday brings the two-day EnergyBiz Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. Speakers include the CEOs of utility giants American Electric Power and Southern Co.

On Tuesday, White House energy and climate aide Heather Zichal will speak at an event hosted by the group Securing America’s Future Energy.

The National Press Club event will explore White House and Capitol Hill proposals to steer some federal revenues from oil-and-gas development into an “energy security” trust fund, which would support programs to boost alternative fuels and vehicles.

Friday will bring oral arguments in litigation over Securities and Exchange Commission rules that will force oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.

Oil industry and business groups have challenged the rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The groups allege they will create costly burdens and put SEC-listed companies at a disadvantage competing overseas against state-owned Russian and Chinese oil-and-gas companies.

Human rights and anti-poverty groups say the disclosure will boost transparency to help lift the “resource curse,” in which some impoverished countries in Africa and elsewhere are plagued by high levels of corruption and conflict alongside their energy and mineral wealth.