A senior Energy Department official said Thursday that a major plan addressing the nation’s energy network is facing more delays, suggesting that the White House and other agencies may be to blame.
The department’s head of policy, Melanie Kenderdine, discussed the delays facing the major study, known as the Quadrennial Energy Review, at an event Thursday hosted by the Atlantic Council.
The study was supposed to be submitted to the president in January. It will be the first in a four-part series of analyses and policy recommendations that the administration is developing as part of the president’s Climate Action Plan.
Kenderdine, who has been the analytical heavyweight behind the study’s development, explained that she “had hoped that the [review] would be done at this point in time.” She explained that the process “is run by the White House, it is co-chaired by John Holdren and Dan Utech and it is a massive interagency effort.”
Holdren and Utech are the two White House officials advising the president on his energy strategy. The White House is focused on shifting the nation to cleaner energy to fight the causes of global warming, which many scientists say is caused by increased carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels.
“Our role in the [review] is to help manage the interagency process,” with the policy office that she runs offering “the analytical support.” Nevertheless, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has been the main person in the administration to address the report’s progress.
Moniz told reporters on several occasions earlier this year that the report would be issued by the end of February and then released at the end of March. Moniz has been in Switzerland for the last week negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee canceled a hearing to discuss the report’s findings last week and has rescheduled it for April 28.
Kenderdine said the administration plans to meet that target, but said it didn’t have much time. The study’s extensive recommendations have not all been finalized, she said.
Kenderdine could offer only glimpses of the report and could not discuss the findings in detail.
The review will include a study of the nation’s energy infrastructure and will propose recommendations for changes, including suggestions for legislation.
