Now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is back from his trip to Afghanistan, he is dashing head first into the energy debate, with two summits on renewable energy and the environment in the next week.

According to a Reid spokesman, the Majority Leader is preparing for an environmental conference on efforts to protect Lake Tahoe, which borders California and Nevada. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also plans to attend.

The summit brings together public officials and private developers to discuss ways to improve the land and water quality surrounding the lake. Reid hopes this conference, as well as one that he invited Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to attend, will tamp down criticism that has come his way because the Senate recessed without passing legislation targeting high gas prices. McConnell declined to attend.

The other major event on Reid’s agenda is a clean energy conference that he will headline with former President Clinton on August 18-19 in Las Vegas.

McConnell continues to crisscross Kentucky in his re-election campaign against Democrat Bruce Lunsford.