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112th Congress Hearing Archives

Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Oversight Hearing on "Effect of the President’s FY 2013 Budget for the U.S. Geological Survey on Private Sector Job Creation, Hazard Protection, Mineral Resources and Deficit Reduction"

Thursday, March 22, 2012 | 9:30 AM 1334 Longworth House Office Building
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
1334 Longworth House Office Building
Thursday, March 22, 2012
9:30 a.m.





OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

  • "Effect of the President’s FY 2013 Budget for the U.S. Geological Survey on Private Sector Job Creation, Hazard Protection, Mineral Resources and Deficit Reduction"

OPENING STATEMENT:

The Honorable Doug Lamborn
Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

Marcia McNutt
Director
U.S. Geological Survey

Panel II

Dr. Jonathan G. Price
Member of the Board of Directors
Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc.
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Dr. Harvey Thorleifson
President Elect
Association of American State Geologists
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Dr. John W. Geissman
President
Geological Society of America
(Truth in Testimony Form)

BACKGROUND:

The 2013 budget request for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is $1.1 billion, an increase of $34.5 million from the 2012 enacted level. Recently, the USGS has deviated from its core mission of ensuring material supplies for “national security, economic well-being, and industrial production” to new priorities of “ecosystem restoration and climate change.” USGS’s non-fuel program budget cuts increase our dependence on foreign countries for non-fuel mineral commodities. This hearing will focus on the spending priorities outlined in the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the USGS and how it will impact the traditional missions of the agency: surveying; geologic mapping; geologic hazards; and identifying the Nation’s energy and mineral resources and maintaining a database on world-wide mineral resources.