News List

The Offshore Energy Economy President Obama Doesn’t Want: Increased Offshore Energy Production = More Jobs, Bigger Economy, Lower Prices
Resourceful Information
Mar 5, 2013 - Ever since taking office, President Obama has erected barriers to increased offshore American energy production and systematically closed off new areas to drilling. Study after study has shown that increased offshore energy production will create jobs, grow the economy, lower prices and provide significant revenues to ... More

Chairman Hastings Renews Request for Information from Secretary Chu on Memo that Could Increase Electricity Rates on 40 Million Americans
Press Release
Feb 28, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today followed up on his previous request to Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu for detailed documents and communications related to the issuance of Chu’s March 16, 2012, Memorandum (Memorandum) to the Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs). Last Co... More

U.S. Dependence on Middle East Oil Increases Under President Obama While Federal Oil and Natural Gas Production Decline
Hot Air Alert
Feb 28, 2013 - The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) yesterday released disturbing new data that shows the United States has been increasing its dependence on oil from one of the most unstable regions in the world. Middle Eastern oil now accounts for more than 25 percent of American oil imports—a nine year high that has co... More

Letter from Chairman Hastings to Secretary Chu Regarding the Memorandum to the Power Marketing Administration
Letters
Feb 28, 2013 - As you know, the House Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") is conducting oversight on issues surrounding your March 16, 2012 Memorandum ("Memorandum") to the Power Marketing Administrations. In an October 11, 2012 letter the Department of Energy ("Department") was asked to produce several categories of docume... More

Amid Renewed Lawsuits, Chairman Hastings Calls on Obama Administration to Answer Questions on Job Destroying Coal Regulation
Press Release
Feb 22, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to follow up on a more than two and a half year investigation into the Obama Administration’s decision to throw out the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone coal regulation, and write a new regulat... More

Chairman Hastings' Keynote Speech before the Family Farm Alliance Annual Conference
Op-Eds and Speeches
Feb 22, 2013 - Thank you for that warm welcome and introduction, Mike (LaPlant). For those of you who don’t know, Mike is the President of the Washington State Farm Bureau and a Director of the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District. Mike is not only a constituent from Ephrata, Washington, but a friend. And I want to thank you at ... More

Chairman Hastings' Letter to Secretary Salazar Regarding the Stream Buffer Zone Rule Rewrite
Letters
Feb 22, 2013 - Two years ago you received the first in a series of letters asking for information and documents that would explain the deeply concerning decisions made by the Department and the Office of Surface Mining ("OSM") over the last few years related to the decision to discard nearly 5 years of rulemaking and begin a rewrite ... More

President Obama’s American Energy Logic: Block Energy Production in Area Specifically Established for Energy Production
Press Release
Feb 21, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after the Department of the Interior finalized plans to lock up the majority of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) from energy production. “As gasoline prices continue to increase for the 34th day in a row,... More

Witnesses Agree on Swift Action To Reform Federal Helium Program, Save Tens of Thousands of Jobs
Press Release
Feb 14, 2013 - The House Natural Resources Committee today held a Full Committee hearing entitled, The Past, Present and Future of the Federal Helium Program, which focused on H.R. 527, the “Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act,” bipartisan legislation that applies free-market principals to prevent a global helium sh... More

Memo Shows Energy Workers Earn More, Receive Larger Annual Raises
Blog
Feb 14, 2013 - A Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo released this week shows that wages for workers in oil and gas extraction have increased over 23% since 2007. During a time period in which the U.S. has faced dire unemployment rates, rampant job loss, and near economic collapse, workers in the oil and gas industry have conti... More

Governors Ask Interior Nominee to Reconsider Atlantic Drilling
Blog
Feb 14, 2013 - Today, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell sent a letter to Interior Secretary Nominee Sally Jewell asking for a re-examination of the Administration’s policies towards energy exploration and production on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OC... More

Chairman Hastings' Statement on the President's State of the Union Address
Press Release
Feb 12, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) tonight released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: “During tonight’s State of the Union address, the President once again spoke about job creation and economic growth, but continued to ignore the ec... More

Wall Street Journal: Gasoline Costs Hit Families' Finances
Blog
Feb 12, 2013 - Gasoline Costs Hit Families' Finances February 5, 2013 Wall Street Journal By Tennille Tracy Gasoline prices took a big bite out of Americans' pocketbooks in 2012. The average U.S. household paid an estimated $2,912 for gasoline last year, sucking up nearly 4% of the average household income before taxes, according to ... More

Chairman Hastings Introduces Free-Market Plan to Prevent Global Helium Shortage, Provide Taxpayers Fair Return on Helium Sales
Press Release
Feb 6, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA), along with Ranking Member Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), today introduced H.R. 527, The Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act. This bipartisan legislation would prevent the closure of the Federal Helium... More

Letter from Five House Committee Chairmen to Comptroller General Dodaro Regarding NEPA
Letters
Feb 5, 2013 - We are writing regarding the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the federal costs associated with agencies' compliance, including those reimbursed to federal agencies by third-parties. Specifically, the NEPA process includes the required evaluation of the environmental effec... More

FOX News: Shortage of Workers for High-paying Jobs in the Oil and Gas Industry
Blog
Jan 31, 2013 - More

Mr. President, Where are the Jobs??
Resourceful Information
Jan 25, 2013 - As many media outlets have pointed out, the one issue most notably absent from President Obama’s inaugural address this week was jobs. With unemployment at 7.8 percent and the economy and jobs still topping the list of Americans’ greatest concerns, it’s baffling why the President chose not to mention this in his first ... More

Hastings Statement on EPA’s New Regulations on Navajo Generating Station that Could Cost Jobs, Increase Water and Power Rates
Press Release
Jan 18, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement on the announcement by the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to call for imposing new, onerous regulations on Arizona’s coal-fired Navajo Generating Station, which employs hundreds of Navajo and H... More

California could be next oil boom state
Blog
Jan 14, 2013 - Great CNN Money article today on the potential for an energy boom in California that would create jobs, boost the economy and bring much needed revenue to the state. "California is sitting on a massive amount of shale oil and could become the next oil boom state…Running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California's M... More

Chairman Hastings Unveils Draft Legislation to Finalize the Helium Reserve Privatization, Address Impending Helium Shortages and Implement Free-Market Reforms
Press Release
Dec 19, 2012 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today unveiled a discussion draft of the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, a bill to prevent an impending helium shortage and protect thousands of Americans jobs by implementing a common sense plan to sell helium from the Federal Heliu... More

Hastings Selected as Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee
Press Release
Nov 28, 2012 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the Republican Conference selected him to serve as Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee in the 113th Congress: “I’m honored to have been selected by my Republican Colleagues to continue to serve as Chairman of ... More

Obama Administration American Energy Roadblocks Part 7: Oil Shale
Press Release
Nov 2, 2012 - Oil shale is one of the most promising new sources of American-made energy. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. holds more than half of the world’s oil shale resources. The largest known deposits of oil shale are located in a 16,000-square mile area in the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah a... More

Chairman Hastings Statement on October Jobs Report
Press Release
Nov 2, 2012 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the October unemployment numbers: “President Obama’s leadership during the last four years has created a struggling economy with 23 million unemployed or underemployed Amer... More

Obama Administration American Energy Roadblocks Part 6: Renewable Energy
Press Release
Nov 1, 2012 - While President Obama likes to talk about the job creation and economic potential of renewable energy development on federal lands, his Administration has imposed unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and duplicative regulatory requirements that have made the development of wind, solar, hydropower and geothermal energy mor... More

Obama Administration American Energy Roadblocks Part 5: Onshore Oil & Natural Gas
Press Release
Oct 31, 2012 - Oil and natural gas production on federal lands is one of the best opportunities for job creation and economic growth, yet too often it has been blocked and delayed by Obama Administration policies. Locking up lands to energy production and imposing duplicative, burdensome regulations have caused federal energy produc... More

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