Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article titled, “Aspen Trees Die Across the West” which notes that “perhaps a combination of factors -- is killing hundreds of thousands of acres of the trees from Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona through Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and into Canada, according to the U.S. government and independent scientists.” One of the factors noted is that “decades of logging restrictions and a policy of fighting most fires rather than letting them burn have left the forests full of the century-old lodgepole pines that are the beetles' favorite nosh.” The article... Read More »
On October 1, 2008 Congress lifted the decades long ban on offshore drilling on the U.S. Outer Contented Shelf (OCS). Unfortunately, one year later, Americans are still waiting for expanded oil and gas production. Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee marked today’s anniversary by calling on the Obama Administration to end its defacto ban on offshore drilling and create new American energy jobs: "As unemployment approaches ten percent, Republicans have regularly reminded President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar that expanded domestic energy development would del... Read More »
This morning, Senator Coburn introduced an amendment to the 2010 fiscal year Interior Appropriations bill that would ensure no funds are used to prohibit or restrict Homeland Security from securing our nation’s borders on public lands. 40 percent of America's southern border is on Department of Interior land and Republicans in the House have raised concerns that it is currently serving as gateways for illegal aliens, smugglers, and possibly terrorists to enter the United States. In July, National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Member Rob Bishop (R-UT) offered an almost id... Read More »
This week, the Grand Junction Sentinel published an editorial highlighting the negative impacts of the Democrats' Roadblock to Energy Bill H.R. 3534. The bill intended to streamline oil and gas leasing on federal lands creates a new level of bureaucracy and as the article says, "The legislation will make oil and gas leasing more costly to obtain and more difficult. That certainly won’t push this country toward energy independence, nor will it make the oversight and development of oil and gas more efficient." Clearly the Grand Junction Sentinel agrees that creating more bureaucracy is not the w... Read More »
FOX News' Sean Hannity broadcast his show live last night from the San Joaquin Valley, site of California's man-made drought. Hannity was joined by members of Congress, celebrities, Gov. Schwarzenegger, and thousands of struggling farmers. This crisis will soon affect all Americans because the valley produces a massive amount of our country’s food supply. However, Democrats in Congress and the Administration could fix this problem by taking action to restore the pumps to their full operating capacity. Watch the clips below as citizens plead for help in the Valley Hope Forgot. Read More »
Vice President Biden is in Iraq – where he recently urged “Iraq to offer more generous terms at its next auction for oil concessions in the oil-rich country.” As one Senior American official noted “even one other deal would mean 50 to 60 billion dollars in additional investment in Iraq, 600 million dollars in additional annual revenue, and tens of thousands of additional jobs.” Does anyone else find it odd that the Vice President and Administration officials actively encourage the creation of drilling jobs in other countries (Brazil, Iraq) -- but not in the United States? Biden calls on Iraq t... Read More »
Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, today expressed his serious concerns with the Democrats' Roadblock to Energy bill (H.R. 3534) on the House Floor. He said, "This bill creates new levels of bureaucracy, which inevitably will slow new development of American sources of energy." "More roadblocks to energy development, means less energy for Americans," Rep. Smith said. Watch Representative Smith's speech below: Read More »
Check out Minority Leader John Boehner’s remarks on Chairman Rahall’s Energy Roadblock Bill: “Middle-class families and small businesses are struggling and our economy is shedding jobs, yet Democrats continue to push job-killing legislation that would hamstring environmentally-safe energy production and undermine job creation. Instead of pursuing an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to promote more American energy production, Chairman Rahall’s bill would increase taxes, raises fees, expand government bureaucracy, and postpone production of wind, solar, oil and natural gas. The end result is fewer Am... Read More »
The fight to end to the man-made California drought and bring water back to the San Joaquin Valley will continue this Thursday as Sean Hannity of FOX News is set to broadcast from a fallowed field on the Westside of Fresno County. Just last year, before the Bureau of Reclamation cut off the water, the San Joaquin Valley was ripe with fruits and vegetables. Now it sits barren along with approximately 500,000 other acres in the area that have left nearly 40,000 people unemployed. Please tune in to Hannity this Thursday, or stop by if you’re in the area, as we continue to spread the word about th... Read More »
In today’s Washington Times, Stephen Dinan reports that the U.S. Forest Service will spend $2.8 million in forest-fire-fighting money in Washington D.C. – a city with no national forests. Click here to read the article: Forest Fire Funds Aid D.C. Festivals As the West continues to battle catastrophic wildfires that have taken lives, homes and businesses, it is outrageous that the Forest Service is using these funds for “park festivals” in D.C. The article also highlights the efforts of House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings to keep the U.S. Forest Service accountable reg... Read More »
