COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Thursday, July 19, 2012

• Official Hearing Transcript
• Press Release - OSM Director Pizarchik to Testify at Thursday's Oversight Hearing on Status of Coal Regulations (7/16/2012)
• Press Release - Interior Department Called to Testify on Status of Coal Regulation Rewrite and Complying With Subpoenas for Documents (7/10/2012)
• Committee Investigation - The Obama Administration's Effort to Rewrite Regulations on Coal Production

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

• "Status of Obama Administration's Rewrite of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule and Compliance with Committee Subpoenas"

OPENING STATEMENT:

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

The Honorable Ken Salazar*
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior

The Honorable Joseph Pizarchik
Director
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
U.S. Department of the Interior

* Invited witness declined to attend.

BACKGROUND:

As part of a more than year-long investigation in the Obama Administration’s rewrite of coal regulations that could cost thousands of jobs, Chairman Doc Hastings recently sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Director Joseph Pizarchik inviting them to testify at the hearing. The hearing will examine 1) the current status of the proposed rewrite and the status of the court settlement agreement providing for the rewrite, and 2) the failure of the Department to comply to date with two subpoenas for documents on the rewrite.