Oversight Hearing on:

• “War on Jobs: Examining the Operations of the Office of Surface Mining and the Status of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule”

Archived Video Webcast:

Member Statements:

The Honorable Doug Lamborn
Subcommittee Chairman

Witnesses and Testimony:

PANEL I

Joseph Pizarchik
Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Department of the Interior

Background:

This hearing will focus on the status of the Obama Administration’s rewrite of a 2008 coal regulation (Stream Buffer Zone Rule) that could cost thousands of jobs and cause economic harm in 22 states. Committee Members will hear testimony from Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) Director Joseph Pizarchik. For over two years, the Committee has conducted an ongoing investigation into the Obama Administration’s rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule. A Committee report released last year, entitled “President Obama's Covert and Unorthodox Efforts to Impose New Regulation on Coal Mining and Destroy American Jobs,” detailed the Administration’s rushed and unorthodox rulemaking process; the devastating job and economic impacts of its proposed regulation; its attempts to change the numbers to hide the true economic impacts; and the Administration’s continual efforts to obstruct Congressional oversight. The report concluded that, “The Obama Administration’s campaign to impose this rewritten regulation must be halted and an open, transparent rulemaking that fairly accounts for job and economic impacts must be undertaken.”

Related Documents:

• Official Hearing Transcript
• Subcommittee Hearing Notice - July 1, 2013
• Subcommittee Hearing Witness List - July 22, 2013