In The News
Bill would impose trade sanctions for ivory trafficking
E&E News By Emily Yehle September 12, 2014 Countries that "facilitate" ivory trafficking would face trade sanctions under a new bill from the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the legislation today, amid the Obama administration's crackdown on wildlife trafficking and its implementation of a near-complete ban on commercial ivory. Some lawmakers have questioned whether the ban -- which has yet to be finalized … Continue Reading
09.12.14
House Republicans, IG spar once again over stream-rule documents
E&E News By Manuel Quinones September 11, 2014 Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) said today the Interior Department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, should be held in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents following a March subpoena. But Kendall countered that the House Natural Resources Committee's beef is with Interior, not her office. Turning over the documents from her office, she said, could jeopardize her ability to conduct investigations. The dispute… Continue Reading
09.12.14
Fight over wind power, conservation laws tracks familiar political narrative
SNL By Michael Copley September 10, 2014 To Democrats, it is another witch hunt concocted for political gain. To Republicans, it is yet another example of the administration of President Barack Obama stonewalling Congress. Led by U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., the House Natural Resources Committee has been conducting a sweeping investigation of the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Fish and Wildlife Service for information about the government's application of conservation laws… Continue Reading
09.12.14
Interior watchdog accused of withholding information from Congress
The Hill By Timothy Cama September 11, 2014 Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee accused the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) of withholding information about a rule on mountaintop removal mining. The OIG gave Congress a heavily redacted report last year on the department's stream buffer zone rule, which it is writing to protect streams, fish and wildlife from the controversial mining technique. "The committee has made multiple req… Continue Reading
09.11.14
Lawmakers clash over transparency at wildlife agency
The Hill By Timothy Cama September 11, 2014 House Republicans clashed with Democrats Wednesday over what the GOP sees as obstruction by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) of its investigations. Democrats used the hearing of the Natural Resources Committee to blast their colleagues for wasting FWS and Interior Department resources with the investigations. The GOP's requests over the last year and a half have centered on allegations that the agency enforces … Continue Reading
09.11.14
Agency chiefs, House GOP spar over subpoena requests
E&E News By Emily Yehle September 11, 2014 Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe butted heads with House Republicans today over how his agency has responded to dozens of document requests from the Natural Resources Committee. Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) has launched several investigations into FWS and its parent Interior Department, issuing subpoenas that have required the agency to collect and release tens of thousands of documents. The effort has produ… Continue Reading
09.11.14
Hastings takes aim at Interior over subpoenas
Politico Pro Andrew Restuccia September 11, 2014 House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings butted heads with a top Interior Department official on Wednesday, complaining the agency failed to hand over documents the panel had demanded. Speaking at an oversight hearing, Hastings (R-Wash.) said Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not adequately complied with the panel's requests, often releasing incomplete and overly redacted documents. He said the agency failed … Continue Reading
09.11.14
Lawmakers spar over bill to streamline dam building
E&E News By Annie Snider September 11, 2014 With California farmers wringing their hands over parched fields and withering orchards, Golden State lawmakers yesterday clashed over a measure aimed at smoothing the path to new dams. House Republicans, including California Rep. Tom McClintock, chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power, contend that onerous environmental reviews are putting the brakes on new water storage projects. "Droughts are nature… Continue Reading
09.11.14
Western irrigators owe $1.6B for past Reclamation projects -- GAO
E&E News By Annie Snider September 10, 2014 With many Western lawmakers clamoring for expanding reservoirs amid an entrenched drought, a government watchdog issued a report yesterday showing farmers and ranchers still owe on their tab for dams and reservoir projects done decades ago. The Government Accountability Office report says irrigation districts still owe $1.6 billion, roughly a quarter of their tab for the 130 projects built for irrigation by the Bureau of Reclamation. Ir… Continue Reading
09.10.14
House Republicans deride ESA -- and top Dem derides GOP
E&E News By Emily Yehle September 10, 2014 At a hearing yesterday on the Endangered Species Act, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) apologized for "wasting everyone's time." DeFazio, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, was lamenting the hearing's focus on six bills to reform ESA "that are going nowhere." The bills -- which seek to curb federal reach -- are part of a Republican effort to change the 40-year-old law through "piecemeal"… Continue Reading
09.10.14
California communities still thirsting for drought help from Congress
Mclatchy Washington Bureau By Michael Doyle September 9, 2014 WASHINGTON - Seventeen California cities and counties urged Congress on Tuesday to complete drought legislation that's currently hung up in closed-door negotiations. The municipal resolutions passed in recent weeks by small towns like Dos Palos and counties like Kern and Kings were presented to the House Natural Resources Committee, as part of a public drumbeat that included a several-hour long hearing on easing environmental ru… Continue Reading
09.10.14
Interior secretary: GOP requests cost millions
The Hill By TImothy Cama September 9, 2014 Information requests from Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee have cost the Interior Department at least $2 million in less than two years, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday. In response to the committee's requests, Jewell and her employees have sent more than 5,500 documents totaling more than 60,000 pages, plus briefings and narrative responses to questions since the beginning of last year, she said. The $2 million f… Continue Reading
09.10.14
House passes bill to halt EPA water rule
The Hill By Cristina Marcos September 9, 2014 The House passed legislation Tuesday that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing a proposed rule to define its jurisdiction over bodies of water. Passed 262-152, the bill would prohibit the EPA from using the proposal for any rulemaking regarding the Clean Water Act. The rule, proposed in March, sought to clarify which bodies of water, such as wetlands and streams, are subject to agencies' authority under… Continue Reading
09.05.14
DeFazio Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Wilderness Act
The Albany Tribune September 4, 2014 Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR) celebrated Wednesday the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, landmark legislation that has protected and preserved nearly 110 million acres of irreplaceable wilderness. DeFazio also called for Congress to act on dozens of stalled wilderness designation bills. Under Republican leadership, the 112th Congress was the first Congress since 1966 that failed to pass a single wildern… Continue Reading
08.28.14
Fisheries drive the coastal economy
The Umpqua Post By Steven Lindsley August 27, 2014 The state's wildlife chief says fisheries are one of the top economic drivers on the Oregon Coast. "One of the most key things that make the Oregon coast the Oregon coast are fisheries," Roy Elicker, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told a group gathered for an economic conference in Florence last week. "The ocean fishery and recreational fishery both ... you can look at them individually and together. … Continue Reading
08.27.14
Wyden: Congress can pass wildfire, O&C bills this year
Portland Tribune By Peter Wong August 20, 2014 U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden wants to resolve two issues affecting federal forests before the end of the current Congress. One is a shift in how the federal government pays for fighting the biggest wildfires in national forests. Those costs have consumed larger shares of the Forest Service budget over the past two decades and forced it to tap money meant for conservation or fire prevention work. The other is how federal forest lands in western Oregon,… Continue Reading
08.27.14
Willamalane park will 'preserve views, wildlife habitats' in Thurston
KVAL By Chris Liedle August 26, 2014 Willamalane Superintendent Bob Keefer said the organization recently completed its purchase of 665 acres along the Thurston Hills ridgeline. "It could have been prone to development. It could have been prone to timber removal, lots of different uses could have come to it," Keefer said. "Now, it will be preserved as a landscape and as a natural area." Dozens of supporters including Congressman Peter DeFazio, Willamalane Board Members and othe… Continue Reading
08.27.14
Oregon Congressman Pushes For Funds to Fight Wildfires
Northwest Public Radio By Rachel McDonald August 20, 2014 U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon plans to use a rare procedure to force a vote on a bill that will increase federal funding for fighting wildfires. This is happening just as the U.S. Forest Service is close to surpassing its firefighting budget for the year. The Forest Service anticipates running out of money to fight fires in the next couple of weeks. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, has co-sponsored a bill that would increase funding f… Continue Reading
08.25.14
Wildlife officials confirm economic position of coast’s fishing industry
The Umpqua Post By Steve Lindsley August 24, 2014 The state's wildlife chief says fisheries are one of the top economic drivers on the Oregon Coast. "One of the most key things that make the Oregon coast the Oregon coast are fisheries," Roy Elicker, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told a group gathered for an economic conference in Florence last week. "The ocean fishery and recreational fishery both ... you can look at them individually and together. I… Continue Reading
08.15.14
Modernizing BLM onshore rental rates would generate $56M annually -- report
E&E News By Scott Steater August 7, 2014 new report by a nonpartisan government watchdog group concludes that increasing the rental fee that oil and natural gas companies pay to hold onto nonproducing leases on public lands would generate tens of millions of dollars for taxpayers -- a finding the industry strongly rebukes as misleading. The Center for Western Priorities report, titled "A Renter's Market: Outdated Oil and Gas Rental Rates Fail Taxpayers," says that "m… Continue Reading