House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today unveiled a draft proposal to address the expiration of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. The draft proposal, Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, renews the federal government’s commitment to manage forest resources for the benefit of rural schools and counties by allowing active forest… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and a bipartisan group of 30 Members of Congress sent a letter today to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Office of Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients questioning why the Obama Administration is retroactively subjecting Secure Rural School (SRS) payments, which were made to counties in… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressing disappointment at the Department’s lack of transparency and failure to respond to the Committee’s legitimate oversight questions surrounding OSM’s bizarre decision to rewrite a carefully crafted 2008 coal regulation.  The letter reiterates… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04), Senator Orin Hatch (UT), Senator John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY) today, along with 68 other Members of Congress, sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe urging support for the delisting of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in all lower 48… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after President Obama announced his intentions to unilaterally designate five new National Monuments using presidential powers granted under the 1906 Antiquities Act. “The Obama Administration not only sees the sequester as an opportunity to make automatic spending reductions as painful as… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced onerous new government red tape that will discourage production of 1.5 trillion barrels of American oil shale. “Since taking office, President Obama has stalled, delayed and hindered oil shale research and development projects… Read more »

Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an oversight hearing on “America’s Mineral Resources: Creating Mining and Manufacturing Jobs and Securing America,” combined with a legislative hearing on seven mining bills that will create jobs, streamline government red-tape, and make America less dependent on foreign critical and strategic minerals. The subcommittee heard… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after passage of the Republican Budget  Resolution: “House Republicans today passed a responsible, balanced budget that will grow our economy, cut wasteful government spending and help create new American jobs. The Republican plan will unlock American energy - allowing new production… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the U.S. Forest Service announced that Secure Rural School (SRS) payments, which went out to counties in January, will be subjected to sequestration cuts: “Several months before President Obama’s sequester was scheduled to go into effect, Congress approved - and President Obama signed… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee passed H.R. 678, the “Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act,” with a bipartisan vote of 17-12.  Sponsored by Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03), the legislation creates new American jobs and expands production of clean, renewable hydropower by cutting duplicative, bureaucratic red tape. The bill was passed by… Read more »