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Hastings: Administration’s New Drilling Moratorium will Harm Economy, Send U.S. Jobs Overseas

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a new moratorium on offshore drilling: “The Obama Administration’s latest attempt to impose a moratorium on offshore drilling will only cause further harm to Gulf State economies. Too many jobs have already been lost…

Hastings Statement on June Unemployment Numbers

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its June unemployment report: “Today’s job report confirms what Republicans have been saying for months—temporary government jobs are not a catalyst for economic recovery.  It’s ironic that the Obama Administration is calling this the…

Bill Allows Interior Dept. to Divert Money Away from Border Patrol to Buy Up Private Land

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the House of Representatives will vote on the FY 2010 Supplemental Appropriations bill that contains a provision allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to transfer an unlimited amount of funds to the Department of the Interior (DOI) in the form of environmental mitigation payments demanded in return for allowing the U.S. Border Patrol to simply do its job to secure the…

Hastings: Summer Spill Results in Higher Energy Prices, Not Saved Fish

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to NOAA’s Northwest Regional Administrator Will Stelle, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Administrator Steve Wright, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Brigadier General Jon McMahon expressing on-going concerns with the 2010 Summer Fish Operations plan.  Click here to read the full text of the…

Hastings: Address Immediate Crisis At Hand, Don’t Exploit Gulf Tragedy to Push National Energy Tax or Legislation Unrelated to Spill Response

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) delivered the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at today’s Full Committee legislative hearing on the discussion draft of H.R. 3534, The CLEAR Act: “This hearing today should continue to focus on the crisis unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. At this very moment: the well is not capped and oil is still…

Hastings: Interior Dept. Gives Inadequate, Vague Reasons for Delayed PILT Payments

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a follow-up letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar seeking clarification on the Department’s vague explanation of why the distribution of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds is being delayed from June until mid-July.  Click here to read the full text of the letter. A DOI press release from June 18,…

Cassidy Statement at Natural Resources Subcommittee Hearing on State Planning for Offshore Energy Development

| Posted in Press Release

Congressman Bill Cassidy (LA-06) delivered the following opening statement as the acting Ranking Member at today’s Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee hearing on “State Planning for Offshore Energy Development: Standards for Preparedness”: Click here to watch “Madam Chairwoman, I want to compliment you for scheduling this series of oversight hearings on the Deepwater…

Hot Air Alert: Department of Interior Confuses Increased Violence and Murder With ‘Significant Progress’ on Southern Border

| Posted in Hot Air Alert

After multiple reports in recent months of violence, drug running and murders on federal lands near our Southern Border, it seems the Obama Administration has a distorted view of the reality facing Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officers and everyday citizens. Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said in a statement this week that Secretary Salazar is trying to "meet…

Rural America Solutions Group Co-Chairs Call for Committee Hearings on Federal Power Grab of Clean Water Act

| Posted in Press Release

Today, Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Doc Hastings (R-WA) sent a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall asking for hearings on H.R. 5088,…

FOX News: Drug Cartel Activity Threatens Texas Water Supplies, Lawmaker Says

| Posted in In Case You Missed It

Drug Cartel Activity Threatens Texas Water Supplies, Lawmaker Says June 21, 2010 FOXNews.com Joshua Rhett Miller Drug cartel activity along the Mexican border presents serious security threats to the area's water supply system, particularly on federally-owned lands in southern Texas, a U.S. lawmaker says. Members of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power held a…