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Arctic Rule Freezes Future Offshore Development

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Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released the finalized safety regulations for Arctic offshore drilling for both the Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement: “This President continually gives Putin the upper hand. While other nations develop their offshore…

Rep. Graves’ Offshore Bill Modernizes Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Process

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Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on H.R. 5577, introduced by Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), the “Innovation in Offshore Leasing Act.” H.R. 5577, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), modernizes the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) offshore leasing process through the use of internet-based oil and natural gas…

House Passes Bill to Address Conflicting Federal Statutes that Exacerbate California Drought

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Today, the House passed H.R. 4582 (Rep. Jeff Denham, R-CA), the “Save Our Salmon Act,” by voice vote. The legislation will exclude striped bass from the fish doubling requirement and other provisions of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, eliminating the ongoing federal conflict between protecting striped bass and endangered salmon in California. Contradicting federal statutes…

House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Advance Funding for Mine Cleanup Efforts

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Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3844 (Rep. Jody Hice, R-GA), the “Bureau of Land Management Foundation Act,” by voice vote. H.R. 3844 is part of a three-bill package developed by the Committee on Natural Resources to comprehensively address the existing funding, technical and legal impediments to reclaim abandoned mine lands (AML). H.R. 3844 establishes a new…

New Royalty Valuation Methods Attack Responsible Energy Production on Federal and Tribal Lands

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Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) released a final regulation on valuating royalties from oil, natural gas and coal produced on federal and tribal lands. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement: “Don't be fooled. This rule is not about 'protecting taxpayers'. It’s a costly attack on energy development. It trades market…

Bishop Statement on Senate Passage of PROMESA

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Today, the U.S. Senate passed S. 2328, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), with a bipartisan vote of 68-30. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement: “With a decade-long recession, worsening humanitarian conditions, a mass exodus of its residents and a looming financial collapse, Puerto Rico is in dire straits. Inaction by Congress…

Interior Lacks Enforcement and Accountability for Unethical Behavior and Criminal Conduct

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Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing on the lack of enforcement and accountably from the Obama Administration in response to a growing number of reports of unethical and criminal conduct at the Department of the Interior (DOI). Since last month’s subcommittee hearing on the “culture of corruption” at DOI, the Office of Inspector General (OIG)…

Bishop and Westerman Praise Senator Roberts’ Wildfire Legislation

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Tags: Wildfires

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, introduced S. 3085, the Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016. The legislation pairs a responsible solution to “fire-borrowing” with much needed reforms to improve forest health on federal lands. This bill is similar to H.R. 2647 (Rep. Bruce Westerman,…

BLM Fracing: Courts Provide a Much Needed Check on the Obama Administration’s Overwhelming Regulatory Overreach

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Yesterday, a federal judge struck down the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) hydraulic fracturing rule the Department of the Interior (DOI) issued in March 2015. The judge stated that DOI does not have the authority to regulate fracing. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement: “Like so many other policies from the Obama Administration, this was a blatant overreach of…

Bishop: White House Card-Stacking with Report on Coal Leasing

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House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) today issued the following statement on the White House report on The Economics of Coal Leasing on Federal Lands. “Once you scratch through the thin veneer of objectivity, this report is nothing more than card-stacking from the President. I appreciate this attempt by the White House to create a semblance of credibility for…