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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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)… Read more »
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,… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing titled “Investigating the Appropriate Role of NEPA in the Permitting Process.”
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was designed as a regulatory compliance framework for projects or actions requiring a federal permit. In practice, the NEPA process has often proven overly burdensome,… Read more »
Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands held an oversight hearing on challenges and potential solutions for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) management of wild horses & burros on federal land.
BLM faces a costly challenge in managing the exploding population of wild horses and burros in the West. More than 45,000 wild horses live in BLM holding facilities costing taxpayers more… Read more »
House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today issued the following statement on the path forward for a House-Senate conference on energy legislation.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to get something to the President that he will sign into law. From our perspective, a bill that the President will… Read more »
