Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 761, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act by a bipartisan vote of 246-178. This legislation, sponsored by Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-02), would allow the United States to more efficiently develop America’s strategic and critical minerals, such as rare earth elements, that are vital to job creation, American economic… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held its fourth oversight hearing of the 113th Congress on the “Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.” This hearing examined potential reforms needed to make sure the law benefits both fish and fishermen. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) is the primary statute… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Ranking Democratic Member Peter DeFazio (OR-04) sent a letter to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz urging him to listen to regional electric customer input before implementing new proposals that could force additional operating costs on the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville) and the Western Area Power… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held two Full Committee field hearings in Casper, Wyoming and Billings, Montana on “State and Local Efforts to Protect Species, Jobs, Property, and Multiple Use Amidst a New War on the West.” At these hearings, witnesses discussed how federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings can impact local jobs and the economy and how federal litigation… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today issued subpoenas to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for documents they have failed to produce as part of the Committee’s oversight into the Obama Administration’s decision to retroactively subject 2012 Secure Rural School (SRS) payments to the fiscal year 2013… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Subcommittee on Water and Power Chairman Tom McClintock (CA-04) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell highlighting the lack of transparency surrounding the National Blueways Program and seeking answers to critical questions that the Obama Administration has continually refused to answer. This letter… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee held a legislative hearing on H.R. 2824, the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act, legislation to protect American jobs, save taxpayer dollars, and support U.S. energy production by stopping the Obama Administration from imposing coal regulations that would cost thousands of American jobs and devastate… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Water and Power Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (CA-04) today applauded the Senate passage of H.R. 678, the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act, which would create new American jobs and by authorizing more production of clean, renewable hydropower and eliminating bureaucratic… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on “Transparency and Sound Science Gone Extinct?:The Impacts of the Obama Administration's Closed-Door Settlements on Endangered Species and People.” The hearing examined the need for data transparency as it relates to federal decisions on implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This hearing was part of a… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe seeking additional information following the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Management Advisory, issued on July 11, 2013, regarding the FWS’s inaction on whistleblower complaints related to violations of the… Read more »