The House Natural Resources Committee has confirmed that Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) Director Joseph Pizarchik will testify at a July 19th oversight hearing on the status of the Department of the Interior’s rewrite of a 2008 coal regulation that could cost thousands of jobs and economic harm in 22 states, as well as the failure of the Department to respond… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) on Friday, July 13 sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the Committee’s request for transcribed interviews with five Department officials who were personally involved in developing the May 2010 Interior Department report that falsely stated independent engineers had peer reviewed and… Read more »

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, sent a letter to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and James Watson, Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), asking what measures NOAA and BSEE have taken to ensure that the… Read more »

The House of Representatives today passed H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-02), by a bipartisan vote of 256-160. The bill would streamline government red tape to allow the U.S. to more efficiently develop our Nation's strategic and critical minerals, such as rare earth elements, that are vital to job creation,… Read more »

The House Natural Resources Committee today approved by unanimous consent H.R. 5987, a bipartisan bill introduced by Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04), Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03) and Congressman Ben Lujan (NM-03) to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that will include facilities at Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New… Read more »

Today, as part of a more than yearlong investigation into the Obama Administration’s rewrite of a 2008 coal regulation, the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, that could cost thousands of jobs, negatively impact the economies of 22 states and significantly harm American energy production, Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today unveiled draft legislation, H.R. 6082, the Congressional Replacement of President Obama’s Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan, to implement a new lease plan for developing the United States’ offshore energy resources over the next five years. A Full Committee markup of the bill will be held on… Read more »

Next week, the House of Representatives will continue its focus on job creation and economic growth by voting on another bipartisan Natural Resources Committee bill, H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, that will allow the U.S. to more efficiently develop our Nation's strategic and critical minerals, such as rare earth elements, that are vital to job… Read more »

Today, as part of a more than yearlong investigation into the Obama Administration decision to impose a drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico through a report that was edited in a manner that misrepresented that the moratorium was supported by a panel of engineering experts, Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter setting a deadline on the request to… Read more »

The House Committee on Natural Resources will convene on Wednesday, July 11th at 10am to consider and vote on H.R. 5987, a bipartisan bill to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that will include Hanford’s B Reactor. The Committee will also consider additional bills at the meeting. “The effort to create the Park will take another step forward next week,” said Committee… Read more »