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Chairman Hastings: Documents Raise Serious Questions about Thoroughness and Independence of Inspector General's Investigation into Drilling Moratorium Report

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House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior’s Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall expressing deep concern with the thoroughness of the Office of Inspector General’s (IG) investigation into whether an Obama Administration report that recommended a six-month drilling moratorium was intentionally edited to incorrectly…

House Votes to Halt Funding for Obama Administration's Mandatory Ocean Zoning

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House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Representative Bill Flores (TX-17) released the following statements after the House passed, in a bipartisan vote of 246 to 174, an amendment offered by Rep. Flores to the FY 2013 Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill to halt funding for the implementation of Executive…

Witnesses: Bills to Amend Lacey Act Would Correct Unintended Consequences of Law, Protect from Over-Criminalization

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Today, the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs held a legislative hearing on two bills that would amend the Lacey Act, H.R. 3210, the “Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act,” and H.R. 4171, the “Freedom from Over-Criminalization and Unjust Seizures Act of 2012.” The Lacey Act was first enacted in 1900 to protect native…

Hastings: For Years, Obama Administration Prevented Utahns from Thousands of New Jobs, Billions in Revenue

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House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the Department of the Interior, after years of delay, finally approved nearly 4,000 natural gas wells near Vernal, Utah: “If the Obama Administration had simply done its job instead of playing politics, this project would already be well on its way to creating nearly 3,000 jobs and…

Hastings: Obama Administration's Hydraulic Fracturing Regulations will Cost American Jobs and Energy

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House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement on the new regulations issued today by the Department of the Interior on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands: “The Obama Administration is imposing more regulation and more red-tape, and the result will be less American jobs and less American energy. Adding duplicate, burdensome regulations…

Experts Say Streamlining Government Bureaucracy in Federal Land Inventories Can Create Thousands of Jobs, Improve Public Lands Access

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Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a joint legislative and oversight field hearing in Colorado Springs, Colorado on, “Federal Geospatial Spending, Duplication and Land Inventory Management” and H.R 4233 and H.R. 1620. The hearing focused on the importance of reducing federal bureaucracies and streamlining government inefficiencies in federal lands management and…

State and Local Experts Warn That Federal Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing Will Destroy Jobs, Harm America's Energy Security

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Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an oversight field hearing on the draft Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hydraulic fracturing regulations that could have significant consequences for natural gas and oil development on federal lands, job creation, and local economic growth. The latest draft of federal hydraulic fracturing regulations is part of an endless effort…

Witnesses Testify National Park Service Management Plans Severely Limit Access, Harm Local Economy, Endanger Jobs

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Today, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a joint legislative and oversight hearing on H.R. 4094, the “Preserving Access to Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area Act,” and, “Access Denied: Turning Away Visitors to National Parks.” “Although today we focused on two examples, Biscayne National Park in Florida and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina,…

Experts Express Need for Onshore Energy and Mining Bills to Create Jobs, Streamline Government Inefficiencies

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Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on several onshore energy and mining bills that would streamline government processes to lower gasoline prices, create jobs, and increase American energy and critical mineral production. “The focus today is onshore energy development. Unfortunately, the onshore impacts of this Administration’s policies…