Today, during Full Committee markup of H.R. 4416, a bill to increase the authorization of the Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000 from $5 million to $7.5 million a year, Republicans offered a fiscally responsible amendment to freeze the authorization at the current level of $5 million.  The amendment to keep funds level for Great Ape conservation failed by a 14-21 vote.  Click… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04), Energy and Minerals Subcommittee Ranking Member Doug Lamborn (CO-05), and Reps. John Duncan (TN-02), Bill Cassidy (LA-06), Paul Broun (GA-10), Jason Chaffetz (UT-03) and John Fleming (LA-04) sent a letter to Department of the Interior (DOI) Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall requesting an investigation into… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today regarding the final recommendations of the President’s Ocean Policy Taskforce: “These final recommendations will significantly impact the economic and recreational uses of our oceans, ocean lands, and potentially all rivers, tributaries and lands that drain or adjoin our oceans.… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding reports that oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf: “For the first time in months people in the Gulf have reason to be optimistic.   While this is encouraging news, the crisis is far from over.  The well still needs to be permanently sealed, the oil cleaned up, and people and… Read more »

During a Full Committee markup of the CLEAR Act (H.R. 3534), Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) offered an amendment to prohibit unionized, government oil rig inspectors from striking and walking off the job.  The amendment failed 19-26. Click here for the roll call. “Since the tragic Deepwater Horizon accident in April, everyone has been rightly concerned about making sure that offshore… Read more »

During a Full Committee markup of the CLEAR Act (HR, 3534), Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY) offered an amendment to strike all items in the bill related to onshore oil and gas development (Title II, Subtitle B).  Democrats defeated this amendment in a 20 to 28 vote.  Click here to view the roll call. House Democrats are attempting to use the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill… Read more »

During Full Committee markup of the CLEAR Act (H.R. 3534), an amendment offered by Reps. John Fleming (R-LA), Bill Shuster (R-PA), Dan Boren (D-OK), Mike Coffman (R-CO), and Doug Lamborn (R-CO) to strike Sec. 239, which requires the disclosures of hydraulic fracturing liquids to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, was defeated in a 19 to 25 vote. Click here to view the… Read more »

Today, during a Full Committee markup of the CLEAR Act (H.R. 3534), Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee voted against (21 to 27) a Republican amendment to protect jobs, lower energy prices and keep America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.  The amendment, offered by Rep. Bill Cassidy (LA-06), ensures that nothing in H.R. 3534 could result in “a net increase… Read more »

Although the Clear Act (H.R. 3534) is being advertised as a bill to establish new laws and regulations in response to the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Democrat majority is using it as a vehicle to push through nearly $1.5 billion dollars a year in unrelated spending, for a total of over $40 billion in new mandatory spending. Democrats today voted against (16 to 25) an amendment by Rep.… Read more »

The Democrat majority on the House Natural Resources Committee today voted (22 to 26) against an amendment offered by Rep. Bill Cassidy (LA-06) to prohibit the Obama Administration from implementing a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. Click here to view the roll call. “To support this moratorium you have to ignore the evidence, the testimony of experts, and… Read more »