Today the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held a hearing examining, “State Forest Management: A Model for Promoting Healthy Forests, Rural Schools and Jobs.” The hearing was an opportunity to hear from state leaders, local land managers and timber experts on the inadequacies and burdens of current federal forest management practices that have contributed to… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to follow up on a more than two and a half year investigation into the Obama Administration’s decision to throw out the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone coal regulation, and write a new regulation that could destroy up to 7,000 coal mining jobs and cause economic… Read more »
In a major victory for American agriculture, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling Thursday in the case Dow AgroSciences LLC v. National Marine Fisheries Service reaffirming that government decision-making must be based on science and not the misguided agenda of activist groups. House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings, House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, and… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today received the “Water Warrior” award from the Family Farm Alliance at their annual conference. The Family Farm Alliance is an advocate for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, and allied industries in seventeen Western states. The award is given to individuals who have provided long-term support for western… Read more »
Thank you for that warm welcome and introduction, Mike (LaPlant).
For those of you who don’t know, Mike is the President of the Washington State Farm Bureau and a Director of the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District. Mike is not only a constituent from Ephrata, Washington, but a friend.
And I want to thank you at the Family Farm Alliance for inviting me here today. We… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after the Department of the Interior finalized plans to lock up the majority of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) from energy production.
“As gasoline prices continue to increase for the 34th day in a row, the Obama Administration has responded by locking up a majority… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today wrote to President Obama requesting that he nominate a permanent Inspector General for the Department of the Interior. Since the Department’s previous Inspector General Earl Devaney was appointed to a new position nearly four years ago, the Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) has been run by Deputy Inspector… Read more »
Yesterday marked 32 days in a row of increased gasoline prices, a 13 percent jump, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA), which estimates the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.74. When President Obama took office in January 2009, the average price for gallon of gasoline was $1.84. Since taking office, President Obama has prevented new American… Read more »
The House Natural Resources Committee today held a Full Committee hearing entitled, The Past, Present and Future of the Federal Helium Program, which focused on H.R. 527, the “Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act,” bipartisan legislation that applies free-market principals to prevent a global helium shortage and provide American taxpayers with a fair return for the… Read more »
During last night’s State of the Union, President Obama claimed his Administration has been actively working to speed up Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) for energy producers on federal lands:
“That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.”
But facts are stubborn things and that statement simply is not true. Under President… Read more »