H.R. 2824 Read more »

March 25, 2014 TO:              Members, Committee on Natural Resources FROM:          Doc Hastings, Chairman RE:               Subpoena issued I hereby give notice that I have issued a subpoena… Read more »

Wednesday, March 19th the Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight field hearing in Fresno, CA on "California Water Crisis and Its Impacts: The Need for Immediate and Long-Term Solutions." This field hearing is designed to focus on the need to resolve differences in order to bring immediate and long-term water supplies to the San Joaquin Valley and other parts of California.

The lack of rainfall has exacerbated the man-made drought caused by federal regulations and environmental lawsuits. On January 17, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for California due to the drought.

For more information on the hearing, click here.

On Friday, February 14, 2014, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack requesting more information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) assertion that the department was still legally obligated to recover the sequestered FY 2012 SRS payments that were already paid out to states and is considering… Read more »

Dear Secretary Vilsack: More than a month has passed since the Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") sent a letter on February 14 requesting that the Department of Agriculture ("USDA") abandon any plans to withhold a portion of the FY 2013 Secure Rural Schools ("SRS") payments as a way to recover the FY 2012 SRS money that the USDA ordered States to return last year. The letter… Read more »

Examiner Editorial: Fighting waste and fraud requires junkyard dogs, not pawns Washington Examiner March 13, 2014 When Congress and President Carter approved creation of the present inspector general program in 1978, the new officials were intended to be the front line of attack against waste and fraud in the federal government. Federal… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to Department of the Interior’s Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall once again requesting an unredacted copy of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSM) efforts to rewrite the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule. The House Committee on… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA -04) and Ranking Member Peter Defazio (OR-04), along with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking for an examination of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plans for helium sales,… Read more »

Dear Mr. Dodaro: Since 1996, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been directed to close down and sell off the Federal Helium Reserve. The sale of the helium contained in the Reserve has been subject to multiple Department of the Interior Inspector General reports, an examination by the Government Accountability Office, and a major National Academy of Sciences report. All of these… Read more »

Dear Ms. Kendall: On December 23, 2013 the Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General ("OIG") for the Department of the Interior ("Department") requesting a complete and unredacted copy and underlying attachments for an OIG report of investigation into the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement's ("OSM") efforts to… Read more »