Today, the House Natural Resources Committee passed H.R. 3409, the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act with a bipartisan vote of 26-18. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (OH-06), prevents the Obama Administration’s unnecessary and rushed rewrite of a coal mining regulation that took over five years of environmental analysis and careful… Read more »

Reporting H.R. 3409 Out of Committee (Passed 26-18. View Roll Call Vote) This job-saving bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from approving any new rules or regulations that could adversely impact employment in coal mines, cause a reduction in federal, state or tribal revenue from coal mining, or diminish the ability of the American people to produce coal. Holt Amendment… Read more »

Reporting H.R. 2512 Out of Committee (Passed 27-17. View Roll Call Vote) This bill addresses a serious environmental, public safety, and abandoned mine reclamation issue in the City of Henderson, Nevada, while restoring the environment, improving safety, and creating jobs. * For complete legislative action for the February 29, 2012 Full Committee Markup, click here. Read more »

Reporting S. 897 Out of Committee (Passed by voice vote.) This bill clarifies that Indian tribes have the authority to use certain payments from the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) fund for high priority non-coal reclamation projects. Markey Amendment #003 (Failed 14-30. View Roll Call Vote) This Amendment would add a 12.5 percent royalty rate to any minerals produced from hard rock mining… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Republicans are committed to putting Americans back to work by enacting policies that embrace America’s abundant natural resources to help create jobs and grow our economy. Meet Freshman Committee Member Jeff Duncan from South Carolina’s Third Congressional District. Congressman Duncan suggests that by opening up a small portion of ANWR, we have huge… Read more »

Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a oversight field hearing in Steubenville, Ohio entitled, “Natural Gas--America’s New Energy Opportunity: Creating Jobs, Energy and Community Growth.” Members of the Committee heard testimony from witnesses expressing their desire for continued production of the abundant natural gas in the local Utica and Marcellus shale for job… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today regarding President Obama’s energy speech: "American families and small businesses are once again suffering from rapidly rising gasoline prices and the Obama Administration’s policies are making it worse. Since President Obama took office, the price of gasoline has increased a… Read more »

Dear Mr. Secretary: On April 25, 2011, we wrote the Department of the Interior ("Department") to request documents about White House edits to the Executive Summary of the final report entitled "Increased Safety Measures for Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf' ("ISM Report"). On the same date, we wrote separately to the Department's Office of Inspector General ("OlG")… Read more »

Dear Mr. Kemkar: On April 25, 2011, we wrote the Department of the Interior ("Department") to request documents about White House edits to the Executive Summary of the final report entitled "Increased Safety Measures for Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf' ("ISM Report"). On the same date, we wrote separately to the Department's Office of Inspector General ("OIG")… Read more »

Ripped from the Headlines... Higher gasoline prices could stall recovery, Obama’s re-election, Boston Herald, 2/21/12 “By summer, some analysts said, you could be paying $4 for a gallon of gas, almost as high as the record set in the summer of 2008. A price that high could cripple the still-fragile recovery…The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the Midwest was $3.41 last… Read more »