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Oversight and Investigations

No Accountability One Year After the EPA-caused, DOI-approved Gold King Mine Disaster

| Posted in Press Release

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Gold King Mine blowout near Silverton, Colorado. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement: “A year later, the Obama Administration still won’t tell us the whole truth. Accounts of events from Interior and EPA have been inconsistent and…

Hearing Reveals Administration’s Apparent Double-Standard for Federally Subsidized Renewable Energy Projects On Federal Lands

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on the status of Ivanpah and other federal loan-guaranteed solar energy projects on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. The Obama Administration has subsidized billions of taxpayer dollars in renewable energy projects that have significantly underperformed, killed federally protected birds and destroyed the…

BLM’s Planning 2.0 Rule Crowds Out Local, State Voices in Favor of Special Interests

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing to hear from state and local representatives on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) draft Planning 2.0 Rule. This draft rule would dramatically shift resource management planning away from local communities to bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Kathleen Clarke, Director of the Utah Public Lands Policy…

Interior Lacks Enforcement and Accountability for Unethical Behavior and Criminal Conduct

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing on the lack of enforcement and accountably from the Obama Administration in response to a growing number of reports of unethical and criminal conduct at the Department of the Interior (DOI). Since last month’s subcommittee hearing on the “culture of corruption” at DOI, the Office of Inspector General (OIG)…

Subcommittee Letter to the Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General on Further Ethical Lapses at DOI

| Posted in Press Release

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) as part of the Subcommittee’s ongoing oversight of ethical lapses and violations of federal law at DOI, and the pattern of evasion from the Department’s senior leadership and DOI’s OIG.   On May 27, 2016, the…

National Park Service Chief Misled Inspector General Investigators, Lied to Interior Secretary and Promoted Other Agency Violators

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing on the “Culture of Corruption” at the Department of the Interior (DOI). During the hearing, Mary Kendall, DOI Deputy Inspector General (IG), acknowledged that Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, purposely lied to the Secretary of the Interior about a book deal he improperly obtained for…

Proposed BLM Planning 2.0 Rule Shifts Decisions to Washington D.C., Silences Local Voices

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on “Local and State Perspectives on BLM’s Draft Planning 2.0 Rule.”   As proposed, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Planning 2.0 rule would significantly diminish local input and shift most public land use planning decisions to bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. “Instead of keeping most planning activity at the…

Environmental Laws Threaten Safety in Borderland Communities

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on impediments imposed by federal land management regimes in securing the international borders of the United States. Federal land management regulations create obstacles for the United States Border Patrol in effectively securing the border. This leaves borderland communities both environmentally degraded and…

Committee Exposes DOI’s $50 Million Law Enforcement Database Boondoggle

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing raising bipartisan concerns about the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) waste, abuse and incompetence concerning its law enforcement records system. Since 2003, DOI has spent over $50 million in federal funds on a database that is still not fully functional. DOI began the process of implementing the…

WSJ: Downstream From a Slippery EPA

| Posted in In Case You Missed It

BY: Ryan Flynn The bright yellow water that gushed from Colorado’s Gold King mine and into the Animas River last summer has dissipated, but the environmental disaster continues downstream. An estimated 880,000 pounds of lead and other metals poured out of the Gold King in August when the Environmental Protection Agency fumbled a construction project and blew out the mine’s plug. This…