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Oversight and Investigations

Committee Questions the Interior Department’s Lack of Transparency and Objectivity in Animas Spill Response

| Posted in Press Release

During the Committee’s oversight hearing on the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Role in the EPA’s Animas Spill, Committee members raised concerns about the DOI’s response to the spill, the lack of transparency and objectivity and the narrow scope of the Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) report.  Secretary Sally Jewell’s testimony four months after the spill raised several concerns,…

Committee Unveils Federal Footprint Map

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the Committee on Natural Resources released the Federal Footprint Map, which details the immense scale of federal land ownership and regulation in the United States.  This interactive tool gathers data from federal agencies and will be used as an educational resource for Members of Congress and their staff, reporters, and the public.  Chairman Bishop (R-UT)…

Bishop: President Obama Disregards Law to Fundamentally Transform Federal Lands Policy

| Posted in Press Release

House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement in response to the White House’s memorandum on “Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources from Development and Encouraging Related Private Investment.” “Memorandum, executive order…call it what you will. President Obama is throwing the principle of multiple-use of our nation’s federal land out…

Bishop: “You violated the law. Period.”

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a joint hearing with the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Animas River spill, which resulted in 3 million gallons of toxic water spilling into the Animas and San Juan Rivers from Colorado and into New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) questioned EPA…

AP: New Mexico official says EPA refused to share water data after toxic mine spill fouled rivers

| Posted in In Case You Missed It

Federal regulators refused to share water-quality data for weeks following a blowout of toxic wastewater from a Colorado mine that fouled rivers across the Southwest, a New Mexico official said Thursday. The move by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed to downplay the severity of the spill, hobbling the state's response, said Ryan Flynn, New Mexico secretary of Environment and…

Committees Request Information from the Department of Interior on EPA’s Animas Spill Ahead of Joint Oversight Hearing

| Posted in Press Release

House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior (DOI) Sally Jewell, requesting data and documents about the events leading up to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)…

Chaffetz, Bishop and Lummis Letter to the Honorable Gina McCarthy

| Posted in Letters

TO: The Honorable Gina McCarthy FROM: Jason Chaffetz, Chairman Rob Bishop, Chairman Cynthia M. Lummis, Chairman Dear Administrator McCarthy: On August 5, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency cause the spill of mine waste from a site in San Juan County, Colorado, into the regional river system. According to media reports, EPA's operation of heavy equipment on the site led to the…

Chaffetz, Bishop and Lummis Letter to Dennis Greaney

| Posted in Letters

TO: Mr. Dennis Greaney FROM: Jason Chaffetz, Chairman Rob Bishop, Chairman Cynthia M. Lummis, Chairman Dear Mr. Greaney: An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesman identified your company, Environmental Restoration, LLC, as the contractor "whose work caused a mine spill in Colorado that released an estimated three million gallons of toxic sludge into a major river system." The…

Committees Demand Answers on EPA’s Animas Spill Ahead of Joint Oversight Hearing

| Posted in Press Release

House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, requesting data and documents about the events leading up to the EPA’s Animas spill and the…