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Oversight: Stream Buffer Zone Rule

Final Request for Administration to Comply with Document Requests on Rewrite of Mining Rule

| Posted in Press Release

As part of the House Natural Resources Committee’s nearly year-long investigation into the Obama Administration’s rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule, Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-05) and Energy and Minerals Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) sent a letter today to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar calling for the Administration to comply with repeated document…

Chairman Hastings Letter to Secretary Salazar Requesting Cooperation and Production of Specified Documents on the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Mr. Secretary: For nearly one year, we've patiently and persistently sought the Department of the Interior's ("Department") compliance with our requests for documents, communications, and information related to the rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule ("Rule") by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement ("OSM"). This is a serious matter that impacts the…

Chairmen Hastings and Lamborn Follow-up Letter to Secretary Salazar Requesting Complete Compliance, Sets Deadline for Document Requests and Information on the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Mr. Secretary: On September 28, 2011, the Committee once again wrote you to request that the Department of the Interior (DOI) provide documents and information related to DOI's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement's (OSM) rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule (Rule). The Committee requested that documents related to OSM's concerns, discussions, comments or…

Chairmen Hastings and Lamborn Follow-up Letter to Secretary Salazar Reiterating Requests for Documents Related to the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Mr. Secretary: As you know, the Committee is conducting an investigation into DOI's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement's (OSM) rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule (Rule). The Committee has made requests for infonnation and documents by letters dated February 8, 2011; February 10, 2011; April 1, 2011; July 18,2011; and August 15,2011. On August 19,2011,…

Chairmen Hastings and Lamborn Letter to Secretary Salazar Reiterating Request for Full Compliance with the Committee's Investigation into the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Mr. Secretary: The Committee is in receipt of the August 1, 2011 letter from the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs relating to the status of several formal document and information requests the Committee has made to DOI and its bureaus during the 112th Congress. Although the August 1st letter discusses the requests collectively,…

Chairmen Hastings and Lamborn Letter to Secretary Salazar Reiterating Requests for Documents Related to the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule, Sets New Deadline

| Posted in Letters

Dear Mr. Secretary: As you are aware, the Committee on Natural Resources (Committee) is actively investigating issues surrounding the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule (Rule). Through series of letters to the OSM and the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Committee has…

Committee Investigation: Hastings & Lamborn Request Documents on Administration’s Proposed Rewrite of Mining Rule

| Posted in Press Release

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Energy and Minerals Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) continued an investigation into the Office of Surface Mining’s rewrite of a coal mining rule by sending a letter today to Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar requesting documents and information regarding the Administration’s proposed rule rewrite and…

Chairman Hastings Letter to Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Director Joesph Pizarchik Requesting Additional Information Regarding the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Director Pizarchik, As you are aware the House Committee on Natural Resources is conducting an investigation into the Office of Surface Mining's rewrite of the 2008 "Stream Buffer Zone Rule" now called the "Stream Protection Rule." As part of the investigation it is requested that the following be delivered to me no later than March 18, 2011. Please provide copies of information on…

Chairman Hastings Letter to Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Director Joesph Pizarchik Requesting Information Regarding the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule

| Posted in Letters

Dear Director Pizarchik, Recent news reports have highlighted the significant job losses and economic impacts that could result from changes being considered by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) to fifteen elements of its coal mining regulation program. According to an official document obtained by the Associated Press, the agency's preferred "Stream Protection Rule" could cost at least…