Today, Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Doc Hastings (R-WA) sent a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall asking for hearings on H.R. 5088,… Read more »

Drug Cartel Activity Threatens Texas Water Supplies, Lawmaker Says June 21, 2010 FOXNews.com Joshua Rhett Miller Drug cartel activity along the Mexican border presents serious security threats to the area's water supply system, particularly on federally-owned lands in southern Texas, a U.S. lawmaker says. Members of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power held a… Read more »

Today the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power held a hearing on H.R. 4719, a bill to establish a Southwest Border Region Water Task Force to assess the water supply needs of the region. As part of the hearing, the Subcommittee heard that drug cartel activity along the U.S./Mexican border presents major threats to water infrastructure, including the federally owned… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04)  released the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) biological opinion (BiOp) filed in federal court today: “Dam removal extremist groups are dead wrong to label this Obama proposal as the same Bush BiOp from 2008.  The undeniable facts are that President… Read more »

Click here to watch Congressman Seeks to Expand EPA's Control of Water FOX News April 21, 2010 Brian Wilson A Democratic congressman is seeking to strip the word "navigable" from the 1972 Clean Water Act to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to surpass the limits imposed by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on the kinds of waterways the agency can regulate. That word typically… Read more »

Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings and Committee Republicans released the following statements after Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) announced legislation to dramatically increase the scope of the Clean Water Act, bringing nearly every body of water - from irrigation canals, small ponds to seasonal mud-puddles - under the unlimited… Read more »

Today, the House Subcommittees on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands and Water and Power held a joint field hearing at the Grand Canyon, Arizona. The hearing, entitled "On the Edge: Challenges Facing Grand Canyon National Park" is the latest attempt to drive up energy prices and re-allocate more water towards a small endangered fish at the expense of water and power consumers and the… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting that, in light of this year’s low water supplies, endangered juvenile salmon should be transported past dams rather than flushed downstream by… Read more »

Following is a statement from Congressman Doc Hastings (WA-04) on the Snake River dam removal “study plan” prepared and released today by Army Corps of Engineers at the direction of the Obama Administration. Hastings is an outspoken defender of the Northwest’s hydropower dams as clean, renewable sources of low-cost energy. Hastings serves as the top Republican on the House Natural… Read more »

The Subcommittee on Water and Power held an oversight hearing today on the FY 2011 Administration Budget Request for the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). Subcommittee Ranking Republican Tom McClintock (CA-04) highlighted concerns that the agency’s chief mission has shifted away from its traditional mission of providing abundant water supplies for humans to one that embraces expensive… Read more »