The Department of the Interior has refused to confirm that it will make available five Department officials invited to testify and answer questions at a Full Committee hearing on Wednesday regarding the May 2010 Interior Department action to impose a six-month drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico and the Department’s report that falsely stated independent engineers had peer reviewed… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on, “The Impact of Catastrophic Forest Fires and Litigation on People and Endangered Species: Time for Rational Management of our Nation's Forests.” The hearing focused on the devastating impacts of catastrophic wildfires on people and species and how Endangered Species Act litigation blocks activities that help… Read more »

Today, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held a hearing on legislation intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, restore forest health, and address factors that contribute to insect infestation and wildfire. Decades of severe mismanagement of our public lands have contributed to increased forest density, overgrowth, and insect infestation,… Read more »

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee approved by a bipartisan 24-17 vote, H.R. 6082, the Congressional Replacement of President Obama’s Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan. The bill would replace the Obama Administration’s final offshore drilling plan, which keeps 85 percent of America’s offshore areas off-limits to energy production, with a real plan that… Read more »

On Wednesday, July 25th the Committee on Natural Resources will hold an oversight hearing on “Investigation of President Obama’s Gulf Drilling Moratorium: Questioning of Key Department of the Interior Officials.” Due to the Department of the Interior’s failure to comply with an official Congressional subpoena issued in April for documents on the decision to impose the drilling moratorium… Read more »

The non-partisan Congressional Research Service this week released a new report comparing President Obama's offshore drilling lease plan for 2012-2017 with previous plans offered over the last 30 years by prior Administrations. As the chart below shows, the 15 lease sales in President Obama's new plan represent the lowest number of lease sales ever offered in a plan since the process… Read more »

The House Natural Resources Committee has confirmed that Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) Director Joseph Pizarchik will testify at a July 19th oversight hearing on the status of the Department of the Interior’s rewrite of a 2008 coal regulation that could cost thousands of jobs and economic harm in 22 states, as well as the failure of the Department to respond… Read more »

On Sunday, the New York Times Editorial Board rushed to the defense of President Obama who’s feeling the pressure this election season for proposing an offshore drilling plan that keeps 85 percent of America’s offshore areas off-limits to energy production. The President’s plan, under law, is currently undergoing a mandatory 60-day Congressional review. As part of this review, House… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) on Friday, July 13 sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the Committee’s request for transcribed interviews with five Department officials who were personally involved in developing the May 2010 Interior Department report that falsely stated independent engineers had peer reviewed and… Read more »

Just two weeks ago, President Obama released his five year offshore no-new-energy plan that closes 85 percent of America’s offshore areas to new energy production, opens no new areas to drilling and sidelines over a million jobs. Today, the President is making multiple campaign stops throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia—a state he denied the ability to create over 2,000 jobs and help… Read more »