House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today unveiled a draft proposal to address the expiration of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. The draft proposal, Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, renews the federal government’s commitment to manage forest resources for the benefit of rural schools and counties by allowing active forest… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and a bipartisan group of 30 Members of Congress sent a letter today to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Office of Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients questioning why the Obama Administration is retroactively subjecting Secure Rural School (SRS) payments, which were made to counties in… Read more »
Dear Secretary Vilsack and Director Zients,
We have been informed that the Forest Service has recently proclaimed that funds already distributed under the most recent extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (SRS) or payments based on revenue generated in fiscal year 2012 are subject to the fiscal year 2013 sequester, and the agency will be requesting… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressing disappointment at the Department’s lack of transparency and failure to respond to the Committee’s legitimate oversight questions surrounding OSM’s bizarre decision to rewrite a carefully crafted 2008 coal regulation. The letter reiterates… Read more »
Dear Secretary Salazar:
As you know, for more than two years the Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") has been conducting oversight on issues regarding the Department of the Interior's and the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement's ("OSM") handling of the decision to toss aside and ultimately rewrite the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule.… Read more »
H.R. 678, the “Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act,” passed through the House Committee on Natural Resources last week. Sponsored by Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03), the legislation creates new American jobs and expands production of clean, renewable hydropower by cutting duplicative, bureaucratic red tape. Watch the video below to find out more.
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House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04), Senator Orin Hatch (UT), Senator John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY) today, along with 68 other Members of Congress, sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe urging support for the delisting of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in all lower 48… Read more »
Representing California's 1st District, located in the Northeast corner of the state, Congressman LaMalfa discusses his background in Agriculture and the variety of natural resources in his district. This year, in fact, Rep. LaMalfa's family celebrates 82 years in the rice farming business. See what Rep. LaMalfa has to say about forest management, hydropower and how Northern California's… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after President Obama announced his intentions to unilaterally designate five new National Monuments using presidential powers granted under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
“The Obama Administration not only sees the sequester as an opportunity to make automatic spending reductions as painful as… Read more »
