Today the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held a hearing examining, “State Forest Management: A Model for Promoting Healthy Forests, Rural Schools and Jobs.” The hearing was an opportunity to hear from state leaders, local land managers and timber experts on the inadequacies and burdens of current federal forest management practices that have contributed to… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to follow up on a more than two and a half year investigation into the Obama Administration’s decision to throw out the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone coal regulation, and write a new regulation that could destroy up to 7,000 coal mining jobs and cause economic… Read more »
In a major victory for American agriculture, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling Thursday in the case Dow AgroSciences LLC v. National Marine Fisheries Service reaffirming that government decision-making must be based on science and not the misguided agenda of activist groups. House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings, House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, and… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today received the “Water Warrior” award from the Family Farm Alliance at their annual conference. The Family Farm Alliance is an advocate for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, and allied industries in seventeen Western states. The award is given to individuals who have provided long-term support for western… Read more »
Thank you for that warm welcome and introduction, Mike (LaPlant).
For those of you who don’t know, Mike is the President of the Washington State Farm Bureau and a Director of the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District. Mike is not only a constituent from Ephrata, Washington, but a friend.
And I want to thank you at the Family Farm Alliance for inviting me here today. We… Read more »
Dear Secretary Salazar:
Two years ago you received the first in a series of letters asking for information and documents that would explain the deeply concerning decisions made by the Department and the Office of Surface Mining ("OSM") over the last few years related to the decision to discard nearly 5 years of rulemaking and begin a rewrite of Stream Buffer Zone Rule. The Committee has… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after the Department of the Interior finalized plans to lock up the majority of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) from energy production.
“As gasoline prices continue to increase for the 34th day in a row, the Obama Administration has responded by locking up a majority… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today wrote to President Obama requesting that he nominate a permanent Inspector General for the Department of the Interior. Since the Department’s previous Inspector General Earl Devaney was appointed to a new position nearly four years ago, the Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) has been run by Deputy Inspector… Read more »
Dear Mr. President:
I write to request that you act without further delay to nominate a permanent Inspector General for the Department of the Interior ("Department"). The operations and management of the Department's Office of Inspector General ("IG") are in serious need of independent leadership.
Nearly four years ago to the day, you appointed the Department's… Read more »
Yesterday marked 32 days in a row of increased gasoline prices, a 13 percent jump, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA), which estimates the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.74. When President Obama took office in January 2009, the average price for gallon of gasoline was $1.84. Since taking office, President Obama has prevented new American… Read more »
