House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) yesterday sent a letter to the Department of the Interior’s Acting Inspector General (IG) Mary Kendall to question her about discrepancies between her testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and documents recently provided to the Committee that suggest she was involved in the process of producing the… Read more »
Interior inspector defends impartiality in report probe
By: Gregory Korte
USA Today
May 23, 2012
When questions came up about how the White House edited an Interior Department report to justify a moratorium on offshore drilling, acting Inspector General Mary Kendall investigated and reported back to Congress only that the report "could have been more clearly worded."
Now documents… Read more »
Dear Secretary Salazar:
Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior ("Department") withdrew 1 million acres in northern Arizona from new uranium mining claims. By taking this action, the Obama Administration voided a bipartisan agreement partially codified in law that has been respected for nearly three decades. In making this decision, you argued the withdrawal was necessary to… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
As you know, the Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") has for almost two years been seeking information about how a May 27, 2010 Department of the Interior ("Department") report entitled "Increased Safety Measures for Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf" ("Drilling Moratorium Report") was drafted and then edited in a manner that misrepresented… Read more »
Today, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands held an oversight field hearing in Longview, Washington on, “Failed Federal Forest Policies: Endangering Jobs, Forests and Species.” The hearing examined how federal implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan and Endangered Species Act has affected local economies, forest health and the Northern Spotted Owl.
“To put it… Read more »
HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act
By House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings
Washington Times
May 18, 2012
When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released internal documents and audio recordings obtained by the Committee through outside sources, which raise further questions into the highly unusual manner in which the Obama Administration is rewriting a coal production regulation, the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule. The documents detail “catastrophic” impacts to… Read more »
Reporting H.R. 4043 Out of Committee (Passed 24-13. View Roll Call Vote)
This bill would create Southern Sea Otter Military Readiness Areas in three specific areas off the southern California coast. Sea otter range expansion would go forward as determined by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). However, military activities in these three military readiness areas would not be in… Read more »
Reporting H.R. 1192 Out of Committee (Passed 27-10. View Roll Call Vote)
This bill extends the current Soda Ash royalty rate through October 12, 2016.
Lamborn Amendment #1 – Technical Amendment (Agreed to by Voice Vote.)
This amendment changes the short title of the bill from ‘2011’ to ‘2012’.
Tonko Amendment #001 – Royalty Rate Changes (Failed 11-27. View Roll Call Vote)
This… Read more »
