House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement regarding President Obama’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014:
“Once again, the President’s budget misses the mark. Over two months late, it’s obvious that this budget is not a credible plan to create jobs, strengthen our economy, boost energy production, or lower the debt.… Read more »
The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a Full Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday, April 17th to examine the difference in energy production and permitting on federal lands versus state and private lands.
While energy production on state and federal lands is flourishing, regulatory red tape and bureaucratic hurdles imposed by the Obama Administration are hindering energy… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA – 04) sent letters today to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Department of the Interior Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall seeking information about the Administration’s decision to not allow the continued operation of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company within the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
On February 7, 2013, the Office of Inspector General ("IG") issued a final report of its investigation into a scientific integrity complaint associated with the Department of the Interior's (" Department") September 2011 Draft Environmental Impact Statement ("DEIS") for the Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit.
For several years, serious… Read more »
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 »
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 »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after the U.S. Forest Service announced that Secure Rural School (SRS) payments, which went out to counties in January, will be subjected to sequestration cuts:
“Several months before President Obama’s sequester was scheduled to go into effect, Congress approved - and President Obama signed… Read more »
Today the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held a legislative hearing on H.R. 1126, the “Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Completion Act.” The legislation introduced by Public Lands and Environmental Regulation Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01) implements a new design competition and provides a three year extension of the memorial site designation, which is… Read more »