​Reporting H.R. 152 Out of Committee (Approved by Unanimous Consent) To direct the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement to provide for management of the free-roaming wild horses in and around the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge. * For complete legislative action for the March 25, 2015 Full Committee Markup, click here. Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would extend the public comment period an additional 60 days for the proposed critical habitat designation of the western yellow-billed cuckoo. The Service’s actions are in direct response to a letter sent to the Service’s… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) along with 17 Members of Congress sent a letter to the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dan Ashe, urging the Service to extend the comment period for the proposed critical habitat designation of the western yellow-billed cuckoo. This proposed listing, driven by a 2011 court mega-settlement and not by sound… Read more »

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) delivered the following speech today at the University of Washington, School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, Symposium on the Magnuson-Stevens Act: “Thank you for having me here today to discuss the Magnuson-Stevens Act and our current efforts in Congress to update and modernize the law. I have the privilege of serving… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) issued a subpoena to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) seeking documents surrounding the process and science behind the decision to list the White Bluffs bladderpod as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Committee first requested documents on March 7, 2014 and, after the FWS missed the… Read more »

Today, at a House Natural Resources Full Committee oversight hearing, Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) pressed U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) Service Director Dan Ashe on the Department’s non-compliance with the Committee’s request for documents regarding the process and science surrounding the FWS’ decision to list the White Bluffs bladderpod as a threatened species. A letter was sent to the… Read more »

Improving the Endangered Species Act for the 21st Century By ESA Working Group Co-Chairs Doc Hastings and Cynthia Lummis The Daily Caller 3/11/2014 Over forty years ago, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with the noblest of intentions – conserve and recover wildlife facing preventable extinction. This is a moral obligation on which we can all agree. But with a species… Read more »

The House Committee on Natural Resources will hold a Full Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday, March 26th entitled, “Collision Course: Oversight of the Obama Administration’s Enforcement Approach for America’s Wildlife Laws and Its Impact on Domestic Energy.” The hearing will examine the Obama Administration’s approach for enforcing wildlife laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent a letter to Ken Berg, Manager at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Washington state Fish and Wildlife Office, seeking answers to specific questions about whether or not the Service’s recent decision to list the White Bluffs bladderpod as threatened and to designate more than 2,000 acres as “critical habitat”… Read more »

Dear Mr. Berg: On December 20, 2013, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service ("FWS") published a revision to the final rule that listed the White Bluffs bladderpod, Physaria Douglasii subspecies Tuplashensis, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA") and designated over 2,000 acres as critical habitat. The White Bluffs bladderpod was one of the many species included… Read more »