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, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) delivered the following prepared remarks at the National Water Resources Association Annual Meeting, highlighting hydropower as a clean, renewable energy resource; California water issues; and the need to update and improve the Endangered Species Act:
“Thank you for that kind introduction, Jim. It’s a pleasure once… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) issued the following statement regarding the federal court ruling upholding the Obama Administration’s closed-door Endangered Species Act (ESA) settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians:
“I’m disappointed with today’s court ruling that upholds the Administration’s mega-settlement… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04), Rep. Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming-at large), Rep. Randy Neugebauer (TX-19), and Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI-02) today introduced four limited bills to improve and update the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bills are supported by all of the Members of the ESA Congressional Working Group, representing districts across the nation, and… 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 »
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 »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings delivered the following statement on the House floor today in support of H.R. 2804, the Achieving Less Excess in Regulation and Requiring Transparency Act or 2014.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure, and particularly a portion sponsored by Representative Collins that will ensure transparency of federal… Read more »
Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing entitled “ESA Decisions by Closed-Door Settlement: Short-Changing Science, Transparency, Private Property, and State & Local Economies.” This hearing examined the impacts of the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) closed-door mega-settlements on listing and critical habitat decisions and the need to reform this law to… Read more »
