News List

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House Natural Resources Committee approved four targeted bills that would improve and modernize the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The primary focus of these four bills is to promote data and cost transparency and species recovery. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a Full Committee markup on Wednesday, April 30th on four bills. These four bills, introduced in March, focus on common-sense, limited improvements and updates to the Endangered Species Act including transparency and species recovery. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) delivered the following speech today at the Western Regional Forest Resources Association Spring Meeting in Pasco, WA. In the speech, Chairman Hastings talked about the House bill (H.R. 1526) that would put tens of thousands of Americans back to work, provide stable funding for counties to use for education and infrastructure, improve local management of our federal forests, and help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and called on the Senate to act (see bold text below). Read more »

Washington, D.C. (March 20, 2014) – In February, US Forest Service officers and canine units conducted a raid on the Taos Ski Valley. Multiple tickets were issued for various offenses, including driving with a cracked windshield. According to the Taos News, it was part of a “saturation patrol,” due to a demand from the Director of the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations, David Ferrell, that officers reach a quota of 100 citations annually. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released a comprehensive audit of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The audit found that the federal government does not have a system to track data and costs associated with performing NEPA reviews, NEPA delays are lengthy and vary agency to agency, and that litigation is a major driver in the environmental review process. Read more »

Washington, D.C. (April 9, 2014) – This afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Con.Res. 96, the Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2015, with a vote of 219-205. The fiscal year 2015 Budget Resolution balances the budget in ten years by cutting spending by $5.1 trillion, and it ensures greater access to federal lands for energy exploration, better forest management, wildfire suppression, and balanced land management. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C.- At a Full Committee hearing today on “Tribal Forest Management: A Model for Promoting Healthy Forests and Rural Jobs,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) in his opening statement stressed the need for the Senate to take action on House-passed legislation to restore active forest management. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - 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 initial March 21, 2014 deadline, Chairman Hastings warned FWS Director Dan Ashe at a March 26th Full Committee hearing that a subpoena would be issued if the FWS did not fully comply by April 2nd. While some information has been provided, the majority of the document requests remain unanswered. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an oversight hearing on “Energy Independence: Domestic Opportunities to Reverse California’s Growing Dependence on Foreign Oil.” Overall, the United States is importing less oil than any point in the past decade, yet California’s foreign oil imports have dramatically increased. Today’s hearing focused on the drastic increase in foreign oil imports in California and the opportunities within the state for significant energy production. Read more »

Washington, D.C. (April 1, 2014) – Last week the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) released a new report profiling a former EPA staffer that was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for stealing over $900,00 in taxpayer money. John C. Beale was no ordinary EPA staffer; in fact, he was a senior policy advisor and highest-paid employee at the EPA by the time he resigned in April 2013. Before being sentenced, Beale admitted to taking months of paid time off by making colleagues believe that he was working for the CIA. Read more »