10.08.21

Livestreams Next Week: Full Committee Markup on Wednesday, National Park Service Bills and Offshore Drilling Oversight on Thursday, Colorado River Drought on Friday

This advisory has been udpated to reflect the correct time of the Wednesday markup.

Washington, D.C. – The Natural Resources Committee is holding four livestreamed events next week. 

Wednesday, Oct. 13

The full Committee, led by Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), will hold a markup on the bills listed below. Two of the bills—the Offshore Pipeline Safety Act (H.R. 2643) introduced by Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) and the Offshore Accountability Act (H.R. 570) introduced by Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.)—would take important steps to strengthen regulation and oversight of offshore oil drilling in the wake of the recent oil spill near Huntington Beach, California. 

  • H.R. 160 (Soto), To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and to establish the United States Coral Reef Task Force, and for other purposes. Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021. 
  • H.R. 442 (Young), To provide for the conveyance of certain property to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium located in Sitka, Alaska, and for other purposes. Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Land Transfer Act.
  • H.R. 570 (McEachin), To require operators of offshore oil and gas facilities to report failures of critical systems to the Secretary of the Interior, and for other purposes. Offshore Accountability Act of 2021.
  • H.R. 897 (Ruiz), To take certain lands in California into trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes. Agua Caliente Land Exchange Fee to Trust Confirmation Act.
  • H.R. 1286 (Clyburn), To establish in the States of North Carolina and South Carolina the Southern Campaign of the Revolution National Heritage Corridor, and for other purposes. Southern Campaign of the Revolution National Heritage Corridor Act of 2021.
  • H.R. 1931 (Matsui), To provide competitive grants for the promotion of Japanese American confinement education as a means to understand the importance of democratic principles, use and abuse of power, and to raise awareness about the importance of cultural tolerance toward Japanese Americans, and for other purposes. Japanese American Confinement Education Act.
  • H.R. 1975 (Issa), To take certain land located in San Diego County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, and for other purposes. Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021.
  • H.R. 2024 (Hoyer), To establish the Southern Maryland National Heritage Area, and for other purposes. Southern Maryland National Heritage Area Act.
  • H.R. 2074 (Young), To assist Tribal governments in the management of buffalo and buffalo habitat and for the reestablishment of buffalo on Indian lands. Indian Buffalo Management Act.
  • H.R. 2088 (Fleischmann), To take certain Federal lands in Tennessee into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for other purposes. Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act.
  • H.R. 2107 (Rutherford), To establish the Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area in the State of Florida, and for other purposes. Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area Act.
  • H.R. 2643 (Brownley), To require the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to further develop, finalize, and implement updated regulations for offshore oil and gas pipelines to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to ensure active pipeline integrity and address safety and environmental risks associated with decommissioning, and for other purposes. Offshore Pipeline Safety Act.
  • H.R. 2930 (Leger Fernández), To enhance protections of Native American tangible cultural heritage, and for other purposes. Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021.
  • H.R. 3075 (Huffman), To address seafood slavery and combat illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, and for other purposes. Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act.
  • H.R. 3222 (Sewell), To establish the Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area, and for other purposes. Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area Act.
  • H.R. 3670 (Neguse), To improve access for outdoor recreation through the use of special recreation permits on Federal recreational lands and waters, and for other purposes. Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act.
  • H.R. 4881 (Grijalva), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to take into trust for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona certain land in Pima County, Arizona, and for other purposes. Old Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act.
  • H.R. 5221 (Grijalva), To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to establish an urban Indian organization confer policy for the Department of Health and Human Services. Urban Indian Health Confer Act.

When: 10:00 a.m. Eastern time 

Watch Live: https://youtu.be/0nR_9l0r7uI

Thursday, Oct. 14

Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands

The Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, led by Chair Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:  

·         H.R. 149 (Norcross), To designate the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Peter J. McGuire Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic Landmark, and for other purposes. Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Landmark Act.

·         H.R. 250 (Kirkpatrick), To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the January 8th National Memorial in Tucson, Arizona, as an affiliated area of the National Park System, and for other purposes. January 8th National Memorial Act.

·         H.R. 3197 (Johnson), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the City of Eunice, Louisiana, certain Federal land in Louisiana, and for other purposes. Save the Liberty Theatre Act of 2021.

·         H.R. 3531 (Holmes Norton), To authorize the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes. Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act.

·         H.R. 4009 (Holmes Norton), To authorize the Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes. Georgetown Waterfront Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act.

·         H.R. 4380 (Escobar), To designate the El Paso Community Healing Garden National Memorial, and for other purposes. 

·         H.R. 4454 (Green), To establish a process for the Board on Geographic Names to review and revise offensive names of Federal land units, to create an advisory committee to recommend Federal land unit names to be reviewed by the Board, and for other purposes. Reconciliation in Place Names Act.

·         H.R. 4648 (Johnson), To modify the boundary of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park in the State of Louisiana, and for other purposes. Cane River Creole National Historical Park Boundary Modification Act.

·         H.R. 4706 (Gonzales), To establish the Blackwell School National Historic Site in Marfa, Texas, and for other purposes. Blackwell School National Historic Site Act.

 

Witnesses 

Panel I: Congressional Panel

Members of Congress TBA

Panel II: Administration Panel

 

  • Mr. Mike Caldwell, Acting Associate Director, Park Planning, Facilities, and Lands, National Park Service

 

Panel III: Expert Witness Panel

 

  • The Honorable Ron Barber (H.R. 250), President, Tucson’s January 8th Memorial Foundation

 

  • Ms. Andrena Crockett (H.R. 4009), Founder and Program Manager, Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour

 

  • The Honorable Rodney Elis (H.R. 4454), Commissioner, Commissioners Court of Harris County, Texas

 

  • Mr. Albert Hernandez (H.R. 4380), El Paso, Texas

 

  • Mr. Scott A. Fontenot (H.R. 3197), Mayor, City of Eunice, Louisiana

 

  • Ms. Rebecca Blankenbaker (H.R. 4689), Executive Director, Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc. 

 

  • Mr. William Shafroth (H.R. 4706), President & CEO, National Park Foundation

 

When: 10:00 a.m. Eastern time

Watch Live: https://youtu.be/9N-n1kpVMdM

 

Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, led by Chair Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), will hold an oversight hearing titled Impacts of Abandoned Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure and the Need for Stronger Federal Oversight.     

The Gulf of Mexico and the shores of Southern California are littered with thousands of abandoned oil and gas structures and thousands of miles of abandoned pipelines that pose dangers to coastal communities, wetlands, marine resources, wildlife, and taxpayers. The ongoing San Pedro Bay pipeline oil spill near Huntington Beach, Calif., is a major environmental disaster and a harbinger of the dangers posed by aging oil and gas infrastructure.

Weak and outdated offshore pipeline regulations and financial assurance requirements expose U.S. taxpayers to potential decommissioning costs associated with cleaning up pollution and removing old oil and gas infrastructure from the ocean.

Witnesses

  • Dr. Donald Boesch, Professor and President Emeritus, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and Former Member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
  • Mr. Robert Schuwerk, Executive Director, North America Office, Carbon Tracker Initiative
  • Ms. Jacqueline Savitz, Chief Policy Officer for North America, Oceana 
  • Republican Witness TBA

 

When: 12:00 p.m. Eastern time

Watch Live: https://youtu.be/0rv6I9GEu3Y

 

Friday, Oct. 15

Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife

The Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, Wildlife, led by Chair Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), will hold an oversight hearing titled, Colorado River Drought Conditions and Response Measures – Day One. This will be the first session of a two-part hearing. 

Climate change and severe drought in the Colorado River Basin threaten water supplies for 40 million people in the Southwest. The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan authorized by Congress in 2019 is helping mitigate some drought impacts until its expiration in 2026, but additional response measures are needed to strengthen climate resilience for communities across the Southwest.

Panel I: Federal and Tribal Government Witnesses

·         TBA, Department of the Interior 

·         Mr. Daryl Vigil, Jicarilla Apache Water Administrator and Co-Director, Water & Tribes in the Colorado River Basin

 

Panel II: State Witnesses

  • Mr. Peter Nelson, Chairman, Colorado River Board of California
  • Mr. Tom Buschatzke, Director, Arizona Department of Water Resources
  • Mr. John Entsminger, General Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority 
  • Ms. Rebecca Mitchell, Director, Colorado Water Conservation Board 
  • Mr. John D’Antonio, State Engineer, New Mexico 
  • Mr. Gene Shawcroft, General Manager, Central Utah Water Conservancy District
  • Mr. Patrick Tyrrell, Wyoming Commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission

When: 2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Watch Live: https://youtu.be/GeoVuFIgy68

Press Contact

Media Contact: David Shen

(202) 225-6065 or (202) 860-6494 mobile