10.09.20

Livestreams Next Week: Wednesday Forum on Offshore Drilling Ban, Thursday Hearing on Environmental Justice and Grantmaking Disparities

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

Wednesday, Oct. 14

The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, led by Chair Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), will hold a forum titled The Threat of Offshore Drilling and the Need for a Permanent Federal Ban.

The Trump administration has been determined to open the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to destructive offshore oil and gas drilling and originally proposed to lease more than 90 percent of the OCS, changing course only after overwhelming public backlash. In 2019, the House passed H.R. 205 and H.R. 1941 to permanently protect the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts from new drilling. The administration opposed these bills, and the Republican Senate has yet to act on them.

The forum comes as President Trump announced that he is open to revising his recent moratorium on new leasing for the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida, currently set to last from 2022 to 2032. Trump admitted, after signing the moratoriums, “If you want oil rigs out there, just let me know, we’ll take it off…I can change things very easily.”

Speakers include:

  • Kerry and Mark Marhefka, Owners of Abundant Seafood, North Charleston, S.C.
  • The Hon. Billy Keyserling, Mayor of Beaufort, S.C.
  • Robin Miller, CEO, Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce
  • The Hon. Catherine Blakespear, Mayor of Encinitas, Calif.

When: 2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Watch Live: https://bit.ly/3ltcK05 (Facebook) or https://youtu.be/Yk0HHLiSa6s (YouTube)

Thursday, Oct. 15

The Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, led by Chair Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), will hold a hearing titled Environmental Justice for Coastal Communities: Examining Inequities in Federal Grantmaking. The event will focus on how a number of federal environmental grants are administered, how applying for those grants is often difficult for communities that need them, and what Congress can to do make grants more accessible to Americans they’re meant to help.

A number of grant programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other federal agencies are designed to help coastal communities protect their living space and nearby wildlife habitats from pollution and natural disasters. The hearing will assess, in part, whether eligibility and application requirements for these grants should be revised to better support environmental justice and human health needs.

Witnesses include:

  • Fawn Sharp, President, National Congress of American Indians
  • Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, Assistant Professor, Spelman College
  • Ernesto Diaz, Director of Puerto Rico Coastal Zone Management Program
  • Holly Bamford, Chief Conservation Officer, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  • Minority witness TBA

When: 2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Watch Live: https://bit.ly/3nyAhyJ (Facebook) or https://youtu.be/e2qRngICxSM (YouTube)  

Press Contact

Media Contact: Adam Sarvana

(202) 225-6065 or (202) 578-6626 mobile