Press Releases
House GOP restricts conservation
Associated Press By Matthew Daly March 26, 2014 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and his successors would see their ability to designate new national monuments limited under a bill approved Wednesday by the House. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), takes aim at the 1906 Antiquities Act, a law Obama and other presidents have used to protect historic or ecologically significant sites. The bill would require an environmental review - including public comments - before a pres… Continue Reading
03.26.14
Dems will push drilling-linked quake issue at hearing
E&E News By Michael Soraghan March 26, 2014 Rep. Peter DeFazio figures that even the oil and gas industry's biggest advocates should want to know more about whether drillers' activities are triggering earthquakes. But congressional Republicans have ignored the Oregon Democrat's request for hearings about such man-made earthquakes. So DeFazio, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, plans to bring it up tomorrow at an otherwise unrelated earthquake hearing… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House moves to block Obama coal rule
The Associated Press By Matthew Daly March 25, 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans on Tuesday approved a bill that would prevent the Obama administration from imposing a stream-protection rule for coal mining that government experts say would eliminate thousands of jobs. The administration rule is intended to replace Bush-era regulations that set up buffer zones around waterways and were aimed chiefly at mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The House bill would reinstate the 2008… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House panel considers land-swap to expand Cibola Wildlife Refuge
Cronkite News Service By Colton Gavin March 26, 2014 A House committee considered a plan Tuesday to swap 80 acres of federally owned land in California's Riverside County for 40 acres of land abutting the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in La Paz County. The land swap would allow for the expansion of the refuge, giving the government "important habitat and wintering grounds for migratory birds and other wildlife" along the Colorado River, according to an Interior Department official wh… Continue Reading
03.26.14
Battle lines drawn over Bishop bill to curb presidential powers
E&E News By Phil Taylor March 26, 2014 The House today is set to vote on a controversial bill to restrict the president's powers to designate national monuments on federal lands, a measure that has sparked outrage among conservationists, historic preservationists, sportsmen and minority groups while garnering support from motorized recreation enthusiasts and ranchers. Rep. Rob Bishop's (R-Utah) H.R. 1459 would require presidents to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act re… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House votes to stop Obama's new coal mining rules
The Hill By Peter Kasperowicz March 25, 2014 The House voted Tuesday afternoon to stop the Obama administration's effort to re-write coal mining regulations, and require the administration to use a rule developed under the Bush administration. Members passed the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act, H.R. 2824, in a 229-192 vote. The bill was supported by 10 Democrats, and opposed by seven Republicans. Republicans have consistently criticized t… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House Targets Obama Coal Rule
The IntelligencerMarch 26, 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans on Tuesday approved a bill that would prevent the Obama administration from imposing a stream-protection rule for coal mining that government experts say would eliminate thousands of jobs. The administration rule is intended to replace Bush-era regulations that set up buffer zones around waterways and were aimed chiefly at mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The House bill, authored by Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, would re… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House subpoenas Interior Department IG over proposed coal regulations
Washington Examiner By Susan Ferrechio March 26, 2014 The top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee Tuesday issued a subpoena to the Interior Department's inspector general, demanding a readable copy of a critical report on coal-mining reform. Committee Chairman Rep. Doc Hastings, of Washington state, said the panel has been unable to get an un-redacted copy of the report despite multiple requests. He believes the inspector general, who is required to be independent, is impr… Continue Reading
03.26.14
Panel fears agency's budget plan fails to properly address water shortfalls
E&E News By Scott Streater March 26, 2014 GOP lawmakers yesterday criticized the Obama administration's plan to lead parched Western states through ongoing drought conditions, with some arguing during a hearing that the administration cares more about addressing climate change and conserving water than about meeting growing demand. The water policy discussion occurred during a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power hearing on the Bureau of Reclamation's fiscal … Continue Reading
03.26.14
House attempts to block Obama coal-mine rules
The Courier Journal By James R. Carroll March 25, 2014 WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled House on Tuesday passed legislation blocking the Obama administration from issuing a rule intended to protect streams and the public health from mountaintop mining in Kentucky and other states. On a mostly party-line vote of 229-192, lawmakers approved a bill that would reinstate regulations issued during the George W. Bush administration that allow the coal industry to dispose of mine waste near … Continue Reading
03.26.14
GOP issues subpoena over Obama mining rules
The Hill By Peter Kasperowicz March 25, 2014 House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) on Tuesday said he has subpoenaed a federal official for information about the Obama administration's work on a coal-mining rule. Hastings said his committee has been seeking information about the administration's efforts to rewrite the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which regulates coal production. His committee found irregularities and political interference… Continue Reading
03.26.14
House easily approves bill to block stream rule
E&E News By Manuel Quinones March 25, 2014 The House this afternoon voted 229-192 to approve legislation to block the federal Office of Surface Mining from promulgating the controversial Stream Protection Rule to police coal mining. The legislation, H.R. 2824 by Reps. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), would instead call on the Obama administration and states to implement the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule. They say the forthcoming OSM rule will likely hurt coal mining. T… Continue Reading
03.24.14
Stream rule bill heads to House floor as Heitkamp touts CCS
E&E News By Manuel Quinones March 24, 2014 The House this week will take up legislation to block the Obama administration from developing a controversial Stream Protection Rule that aims to protect waterways from coal mining. Ohio Republican Rep. Bill Johnson's H.R. 2824 would instead task the federal Office of Surface Mining and states with implementing the 2008 President George W. Bush-era Stream Buffer Zone Rule. The legislation is a top priority for House Republicans and other… Continue Reading
03.24.14
Congress focuses on dams amid California's drought
Associated Press March 24, 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) - California's drought has sparked a new push by federal lawmakers to create or expand a handful of reservoirs around the state, ramping up a political battle that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once referred to as a "holy war in some ways." Government agencies have been studying five major water storage projects for nearly two decades, with nothing to show for the effort so far. Meanwhile, the state's water problems have … Continue Reading
03.24.14
Fed Wants Graywolves to Stay on Endangered List
HNGN News By Julie S March 22, 2014 A letter expressing the appeal of 74 House members was sent to Jewell on March 19. According to the Associated Press report, it cited the peer-review of the administration's decision to remove the gray wolves from the Endangered Species List on the account that their population has already recovered. However, the members who signed the letter stated that this decision was based on unsettled science and the gray wolves should stay on the list. The gra… Continue Reading
03.21.14
Majority of California's House Democrats Want Wolves Protected
KCET News By Chris Clarke March 21, 2014 Political wonks have long talked about "blue dog" and "yellow dog" Democrats, but now California has a new Democratic dog political tendency: the Gray Wolf Democrat. A majority of California's Congressional House Democrats have signed on to a strongly worded letter urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to abandon attempts to strip the gray wolf of protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The letter to Interior S… Continue Reading
03.21.14
House to take up bill requiring NEPA reviews for designations
E&E News By Phil Taylor March 20, 2014 The House is scheduled to take up a Republican bill next week aiming to increase transparency in national monument designations -- but one that will rekindle a fiery debate over the president's authority over public lands. Members will vote on Rep. Rob Bishop's H.R. 1459, which would require the president to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act review before designating more than 5,000 acres of lands, while setting various other lim… Continue Reading
03.21.14
House Republicans harangue federal, Calif. officials on response to crisis
E&E News By Debra Kahn March 20, 2014 House Republicans hammered California and federal water managers yesterday on their response to the Golden State's continuing drought, charging that they haven't done enough to ensure water supplies for farmers. At a field hearing in Fresno, Calif., House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Republican members of California's House delegation called for legislative intervention in the state's water situation, which … Continue Reading
03.20.14
Don't remove gray wolves from endangered species protection, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio urges
The Oregonian By Rob Davis March 19, 2014 U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, is urging federal wildlife officials to keep gray wolves on the endangered species list, pointing to new independent research raising questions about the plan. A recent peer review commissioned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service questioned the scientific basis of the federal agency's proposal to remove wolves from the endangered species list. The independent study by UC Santa Barbara researchers s… Continue Reading
03.20.14
Lawmakers want gray-wolf protections to stay
By Associated Press March 19, 2014 BILLINGS, Mont. - Federal lawmakers pressed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Wednesday to drop the administration's plan to end federal protections for gray wolves across most of the Lower 48 states. Seventy-four House members signed onto a Wednesday letter to Jewell that cited a peer-review panel's recent conclusion the government relied on unsettled science to make its case that the wolves have sufficiently recovered. Gray wo… Continue Reading