Articles

Washington, D.C. –The Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, chaired by Alaskan Congressman Don Young, held a legislative hearing on H.R. 3532, the American Indian Empowerment Act of 2011. This bill, introduced by Rep. Young, would increase tribal authority over their own lands – something tribes have wanted for years. Specifically, this bill would allow a tribe to request that the title to its tribal land be taken out of trust and conveyed to the tribe while also ensuring such lands retain their “Indian Country” status, meaning lands would remain inalienable. Read more »

WASHINGTON–Today, U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar released the results of their draft 2012 Programmatic Environment Impact Statement (PEIS). This is a reevaluation of the 2008 PEIS and, if approved, would only make available a mere 461,965 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Utah and other western states for development of Oil Shale and Tar Sands. This is in stark contrast to the 2 million acres that were previously made available. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today questioned Nancy Leppink, the Deputy Administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, about a proposed rule widely believed to represent a major regulatory threat to the future of the family farm. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two large-scale and job-creating forest restoration projects in southern and eastern Oregon won approval from the USDA, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today announced. A third project in central Oregon, approved in 2010, will continue to receive funding. Read more »

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) applauded today’s decision by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to recognize the Colville National Forest (CNF) by providing $968,000 in funding for the CNF’s restoration efforts. Read more »

WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) issued the following statement after Senator Jon Tester’s (D-MT) introduction of S.2042, legislation to track and report on tax-payer subsidies for lawsuits against the government. Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Led by Alaskan Congressman Don Young and Chairman Doc Hastings, the House Natural Resources Committee passed H.R. 3407, the Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act. This critical piece of legislation would authorize oil and gas development in less than 3 percent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Read more »

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed H.R. 3408 The “Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy, and Resource Security Act” (PIONEERS Act). Read more »

(LONE TREE, CO) - U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, issued the following statement today in response to President Barack Obama’s speech on energy at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora. Read more »

Prescott, AZ – Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) responded to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s release of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement(PEIS) for the U.S. Forest Service’s new forest planning rule, policy that will determine how the agency manages the country’s national forests and grasslands. Read more »