Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2015) – Today the U.S. House passed H.R. 2028, the FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill with a bi-partisan vote of 240-177. A rider attached to the bill prohibits implementation or enforcement of the EPA’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The WOTUS rule, an unprecedented federal seizure of state waters and private water rights, would centralize at the federal level jurisdiction over streams, ponds, and other waters currently regulated by the states. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2015) – Today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages over 245 million surface acres and 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout 12 Western states, took the first step to raise royalty rates on already restricted oil and gas production on federal lands. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (April 15, 2015) –Yesterday during a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans hearing, U.S. Forest Service Deputy Chief Leslie Weldon announced the decision to halt work on the controversial Proposed Directive on Groundwater Management released last year by the Forest Service. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (April 1, 2015) – Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decided to list the northern long eared bat (NLEB) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The FWS cites white-nose syndrome, a disease that has been impacting NLEB populations throughout the east and Midwest, as the sole cause for the listing. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (March 27, 2015) – The EPA continues stealing its way into every home and every season of the year. In February, mid winter, the agency finalized regulations further restricting wood stove manufacturers and setting stringent soot standards. Now, as spring starts to break through and summertime lies just around the bend, we learn that the EPA decided to fund a study examining yet another EPA-perceived danger to the environment: barbecue grills. The EPA awarded a $15,000 grant to the University of California—Riverside to examine “particulate emissions” from “residential barbecues.” The study is intended to develop technology to reduce “air pollution” and “health hazards” due to residential barbecues with “potential for global application.” Read more »
Washington, D.C. (March 20, 2015) – Today Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell released a final rule regulating hydraulic fracturing on federal lands. The rule unnecessarily duplicates the regulation of hydraulic fracturing by state governments, in the process adding costly red tape and bureaucratic uncertainty to the oil and gas permitting process on federal lands.
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Washington, D.C. (March 19, 2015) – As part of his 2016 budget proposal in February, President Obama unveiled a plan to divert billions of dollars in gulf state offshore oil and gas revenue to other federal programs. The proposal would override the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), a bipartisan 2006 law ensuring gulf states receive a 37.5 percent share of oil and gas royalties from production in waters off their states’ shores. In late February, a group of Members of Congress joined the refrain in an unpublicized letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee recently obtained by E&E News. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2015) – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1030, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 with a bipartisan vote of 241-175. The EPA has been proposing, finalizing, and implementing far reaching and economically harmful regulations without releasing the science on which these regulations are based. Without transparency, independent scientists cannot review and verify the science nor can the affected public be certain that that the extra red tape and bureaucracy is actually necessary. Today’s bill prohibits the EPA from proposing or implementing regulations without first publishing the science on which they are based for independent review. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2015) – Today, Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) joined House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and nine U.S. Senators in writing a letter to Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS). The letter requested a delay of the northern long eared bat (NLEB) listing determination that the FWS is compelled to make by April 2, 2015 under a multi-species settlement agreement between the FWS and the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians. Read more »
Washington, D.C. (February 18, 2014) – This week, President Obama plans to unilaterally designate 21,000 acres around the Arkansas River in Colorado as the Browns Canyon National Monument. Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At Large) and Western Caucus Member Doug Lamborn (CO-05) released the following statements in response to the announcement:
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