Articles

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee held a Full Committee hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget for the Department of the Interior. Congressman Paul Gosar D.D.S. (R-AZ) vigorously questioned Secretary Salazar on the administration’s recent actions that have stifled economic development in rural Arizona.

Congressman Gosar focused on three specific Arizona initiatives.  In each case the Administration has pursued or is pursing regulations or obstacles that slow job creation or threaten Arizona’s existing economy.  These include the additional bureaucratic red tape the Administration is seeking for the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act (H.R.1904), sponsored by Rep. Gosar, the regulatory mandates being considered for the Navajo Generating Station, and a 20-year ban on uranium mining on federal land in the Arizona strip.

“I find it interesting that as the Administration is testifying that it supports domestic energy development, encourages economic growth in Indian Country, and is committed to addressing the West’s water challenges, yet it continues to take actions that compromise each of these goals in the state of Arizona,” said Rep. Gosar.  “If the federal government would just get out of the way of private industry, it would vastly accelerate our state’s economic recovery.”

Last week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Rep. Gosar’s jobs bill, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bi-partisan support last October.  Read morehere.

In May 2011, the House Water and Power Subcommittee and the Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee, at Congressman Gosar’s request, held a joint hearing to examine the potential job loss and economic impacts of proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates on the Navajo Generating Station (NGS). Members of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes fear that the EPA mandates could lead to the shutdown of the NGS and that hundreds of good-paying jobs could be lost. Read more here.

On January 9^th, 2012, The Obama Administration announced it would impose a 20-year ban on uranium mining on one million acres of federal land in Arizona. Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02), Paul Gosar (AZ-01) and Jeff Flake (AZ-06) have introduced H.R. 3155, the "Northern Arizona Mining Continuity Act of 2011." The bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from banning uranium mining on one million acres outside the borders of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Read more about the hearing and legislation here.  

Click here for video from today’s hearing: