Hill Heat

On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 513 (Rep. Higgins), “Offshore Lands Authorities Act of 2025”
• H.R. 931 (Rep. Downing), To allow certain Federal minerals to be mined consistent with the Bull Mountains Mining Plan Modification, and for other purposes.
• H.R. 2250 (Rep. DelBene), “National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2025”
• H.R. 2556 (Rep. Hunt), “Comprehensive Offshore Resource Evaluation Act of 2025” or the “CORE Act of 2025”
• H.R. 3168 (Rep. Valadao), “National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2025”
• H.R. 3176 (Rep. Begich), To amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to reauthorize the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel I (Members of Congress):

• To Be Announced

Panel II (Administration):

• Dr. Walter Cruickshank, Deputy Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC [H.R. 513 & H.R. 2556]

Panel III:

• Cory Kief, Director of Business Development, Crosby Tugs, LLC, Galliano, LA [H.R. 513 & H.R. 2556]
• Parker Phipps, CEO, Signal Peak Energy, Roundup, MT [H.R. 931]
• Dr. Mike West, Director and State Seismologist, Alaska Earthquake Center, Fairbanks, AK [H.R. 2250, H.R. 3168, H.R. 3176]
• Doug Helton, former Regional Operations Supervisor, Emergency Response Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA [H.R. 513 & H.R. 2556] (Minority Witness)

H.R. 513 (Rep. Higgins), “Offshore Lands Authorities Act of 2025”

The Offshore Lands Authorities Act of 2025 seeks to nullify specific Presidential withdrawals of offshore lands made under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The bill would also amend OCSLA to limit future Presidential withdrawals.

H.R. 931 (Rep. Downing), To allow certain Federal minerals to be mined consistent with the Bull Mountains Mining Plan Modification.

Signal Peak Energy (SPE) currently operates the only underground coal mine in Montana: the Bull Mountain Mine. Despite reserves that can last over 50 years,6the mine will soon run out of recoverable reserves as SPE cannot access federal coal tracts that run in a checkerboard pattern across the area. SPE has been seeking OSMRE’s approval to mine 1,835 acres of federal coal since 2013. OSMRE previously approved a mining plan modification along with an environmental assessment in 2015 and 2018 that would allow access to this acreage but both efforts were vacated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in 2017 and 2023, respectively. Specifically in the 2023 decision, Judge Donald W. Molloy vacated the mine modification and remanded the matter to the Department of the Interior to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS). H.R. 931 would require the Secretary of the Interior to approve the Bull Mountains Mining Plan Modification, allowing the mine and its 300 workers to continue operations. Under the bill, all Federal coal reserves leased under Federal Coal Lease MTM 97988 would be permitted to be mined by the Secretary of the Interior. This bill mirrors a companion bill introduced by Senator Daines, S. 362.

H.R. 2250 (Rep. DelBene), “National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2025”

Landslides are a major geologic hazard in every state, causing between $1 and $ 2 billion in damages and more than 25 casualties annually. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) established the Landslide Hazards Program (LHP) in the 1970s to research the Earth’s geologic structure and draw scientific conclusions about landslides and ground failures.16 The states utilize this research to prepare for and properly respond to these disasters. The National Landslides Preparedness Act (NLPA) was passed in the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress and was signed into law on January 5, 2021. The NLPA established the National Landslide Hazards Reduction Program (NLHRP) and the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), authorizing both programs from 2021 to 2024. The programs allow USGS to gather data to enable states and communities to reduce loss in the event of a landslide. The Director of the USGS leads implementation of the NLHRP and coordinates with states, territories, and Indian tribes to coordinate data collection and share information. The NLPA also charges the USGS with mapping and researching landslide hazards, responding to landslides, and coordinating with state, local, territorial, and tribal entities to reduce landslide risks. The goal of 3DEP is to establish high-quality topographic elevation data of the entire U.S., enabling better understanding of landslides and why they occur. USGS uses Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology when mapping the Earth. By the end of fiscal year (FY) 2022, the USGS had elevation data gathered via LIDAR for 90 percent of the U.S. 3DEP allows the USGS to gather new topography data and study how landslides shift the landscape from one year to the next. This allows USGS and the states to develop plans and procedures in the event of a landslide to minimize losses.

Landslides have affected numerous communities across the U.S. In 2018, Alaska experienced a devastating series of 43 landslides after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit just north of Anchorage. This disaster caused $76 million in damage, but fortunately, there were no fatalities. Heavy rainfall is the most common cause of landslides, particularly rainfall on burned, steeply sloped terrain (e.g., a post-wildfire debris flow). H.R. 2250 reauthorizes NLHRP at $35 million, which represents an increased authorization of $10 million per year until FY 2030, over the current $25 million levels. It also authorizes 3DEP through FY 2030 at the current authorization of appropriations level of $40 million per year.

H.R. 2556 (Rep. Hunt), “Comprehensive Offshore Resource Enhancement Act of 2025” or the “CORE Act of 2025”

BOEM periodically conducts resource assessments of the OCS and regularly prepares 5- year leasing plans as mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct05) and OCSLA. These assessments, which include Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Resources (UTRR) and Undiscovered Economically Recoverable Resources (UERR), contribute to 5-year program planning and development.

The CORE Act requires BOEM to leverage existing seismic data to resolve boundary disputes, examine unresolved boundaries for decision-maker clarity, and assess joint production feasibility. It also forces BOEM to assess activity by Cuba, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, and Russia to ensure compliance with transboundary agreements to determine whether U.S. revenue is protected from exploitation of cross-border reservoirs with our neighbors.

The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on the CORE Act on July 23, 2024. Provisions that have changed in the current version include the addition of the Transboundary hydrocarbon analysis, U.S.-Canada collaborative boundary delineation instructions, changes to agency roles from Secretary of Defense to Secretary of State, addition of non-energy mineral resource analyses, and comparative analysis of other offshore producing countries’ practices to those of the United States.

H.R. 3168 (Rep. Valadao), “National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2025”

The USGS is in charge of monitoring and reporting earthquakes, assessing damage, and researching their causes and effects. The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is aimed at gaining a better understanding of earthquakes while also reducing risks in the United States. NEHRP is a joint agency effort led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with help from the USGS, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These agencies work together to conduct science, but they also have individual goals for mitigating damage from earthquakes. NEHRP was first authorized in 1977 with the goal of managing the impacts of earthquakes on life, property, and the economy. The program was designed to achieve this goal through a large, coordinated effort between the community of earthquake professionals in academia, businesses, government agencies, and codes and standards organizations that develop earthquake building codes.44 NEHRP has been reauthorized several times, and most recently in 2018. This reauthorization in 2018 established the first operational earthquake early warning system in the United States aptly named ShakeAlert.

Currently, ShakeAlert operates in California, Oregon, and Washington and aims to provide alerts to people who are in the affected areas of an earthquake. This application, run by the USGS, can save thousands of lives and millions of dollars by alerting an individual’s phone or other electronic device, notifying them that an earthquake has been detected. The application has successfully been integrated into several industries across the West Coast, specifically on the Metrolink in Southern California It has been integrated into Metrolink’s Positive Train Control systems to automatically slow or stop trains when an alert is received.

H.R. 3168 reauthorizes NEHRP through FY 2030.

H.R. 3176 (Rep. Begich), To reauthorize the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System

The United States currently has about 170 young volcanoes, and roughly half of those pose a threat due to their proximity to communities and the intensity of their eruptions. Many of these volcanoes are not adequately monitored, and others have no monitoring equipment. The National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System (NVEWS)52 was established in 2019 through the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. This program was new in 2019 and falls under the Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) which has existed since 1980 and is also administered by USGS.

Congress authorized appropriations of $55 million for NVEWS from FY 2019 through FY 2023. In FY 2022, Congress appropriated an additional $2.2 million for NVEWS implementation and $1.8 million for the Mount Rainier lahar detection system out of the $33.3 million appropriated to the VHP. The authorization for NVEWS expired at the end of FY 2023, but its programs have continued to operate as a part of VHP. The USGS operates many volcano observatories across the country, the hubs of which are located in Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Washington. These observatories electronically monitor and research volcanoes while remaining far enough away from the danger of an eruption. These observatories are outfitted with seismometers, GPS receivers, and gas sniffers to track seismicity or detect volcanic gas in the surrounding area.

The goal of NVEWS is to monitor the most active and hazardous volcanoes to give ample time to evacuate the communities in the surrounding area of the volcano. Hawaii is the most at risk state as the islands themselves are active volcanoes, so the nearby cities must be prepared for potential eruptions. Additionally, Alaska has the most volcanoes in its borders of any state at over 130 volcanoes and volcanic fields, and more than 50 have been active in the last 300 years.

H.R. 3176 reauthorizes NVEWS through FY 2030.