On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 9:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House
Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will hold a
mark-up
on the following bills:
H.R.
1607
(Rep. Schweikert, R-Ariz.), To clarify jurisdiction with respect to
certain Bureau of Reclamation pumped storage development on the Salt
River Project, and for other purposes (legislative
hearing);
H.R.
2839
(Rep. Hoyle), To amend the Siletz Reservation Act to address the
hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights of the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and for other purposes; and
H.R.
4374
(Rep. Crane, R-Ariz.), “Energy Opportunities for All Act,” to
overturn
Biden administration protections of Chaco Canyon
Bills expected to move by unanimous consent are H.R. 1607 (Rep.
Schweikert), To clarify jurisdiction with respect to certain Bureau of
Reclamation pumped storage development, and for other purposes, and H.R.
2839 (Rep. Hoyle), To amend the Siletz Reservation Act to address the
hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights of the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and for other purposes.
In 1905, Congress and the Secretary withdrew the majority of the
National Forest System lands adjacent to Apache Lake where two potential
pumped storage sites are located. H.R. 1607 would extend this withdrawal
by two miles to capture the upper reservoir sites and associated
infrastructure to clarify that the Bureau of Reclamation has
jurisdiction to evaluate the development of such facilities. The
legislation does not remove the need for federal and state environmental
permitting and public input processes including but not limited to those
required under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species
Act, Tribal consultations, National Historic Preservation Act and Bald
and Gold Eagle Protection Act.
In June, the Biden administration issued a Public Land Order placing a
moratorium on 336,404.42 acres of federal mineral estate surrounding the
Chaco Canyon National Historical Park for 20 years.
The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight
hearing
on “ESA at 50: The Destructive Cost of the
ESA,” on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m.
EDT in room 1324 Longworth House Office
Building.
Janet Coit, Deputy Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
Martha Williams, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.,
Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Justin Jahnz, Chief Executive Officer, East Central Energy, Braham, MN
Sean Vibbert, Owner, Obsidian Seed Company, Madras, OR
Jonathan Wood, Vice President of Law and Policy, Property and
Environment Research Center, Bozeman, MT
Dan Ashe, President and CEO, Association of
Zoos and Aquariums, Silver Spring, MD
The Endangered Species Act (P.L. 93-205 or the Act) was enacted in 1973:
“…to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered
species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a
program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened
species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the
purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth” in the Act.”
Under the current framework, Section 4 of the
ESA charges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to review and act on petitions
to list species as threatened or endangered and to designate their
critical habitat. Private lands play a significant role in managing and
recovery endangered and threatened species. As environmentalist Aldo
Leopold put it, “conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the
private landowner who conserves the public interest.” In February 2023,
the USFWS reported that “two-thirds of
federally listed species have at least some habitat on private land, and
some species have most of their remaining habitat on private land.” For
example, according to the Audubon Society more than 80 percent of the
grassland and wetlands that provide essential bird habitat are in
private ownership.
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. (ET) in 2322 Rayburn House
Office Building, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will
hold a hearing entitled, “Examining Emerging Threats to Electric Energy
Infrastructure.”
Manny
Cancel,
Chief Executive Officer, Electric Information Sharing and Analysis
Center, and Senior Vice President, North American Electric Reliability
Corporation
Sam
Chanoski,
Technical Relationship Manager, Idaho National Laboratory
Paul N.
Stockton,
Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory
Bruce Walker, President and Chief Security Office, Alliance for
Critical Infrastructure Security, Inc
Subcommittee
hearing
on U.S. foreign policy priorities in East Asia and the Pacific and the
FY 2024 Budget Request.
Witnesses:
Daniel
Kritenbrink,
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S.
Department of State
Michael
Ronning,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, Asia Bureau, U.S. Agency for
International Development
For East Asia and the Pacific, USAID’s
FY 2024 budget request includes $279.3 million
for climate, which is a $108.8 million increase, or 64 percent, over the
FY 2023 request. The FY 2024 request
emphasizes the Administration’s priority of addressing climate change by
reducing emissions, protecting critical ecosystems, implementing legal
and regulatory reforms, mitigating resource conflicts, helping nations
transition to renewable energy, and building resilience against the
impacts of climate change. There is significant demand for this support
from our partners across the region. The FY
2024 request includes a significant increase for regional
programming on climate adaptation in IPEF
countries. With this funding, USAID will be
able to respond to IPEF partners’ priorities,
as articulated in the course of the IPEF
negotiations, to help them implement IPEF
commitments and grow their economies, as well as the economy of the
United States. We will support them in climate change adaptation through
investments in agriculture systems and food supplies, nature-driven
solutions, resilient cities, and investments in climate-friendly
infrastructure, in alignment with the Partnership for Global
Infrastructure and Investment. Across the region,
USAID will enhance climate change adaptation
and mitigation by improving access to, and use of, information and tools
that can help countries slow, stop, and reverse rapid deforestation,
improve land and natural resources management, and prepare and respond
to the impacts of climate change. USAID will
support net-zero energy grid development in Asia by promoting power
sector reforms, supporting the deployment of stateof-the-art energy
systems and technologies, and modernizing power grids. With
FY 2024 resources,
USAID will help our Pacific Islands neighbors
realize their own ambitious climate adaptation and mitigation goals by
advancing the adoption of renewable energy sources, increasing access to
infrastructure that is resilient to a changing climate, and
strengthening early warning systems for climate-induced disasters. To
promote transformative adaptation and resilience solutions,
FY 2024 resources will help more residents to
adopt climate-smart livelihoods and mobilize additional climate
financing. Since 2016, USAID has mobilized
more than $500 million dollars for Pacific Island countries from
international climate finance institutions and supported local
institutions to receive full accreditation to directly access
international climate finance. With FY 2024
resources, USAID will also improve the
performance of energy utilities, increase transparent private sector
investments in the energy sector, and expand off-grid clean energy
systems in Pacific Island countries. In addition, the request will allow
USAID to boost the resilience of communities
around the region so that they can keep working and earning a
living—despite the negative impacts of climate change. In Vietnam, for
example, USAID will use FY
2024 resources to protect the landscapes and biodiversity that
agricultural communities depend on. We will continue to develop
sustainable, climate-smart livelihoods, building on success creating
jobs in parks, conservation zones, and watershed protection areas as
well as in ecotourism. In the Philippines, which the 2022 World Risk
Index ranked as the country with the highest disaster risk,
USAID will improve the coping capacities of
vulnerable communities in the face of disaster and capitalize on the use
of climate-smart technologies to advance U.S. leadership in addressing
climate security, as well as food security.
USAID will also continue to engage our
partners in the region and identify adaptation needs in Pacific Island
countries, where extreme weather and shifting climate patterns pose an
existential threat. Although collectively these nations contribute less
than half a percent of global greenhouse emissions, they are on the
frontlines of the struggle against climate threats.
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office
Building, the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security will
hold a legislative
hearing
entitled “American Nuclear Energy Expansion: Updating Policies for
Efficient, Predictable Licensing and Deployment.”
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 AM ET, the
Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security,
led by Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), will hold a
hearing
to examine the existing and future security threats in the Arctic Region
and opportunities for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to effectively respond and address
these threats.
Witnesses:
Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs, Congressional Research
Service
Luke Coffey, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Esther
Brimmer,
James H. Binger Senior Fellow in Global Governance, Council on Foreign
Relations
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2220 of the Rayburn
House Office Building, the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial
Institutions and Monetary Policy will hold a
hearing
titled “Climate-Risk: Are Financial Regulators Politically Independent?”
Michael S. Gibson, Director, Division of Supervision and Regulation,
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Greg Coleman, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Large Bank Supervision,
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Doreen Eberley, Director, Division of Risk Management and Supervision,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Rendell L. Jones, Deputy Executive Director, National Credit Union
Administration
Sarah Benatar, Treasurer, Coconino County, Arizona
The hearing will examine recent actions by federal banking regulators to
incorporate climate-related financial risks into financial institutions’
risk management frameworks and to monitor and guide those frameworks.
The hearing will also examine recent actions by federal banking
regulators to incorporate recommendations related to climate-related
financial risks of Executive Orders, the Financial Stability Oversight
Council, Executive-Branch-led working groups, and international
non-governmental organizations. Many recent climate-related financial
risk actions by regulators closely align with President Biden’s May 20,
2021, Executive Order on ClimateRelated Financial Risk (EO 14030) and,
relatedly, the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s determination of
climate change as “an emerging and increasing threat to financial
stability” on October 21, 2021.
House Financial Services Committee
Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee