This
briefing
will highlight the immense scope and scale of the environmental
devastation Russia has wrought in Ukraine during its war of aggression,
estimate the still-unfolding impacts on the people of Ukraine and its
natural environment, and consider the multifaceted challenges to
ensuring Russian accountability.
Panelists:
Eugene Z. Stakhiv – Retired Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University
Maryna Baydyuk – President and Executive Director, United Help Ukraine
Kristina Hook – Assistant Professor of Conflict Management, School of
Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development, Kennesaw State
University
In the ten years since Russia launched its war of aggression against
Ukraine, Ukraine estimates that Russia has inflicted some $60 billion in
damages to Ukraine’s natural and man-made environments and pushed
Ukraine to the brink of ecological collapse. Vast swaths of Ukraine are
contaminated with landmines, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. Hundreds
of thousands of square miles of agricultural lands are decimated,
groundwater contaminated, and nature reserves consumed by fire.
In June 2023, the catastrophic destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam
alone killed or displaced hundreds of Ukrainians, limited the
availability of water for irrigation and sanitation purposes, and
increased the risk of a nuclear disaster at the nearby Zaporizhzhia
power plant. While the full scale of Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s
environment is both ongoing and difficult to assess, it is sufficiently
vast that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has initiated investigations not
only into possible war crimes but also willful acts of environmental
destruction, or “ecocide,” punishable under Ukrainian law.
It is clear that the havoc wrought by Russia’s actions will endure for
decades and that Ukraine will require both international and
intergenerational support to adequately address it.
Joint Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
The purpose of the
hearing
is to consider the nomination of Shannon A. Estenoz to be Deputy
Secretary of the Interior.
Witness:
Shannon A. Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and
Parks, Department of the Interior
Estenoz is currently Assistant
Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Previously, Shannon served as
Interior’s Director of Everglades Restoration Initiatives and Executive
Director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.
Shannon’s twenty four-year career in conservation includes roles with
the World Wildlife Fund and the National Parks Conservation Association,
and appointments by three Florida Governors including to the Governing
Board of the South Florida Water Management District. Shannon is a fifth
generation native of Key West, Florida, and holds degrees in
International Affairs and Civil Engineering from Florida State
University.
Eric Beightel, Executive Director, Federal Permitting Improvement
Steering Council
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council)
was established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation Act (FAST-41), charged with improving the transparency
and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization
process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting
Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who
serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency council members
(including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of
Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense,
Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the Council
on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget.
The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and
authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for
FAST-41 coverage.
FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to
comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative
management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard.
FAST-41 covered projects may be in the
renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission,
energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways,
water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon
capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning,
high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software,
quantum information science and technology, data storage and data
management, and cybersecurity sectors.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee