Hill Heat

On Thursday, July 20, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• Discussion draft of H.R. ___ (Rep. Kiggans), “Military and Veterans in Parks (MVP) Act”;
• H.R. 1786 (Rep. Levin), “GROW Act”, to establish a pilot program to employ veterans in federal jobs that relate to conservation, resource management, and environmental protection;
• H.R. 1829 (Rep. Crane), To require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site to Gila County, Arizona; and
• H.R. 2468 (Rep. Owens), “Mountain View Corridor Completion Act”, to convey to the State of Utah certain Federal land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management within the boundaries of Camp Williams, Utah for a highway project.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel I (Members of Congress):

• To Be Announced

Panel II (Administration Officials):

• Jacqueline Emanuel, Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System, U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C. [Discussion Draft of the MVP Act, H.R. 1829]
• Frank Lands, Deputy Director for Operations, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. [Discussion Draft of the MVP Act, H.R. 1786, H.R. 2468]

Panel III (Outside Experts):

• Woody Cline, Supervisor, Gila County, Arizona [H.R. 1829]
• Lisa Wilson, Deputy Director of Engineering and Operations, Utah Department of Transportation, Salt Lake City, Utah [H.R. 2468]
• Marc Berejka, Divisional Vice President, Community Advocacy & Impact, REI, Kent, Washington [Discussion Draft of the MVP Act]
• Jeremy Villanueva, Government Affairs Associate Director, Wounded Warrior Project, Washington, D.C. [Discussion Draft of the MVP Act and H.R. 1786] [Minority Witness]

Subcommittee hearing on rural water systems.

• Chair Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
• Ranking member Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)

Witnesses:

• Jennifer Day, Director of Development, RCAP Solutions, Worcester, MA
• Joseph Duncan, Professional Engineer, Champlain Water District/Green Mountain Water Environment Association, South Burlington, VT
• Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder and CEO, The Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Science, Huntsville, AL
• Pauli Undesser, Chief Executive Officer, Water Quality Association and Water Quality Research Foundation, Lisle, IL
• Robert N. White IV, Executive Director, Alabama Rural Water Association, Montgomery, AL

Subcommittee hearing on the FY2024 budget of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Chair Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

Witness:

• Gary Gensler, Chairperson, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

The purpose of this hearing is to provide oversight of the Bureau of Reclamation and to receive testimony on the following bills:

• S. 461, to make certain irrigation districts eligible for Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program pumping power, and for other purposes (Cramer);
• S. 482, to amend the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2000 to provide the Secretary of the Interior with certain authorities with respect to projects affecting the Klamath Basin watershed, and for other purposes (Wyden);
• S. 739, to clarify jurisdiction with respect to certain Bureau of Reclamation pumped storage development, and for other purposes (Kelly);
• S. 1118, to establish the Open Access Evapotranspiration (OpenET) Data Program (Cortez Masto);
• S. 1215, to require assessments of opportunities to install and maintain floating photovoltaic solar panels at Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of Engineers projects, and for other purposes (King);
• S. 1521, to amend the Federal Power Act to modernize and improve the licensing of non-Federal hydropower projects, and for other purposes (Daines/Cantwell);
• S. 1662, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Midvale Irrigation District the Pilot Butte Power Plant in the State of Wyoming, and for other purposes (Barrasso);
• S. 1955, to amend the Central Utah Project Completion Act to authorize expenditures for the conduct of certain water conservation measures in the Great Salt Lake basin, and for other purposes (Lee); 
• S. 2102, to provide for drought preparedness and improved water supply reliability (Wyden);
• S. 2160, to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to authorize certain extraordinary operation and maintenance work for urban canals of concern (Risch);
• S. 2161, to provide financial assistance for projects to address certain subsidence impacts in the State of California, and for other purposes (Feinstein);
• S. 2162, to support water infrastructure in Reclamation States, and for other purposes (Feinstein);
• S. 2166, to amend the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to provide grants to States and Indian Tribes for programs to voluntarily repurpose agricultural land to reduce consumptive water use, and for other purposes (Padilla);
• S. 2169, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out watershed pilots, and for other purposes (Wyden);
• S. 2202, to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to authorize the modification of transferred works to increase public benefits and other project benefits as part of extraordinary operation and maintenance work, and for other purposes (Feinstein);
• S. 2247, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to continue to implement endangered fish recovery programs for the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins, and for other purposes (Hickenlooper/Romney).

Full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Bill.

• FY24 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies - Subcommittee Mark

• FY24 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies – Bill Summary

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

Markup memo

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.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• 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.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• 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

Full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2024 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bill.

Text of Legislation

• FY24 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies - Full Committee Mark

Documents

• FY24 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies – Report
• FY24 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies – Bill Summary
• Notice of FY24 Full Committee Markup – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bill

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.