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.
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]
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).
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