Hill Heat

The purpose of the hearing is to examine the President’s budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior for Fiscal Year 2025.

Witness:

• Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior

The Department’s 2025 budget totals $18.0 billion in current authority ($17.8 billion in net discretionary authority)—an increase of $575.9 million, or 3 percent, from the 2024 continuing resolution (CR) level. An additional $360.0 million is accessible through a budget cap adjustment for wildfire suppression to ensure funds are available in the event the regular annual appropriation is inadequate to meet suppression needs. The budget also includes an estimated $14.8 billion in permanent funding available in 2025.

Subcommittee field hearing entitled “Drilling Down: Oversight of the Challenges and Opportunities Facing U.S. Energy Production”.

At The Nature & Retreat Center at Oak Point Park, 5901 Los Rios Boulevard, Plano, Texas 75074.

Witnesses:

• Tim Tarpley, President, Energy Workforce & Technology Council
• Ron Gusek, President, Liberty Energy
• Bill desRosiers, Manager of External Affairs, Coterra Energy

On Monday, April 22, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. (MDT), the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold an oversight field hearing titled “Empowering Local Voices and Stopping Federal Overreach to Improve the Management of Utah’s Public Lands.” The hearing will examine the variety of challenges facing local, Western communities surrounded by significant footprints of federal land.

This hearing will be held at The Rock Bowl, 5665 West Clubhouse Drive, Hurricane, Utah.

Subcommittee hearing entitled “Oversight of the Biden Administration’s Pause on Liquified Natural Gas Exports”. This hearing will examine all aspects of the pause on new permits of LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement countries, which affects American companies’ ability to secure necessary permits, construction, and capitalization of new LNG projects.

Hearing memo

Witness:

• Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy

Subcommittee hearing of the $7.2 billion Food and Drug Administration budget request.

Witness:

• Dr. Robert M. Califf, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration

The FY 2025 President’s Budget provides $8.0 million for Modernization of Cosmetics Implementation, for the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS). These resources will be used to hire additional staff for continued strategic coordination and implementation of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA). Resources will be used for activities to develop proposed and/or final regulations (for Good Manufacturing Practices, asbestos testing of talc-containing cosmetics products, and disclosing fragrance allergens on labeling) and compliance policies. Funds will also be used to maintain and update submission platforms to address MoCRA provisions for registration, product listing, and adverse event reporting, as well as review of such information to ensure industry compliance with those requirements. The new funding would also support hiring additional experts to manage critical projects such as assessments of the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetic products. FDA will hire staff across OCS and the Office of Cosmetics and Colors to enable FDA to work toward a modernized cosmetics regulatory program.

In May 2023, FDA shared testing results for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in 186 samples from two regional collections from the Total Diet Study (TDS).31 PFAS was detected in two cod and two shrimp samples, and one sample each of tilapia, salmon, and ground beef. For the samples where PFAS was detected, each type of PFAS for which there are toxicological reference values (TRVs) was assessed individually. FDA has concluded that exposure to the PFAS at the levels measured in the seven samples are not likely to be a health concern for young children or the general population. These data are consistent with previous TDS testing results; no PFAS have been detected in over 97 percent (701 out of 718) of the fresh and processed foods tested from the TDS. At least one type of PFAS was detected in 44 percent (14 out of 32) of the TDS seafood samples and in 74 percent (60 out of 81) of the samples from the 2022 targeted seafood survey. FDA is committed to maintaining the availability of safe seafood, as it provides key nutrients for children and adults. The Agency will continue to engage with industry and apply the latest science to increase our understanding of the levels of PFAS in seafood, the reasons for the differences within and across types of seafood, and to help identify strategies that can reduce PFAS in seafood. In addition, FDA is available to provide technical assistance to industry as laboratories work to expand their analytical capabilities to test for PFAS in seafood. Since 2019, FDA has expanded its testing methodology from 16 to now 30 types of PFAS in 2023. The Agency is also expanding its research effort by using high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). This will allow FDA to determine which additional types of PFAS, beyond those tested for with the current method, are present in foods and should be included in targeted methods going forward. As part of FDA’s technical assistance to states, the Agency is contributing to research to understand how PFAS is taken up by plants, and how PFAS concentrations vary between plants and parts of a plant. This is an area of research that may help make significant reductions in PFAS exposure from food. For example, by studying PFAS uptake, researchers may help identify plants that can be safely grown in contaminated soil without PFAS uptake to the edible portion of the plant.

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled “Assessing Solutions to Secure America’s Offshore Energy Future.”

This hearing will focus on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) approach to resource assessments, particularly offshore oil and gas reserves on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Andy McConn, Director, Head of Commercial Intelligence, Enverus
• Nikki Martin, President & CEO, EnerGeo Alliance
• Eric Zimmermann, Chief Operating Officer, LLOG Exploration, Covington, LA
• Tyson Slocum, Director, Energy Program, Public Citizen

This month’s Green New Deal Happy Hour is at 6:30 pm at Añejo Bar & Grill in Columbia Heights.

We will be joined by Councilwoman Janeese Lewis-George, the sponsor of DC’s GND for Public Housing and the DC for a GND coalition!

Join the GND Happy Hour list here.

Añejo Bar & Grill
3910 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20011

Subcommittee hearing on the FY 2025 NASA budget request of $25.3 billion, including $7.6 billion for science.

Witness:

• Bill Nelson, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This request proposes $2.4 billion to fund Earth science and observations that enhance our understanding of the Earth system and continues efforts to make data more accessible and useful to a wide range of stakeholders, including scientists and policymakers. This request also includes over $500 million in Aeronautics to improve aircraft efficiency and reduce the climate impact of aviation.

Subcommittee hearing to examine the President’s proposed budget request for fiscal year 2025 for the Department of Defense and Future Years Defense Program. The budget request is $849.8 billion.

Witnesses

• Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense
• General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Michael McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/ Chief Financial Officer, Department of Defense

On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the following bill:

• Discussion Draft of H.R. ___ (Rep. Westerman), “To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel I (Administration Officials):

• Chris French, Deputy Chief of the National Forest System, U.S. Forest Service

Panel II (Outside Experts):

• Cody Desautel, President, Intertribal Timber Council, & Executive Director, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Nespelem, Washington
• Hannah Downey, Policy Director, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, Montana
• Jim Parma, Eastern Fiber Manager, Bell Lumber and Pole, New Brighton, Minnesota
• Dr. Kimiko Barrett, Wildfire Research and Policy Lead, Headwaters Economics, Bozeman, Montana [Minority Witness]

From the GOP memo:

Unprecedented drought facing the West has further weakened overgrown national forests, leaving them extremely vulnerable to wildfire. Recent research has shown that some areas are experiencing the driest conditions in 1,200 years.7 These conditions have turned vast swaths of the nation’s forests into ticking time bombs that can ignite with a single spark. It is no longer a matter of “if” these areas will experience catastrophic wildfire but “when.”

“We know what needs to be done to turn the tide of this crisis and restore our forests to healthy, resilient conditions. Despite the fearmongering of increasingly isolated, radical environmentalists, there is a scientific consensus among a broad array of stakeholders recognizing the importance of active forest management. . . The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), in particular, is a major roadblock in improving the health of our nation’s forests.”