On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 10:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight hearing titled “Abuse of the Equal Access to Justice Act by Environmental NGOs.”
Witnesses:
Dan Rohlf, Professor of Law, Director, Earthrise Law Center, Lewis and Clark Law School (Democratic witness)
Regina Lennox, Senior Litigation Counsel, Safari Club International
Travis Joseph, President and CEO, American Forest Resource Council
Todd Wilkinson, South Dakota Rancher
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 allows litigants who win cases to protect endangered species to collect litigation costs (Section 11(g)(4)).
The Equal Access to Justice Act of 1980 authorizes attorney fees to individuals and businesses that win cases against the U.S. Government, but eligibility requirements apply to individuals ($2 million net worth) and businesses ($7 million net worth). On the other hand, there are no requirements applied to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Right-wing anti-environmental organizations like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation advocate for limiting the practical application of the Endangered Species Act by limiting these awards to environmental organizations.
Legislation has been introduced, such as the Endangered Species Transparency and Reasonableness Act of 2025 (H.R. 180), to impose such limits.
The proposed FENCES Act would let states escape having EPA designate an area as
“nonattainment” for a national ambient air quality standard by blaming ambient air quality
exceedances on sources outside their borders or outside the country — even though
residents are indisputably breathing unhealthy air.
The Clean Air and Economic Advancement Reform (CLEAR) Act would make several changes to the Clean Air Act, including
amending section 109(d) to extend the current NAAQS review cycle from five years
to 10 years; section 109(b)(1) to allow consideration of attainability when choosing
among a range of air quality standards that are protective of human health and the
environment; section 110(c)(1) to provide states the opportunity to address concerns
in a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission before a Federal Implementation
Plan is issued; and section 1825 to eliminate certain demonstration requirements in a
SIP to promote increased technological innovations in control technologies.
The legislation also includes provisions similar to H.R. 6387 concerning how certain
events including fires, drought, and heat, are considered as part of the NAAQS
process and H.R. 6409 concerning how non-attainment areas are classified as severe
or extreme for ozone or as serious for particulate matter, and sanctions are imposed
for implementation plan deficiencies under section 179.
The Clean Air Act section 319 allows states to petition EPA to exclude air pollution
caused by “exceptional events” from EPA’s consideration in determining whether an area is
violating a national ambient air quality standard. The proposed FIRE Act (H.R. 6387) would revise the
definition of “exceptional event” to explicitly include prescribed fires undertaken to reduce
the risk and severity of wildfires. The bill also would make other changes designed to make
it easier for states to demonstrate that an ambient air quality standard violation resulted
from an exceptional event.
The proposed bill is unnecessary because EPA’s regulations already establish
criteria for prescribed fires to be treated as “exceptional events.” More importantly, the
proposed bill would put public health at risk by relaxing the required demonstration a state
must make for an ambient air quality standard exceedance to be disregarded due to it being
caused by an exceptional event. Such
lax criteria for exceptional events would contravene the statutory principle in Clean Air Act
section 319 “that each State must take necessary measures to safeguard public health
regardless of the source of the air pollution.”
The Clean Air and Building Infrastructure Improvement Act (H.R. 4214) amends section 1097 require EPA to concurrently publish regulations
and guidance for implementing a revised NAAQS and prevent the new or revised
standards from applying to preconstruction permit applications until the
Administrator has published such final regulations and guidance. It also clarifies that
nothing in the subsection eliminates the obligation of a preconstruction permit
applicant to install the best available control technology and lowest achievable
emission rate technology, and clarifies that nothing in the subsection limits the
authority of a state, local, or Tribal permitting authority to impose more stringent
emissions requirements pursuant to a state, local, or tribal law than NAAQS.
The legislation also provides that the 2024 PM2.5 standard shall not apply to the
review and disposition of a preconstruction permit application if a permit application
is completed on or before the date of promulgation of the final designation of an area;
or a public notice of a preliminary determination on a draft permit is provided within
60 days after the date of final designation of an area.
The so-called “New Source Review Permitting Improvement” Act (H.R. 161) would essentially eliminate NSR for emissions-increasing changes made to our nation’s largest industrial sources.
The proposed “Air Permitting Improvements to Protect National Security” Act (H.R. 6373)
would authorize the President to exempt proposed large new or modified semiconductor
manufacturing facilities and facilities that extract, process, refine, or mill a “critical mineral”
from the requirement to “offset” the new air pollution they will cause with air pollution
reductions within the same airshed.
Clean Air Act section 309 grants EPA authority to review and comment on the
environmental impact of (1) legislation proposed by any Federal department or agency, (2)
newly authorized Federal projects for construction and certain other major Federal agency
actions, and (3) proposed regulations published by any Federal department or agency.
The proposed “RED Tape” Act would eliminate all of EPA’s section 309 authority except for
its authority to comment on proposed legislation.
The purpose of this hearing, entitled “The Genesis Mission: Prioritizing American Science and Technology Leadership,” is to examine President Trump’s executive order, “Launching the Genesis Mission.” This hearing will also review the Department of Energy (DOE)’s recent reorganization and evaluate how these changes impact the goals and priorities of its civilian research, development, demonstration, and commercial programs.
Darío Gil, Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy
The executive order “Launching the Genesis Mission” was published on November 24th and the Department of Energy website published on November 25th. The list of corporate collaborators on the site includes AWS, AMD, Microsoft, IBM, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, and Anthropic. The website was built by DOGE operatives Ed “Big Balls” Coristine and Joe Gebbia.
Unlike the broader Department of Energy reorganization, this project was authorized by Congress in section 50404 of the One Big Brutal Bill Act, “Transformational Artificial Intelligence Models,” which appropriated $150 million for national lab-private sector AI partnerships.
Multi-Office particle Accelerator Team (MOAT): MOAT currently includes partners from Argonne, Brookhaven, Fermi, Jefferson, Oak Ridge, and SLAC national laboratories, as well as industrial partners at Advanced Micro Devices, Kitware, Nusano, NVIDIA, Radiasoft, and Xlight. This continues ongoing AI-assisted particle accelerator research. Jean-Luc Vay is MOAT’s lead and the head of the Advanced Modeling Program in the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division.
SYNAPS-I (Synergistic Neutron and Photon Autonomous Science – Imaging). The effort will integrate foundation models across all participating light and neutron sources, enabling unified analysis of imaging data from cutting-edge X-ray and neutron instruments at seven DOE Basic Energy Sciences user facilities, including the ALS, a synchrotron light source that produces X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared light. Alex Hexemer, ALS senior scientist is the SYNAPS-I lead point of contact.
Orchestrated Platform for Autonomous Laboratories to Accelerate AI-Driven BioDesign (OPAL) project is using robotic systems, AI agents and models, and standardized data-sharing platforms to accelerate the biotechnology pipeline. Paul Adams is the Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences and OPAL lead point of contact. OPAL is an ongoing initiative supported by DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) and Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) programs.
The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:
S. 290, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to upgrade existing emergency communications centers in units of the National Park System to Next Generation 9-1-1 systems, and for other purposes (Barrasso);
S. 332, to require a study on Holocaust education efforts of States, local educational agencies, and public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes (Rosen);
S. 446, to prohibit Big Cypress National Preserve from being designated as wilderness or as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other purposes (Scott);
S. 573, to designate a mountain in the State of Alaska as Denali (Murkowski);
S. 601, to remove restrictions from a parcel of land in Paducah, Kentucky (Paul);
S. 730, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of establishing the African Burial Ground International Memorial Museum and Educational Center at the African Burial Ground National Monument, and for other purposes (Gillibrand);
S. 791, to establish the Justice Thurgood Marshall National Historic Site in the State of Maryland as an affiliated area of the National Park System, and for other purposes (Van Hollen);
H.R. 186 / S. 858, to authorize the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation to establish a commemorative work on the National Mall to honor the extraordinary acts of valor, selfless service, and sacrifice displayed by Medal of Honor recipients (Rep. Moore) / (Justice);
S. 1088, to provide that the memorial to commemorate the sacrifice and service of the women who worked on the home front to support the efforts of the United States military during World War II may be located on the National Mall, and for other purposes (Shaheen);
S. 1131, to establish the Ocmulgee Mounds National Park and Preserve in the State of Georgia, and for other purposes (Ossoff);
S. 1135, to amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (Curtis);
S. 1280, to designate six creeks in North Carolina in honor of the lives lost in a plane crash in Carteret County, North Carolina, on February 13, 2022, and for other purposes (Tillis);
S. 1353, to extend the authority for modifications to the Second Division Memorial in the District of Columbia (Murkowski);
S. 1377, to ensure the maintenance of a herd of horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and for other purposes (Hoeven);
S. 1518, to redesignate the Saratoga National Historical Park as the “Saratoga National Battlefield Park” (Gillibrand);
S. 1777, to amend the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 to expand the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park, to redesignate the Cottonwood Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park as the “Dianne Feinstein Visitor Center”, and for other purposes (Padilla);
S. 1870, to adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and for other purposes (Schiff);
S. 1926, to encourage reduction of disposable plastic products in units of the National Park System, and for other purposes (Merkley);
S. 2270, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate the portion of the Myakka River in Sarasota County, Florida, as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes (Scott);
S. 2308, to amend the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to collect a surcharge from international visitors to units of the National Park System, and for other purposes (Banks);
S. 2369, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to remove or permanently conceal the name of Francis Newlands on the grounds of the memorial fountain located at Chevy Chase Circle in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes (Van Hollen);
S. 2385, to codify Executive Order 14253 relating to restoring truth and sanity to American history, and for other purposes (Banks);
S. 2546, to provide for an extension of the legislative authority of the National Emergency Medical Services Memorial Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs (Coons);
S. 2708, to enhance the preservation, maintenance, and management of national historic trails and national scenic trails, and for other purposes (Kaine);
S. 2970, to authorize the use of off-highway vehicles in certain areas of the Capitol Reef National Park, Utah (Lee); and
Witnesses:
Panel 1
Tim Kaine, United States Senator (D-VA)
Chris Van Hollen, United States Senator (D-MD)
Panel 2
Mike Caldwell, Associate Director, Park Planning, Facilities, and Lands, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a full committee Executive Session on Monday, December 8, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. ET to consider the following nominations:
Nomination of
John DeLeeuw, of Texas, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board. Deferred.
Michael Graham, of Virginia, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board. Reported favorably 19-9.
Steven Haines, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis. Deferred.
Robert Harvey, of Florida, to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner. Deferred.
Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reported favorably 18-10: Cantwell, Tammy Baldwin, and John Fetterman joining Republicans.
Richard Kloster, of West Virginia, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board. Deferred.
Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, to be Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Reported favorably 23-5.
Ryan McCormack, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy. Reported favorably 18-10.
Hearing entitled ““Strategic Trajectories: Assessing China’s Space Rise and the Risks to U.S. Leadership.” The purpose of the hearing is to examine the progress of the People’s Republic of China in
achieving its goal of becoming a dominant space power. It will outline China’s objectives for its
national space programs, both in terms of completing space missions and in advancing its
geopolitical influence. The hearing will evaluate China’s space strategy, including the benefits of
a consistent political direction, sustained funding, and its military-civil fusion approach. Finally,
it will highlight the risks of ceding leadership in space exploration to China, with a particular
focus on the Moon, as well as the broader economic, geopolitical, and national security
consequences of China attaining preeminence in space.