On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 10:15 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 “Examining the Biden Administration’s Abandoned Mine Lands and
Active Mining Programs.”
Glenda Owens, Deputy Director, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation
and Enforcement
Kyle Wendtland, Administrator, Wyoming Department of Environmental
Quality, Land Quality Division
Dustin Morin, Director, Mining and Reclamation Division, Alabama
Department of Labor
Benjamin McCament, Chief, Division of Mineral Resources Management,
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Peter Morgan, Senior Attorney, Sierra Club Legislative Office
The two programs under Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
(SMCRA) regulating active coal mining and AML
reclamation are Title IV and Title V, respectively. Title IV of
SMCRA establishes the
AML Reclamation Program, which is funded by a
fee on each ton of coal produced. This fee has been reauthorized eight
times, most recently in 2021 under the Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act (IIJA), which lowered the fee level by 20 percent and
reauthorized it through September 30, 2034. The funds raised by these
fees are disbursed through a pre-set formula to states and tribes to
reclaim coal mines on their lands that were abandoned prior to the
enactment of SMCRA in 1977.4 The
IIJA also provided $11.3 billion in additional
funding for reclamation grants, distinct from the funds raised by the
preexisting SMCRA fee on coal production. For
active surface mining, SMCRA has Title V,
which regulates production and details requirements for states to
receive delegated authority to regulate coal mining in their state. As
Title IV funding is exclusively used for AML
reclamation, coal sites regulated under Title V are ineligible for
grants from the AML Reclamation Fund.
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation hearing
examining Coast Guard efforts in drug enforcement, illegal migration,
and illegal, unreported, and unregulated
fishing.
Witnesses:
Rear Admiral Jo-Ann Burdian, Assistant Commandant for Response Policy
(CG-5R), United States Coast Guard
Heather MacLeod, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, United
States Government Accountability Office
Full committee
hearing
to examine innovation in American agriculture, focusing on leveraging
technology and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Mason Earles, Assistant Professor, Viticulture & Enology;
Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Co-PI and Lead of Agricultural
Cluster, AI Institute for Next-Generation Food Systems, University of
California, Davis
Quick, what’s the difference between “carbon dioxide removal” (CDR) and
“carbon capture and storage” (CCS)? And what role might each play in
decarbonizing the global economy fast enough to avoid climate breakdown?
If you’re a climate journalist, you need to know the answers, especially
because CDR and CCS
will both be major bones of contention at
COP28 this November and December.
Get briefed by two of the world’s leading scientists and most gifted
climate communicators: Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist of The
Nature Conservancy and Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University,
and Sir David King, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of
Cambridge and former chief science adviser to the UK government. Join
us
Thursday, Nov. 9, from 12-1pm US Eastern Time.
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and are recorded and published on our YouTube channel.
The purpose of this
hearing
is to examine the implementation of federal coal mine land reclamation
and abandoned coal mine land economic revitalization programs.
Witnesses:
Glenda H.
Owens,
Deputy Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
U.S. Department of the Interior
Rob
Rice,
Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Director, Division of Land Restoration,
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Don
Newton,
Administrator, Abandoned Mine Land Division, Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality
Join us for an election debrief on November 8. We will bring you
real-time analysis of the 2023 election results, what they mean for
climate, and – win or lose – how we prepare for 2024.
Don’t miss this essential post-election discussion with the Climate
Cabinet team. RSVP
today.
On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 10:00 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.
1121
(Rep. Duncan), “Protecting American Energy Production Act”, to
prohibit the President from declaring a moratorium on the use of
hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium. The
bill also expresses the sense of Congress that states should maintain
primacy for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural
gas production on state and private lands;
H.R.
4385
(Rep. Neguse), “Drought Preparedness Act”, to extend authorization of
Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act to 2028;
H.R.
6008
(Rep. Graves of Louisiana), To prohibit the limitation of Gulf of
Mexico oil and gas lease sales to protect the endangered Rice’s whale
until the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries of the National Marine
Fisheries Service issues a new biological opinion relating to the
Rice’s whale; and
H.J. Res.
96
(Rep. Westerman), “Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of
2023.”
