Recent News and Upcoming Events
CONGRESSIONAL CALENDAR
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013 10 AM 2167 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. |
House Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation will hold a hearing on Maritime Transportation, The Role of U.S. Ships and Mariners. More information on this hearing is available here. |
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013 10:30 AM 1334 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. |
House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs will hold an Oversight Hearing on “Data collection issues in relation to the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.” More information on this hearing is available here. |
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 2 PM 2167 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. |
House Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment will hold a hearing on Fiscal 2014 EPA Budget. More information on this hearing is available here. |
WHITE HOUSE RELEASES NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE ARCTIC REGION
This month, the White House released the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. The Administration hopes this strategy will position the nation to respond to new opportunities in the Arctic while ensuring that environmental protections are put in place. Priorities outlined in the Strategy include advancing security interests, pursuing responsible Arctic region stewardship, and improving international cooperation. Means of pursuing priorities are framed in a way that aims to ensure regional stability, utilize the best information possible to facilitate decision making, take advantage of innovative ideas, and make certain that Alaskan Native communities are protected. This week, Secretary of State, John Kerry, met with seven Arctic counterparts in Kiruna, Sweden at the biannual meeting of the Arctic Council. Council colleagues include Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Russia and Sweden.
SENATE PASSES WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT BILL
This week, the Senate passed S.601, Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2013, which will provide funding for water projects involving navigation, flood control, and environmental restoration. Last week, the Senate passed several amendments to this bill, including Senator Whitehouse’s National Endowment for the Ocean. The chamber still had to consider the full bill, which passed in a vote of 83 to 14. It includes a means of increasing money available from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for dredging and other harbor projects through 2020, and provisions designed to expedite environmental permitting. For example, the bill would impose penalties on agencies that fail to meet permitting decision time frames. The bill will also create a loan program for water infrastructure projects.
The next step is House consideration of WRDA. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA-9) has expressed a determination to pass a separate House bill that can be conferenced with the Senate. A House version of WRDA might include an expedited process for phasing out diversion of funds from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and an increase of the diesel tax that funnels into the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. An environmental sticking point may be the permitting process – with House Republicans likely to ask that additional streamlining measures be implemented in addition to those passed in the Senate version of the Bill.
