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EPA Spill

Secretary Zinke Touts Administration’s Progress to Enhance Public Access to Public Lands

| Posted in Press Release

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources received testimony from Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke on the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget request and DOI’s policy priorities.   “Interior’s 2019 budget prioritizes American interests with targeted investments to advance American energy dominance, enhance public access to public lands, and…

Chairmen Question DOJ Treatment of EPA in Animas River Disaster

| Posted in Press Release

Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chairman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting a briefing. Specifically, the chairmen request DOJ explain its decision not to…

Chairman Bishop Letter to Director Ashe

| Posted in Letters

TO: The Honorable Dan Ashe FROM: Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop Dear Director Ashe: On August 5, 2015, an Environmental Protection Agency-led crew ("EPA") discharged 3 million gallons of contaminated water from the Gold King Mine, located in San Juan County, Colorado into the Animas and the San Juan River systems.  Read the entire letter HERE. 

No Accountability One Year After the EPA-caused, DOI-approved Gold King Mine Disaster

| Posted in Press Release

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Gold King Mine blowout near Silverton, Colorado. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement: “A year later, the Obama Administration still won’t tell us the whole truth. Accounts of events from Interior and EPA have been inconsistent and…

Chairmen’s Letter to Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General Raises Serious Concerns About the Gold King Mine Spill Review

| Posted in Press Release

Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) in a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr., strongly questioned the timing and substance of interviews conducted two weeks ago by EPA officials with material witnesses that could compromise…

Chairmen Letter to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr.

| Posted in Letters

TO: Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr.  FROM: Rob Bishop, Chairman House Committee on Natural Resources Louie Gohmert, Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Dear Inspector General Elkins:  On August 17, 2015, your office, the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") Office of Inspector General ("OIG"), sent a memorandum to EPA Region 8 Administrator Shaun…

Committee Requests Documents from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Peer Review Process of DOI’s Animas Report

| Posted in Press Release

At yesterday’s oversight hearing on the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Role in the EPA’s Animas Spill, both Republicans and Democrats on the Committee raised numerous questions about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) involvement with the peer review process of the Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) study on the EPA’s Animas spill, particularly in light of USACE’s technical…

Gohmert Letter to Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick

| Posted in Letters

TO: Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick FROM: Louie Gohmert, Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Dear General Bostick:  On August 5, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") caused the spill of approximately 3 million gallons of contaminated mine water from the Gold King Mine in San Juan County, Colorado. The contaminated plume traveled through the Animas…

Bishop Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro

| Posted in Letters

TO: The Honorable Gene Dodaro FROM: Rob Bishop, Chairman Dear Mr. Dodaro: On August 5, 2015, an Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") crew working at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado spilled approximately 3 million gallons of contaminated mine water into Cement Creek. The plume then flowed into the Animas River, a tributary of the San Juan River. Four states and…

Bishop Requests GAO Investigate Interior’s Obstructionist Tactics on Gold King Mine Spill

| Posted in Press Release

Following the oversight hearing on the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Role in the EPA’s Animas Spill where Secretary Sally Jewell testified but failed to substantively answer the Committee’s questions, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) requested an independent review from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the scope, objectivity, and thoroughness of the DOI report,…