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On Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. ET, in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building and via Cisco WebEx, the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, chaired by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), will hold a hybrid legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 4951 (Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR) To prohibit the use of M-44 devices, commonly known as “cyanide bombs”, on public land, and for other purposes. Canyon’s Law.
• H.R. 7918 (Rep. William Keating, D-MA) To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Grant Program. Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Act of 2022.
• H.R. 7975 (Rep. Tim Walberg, R-MI) To provide for the issuance of a Great Lakes Restoration Semipostal Stamp. Great Lakes Restoration Semipostal Stamp Act of 2022.
• H.R. 8090 (Rep. Katie Porter, D-CA) To reauthorize funding for the Reclamation Climate Change and Water Program.

Legislative hearing to receive testimony on S. 4104, S. 4439 & H.R. 5221.

Legislation:

• S. 4104, Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
• S. 4439, Katimiîn and Ameekyáaraam Sacred Lands Act. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
• H.R. 5221, Urban Indian Health Confer Act. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.

Update: This meeting has been postponed.

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a business meeting to consider the following items:

• Joseph Goffman to be Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation for the Environmental Protection Agency
• Annie Caputo to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Bradley Crowell to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• 15 GSA resolutions

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 10 a.m. EDT to consider President Biden’s nomination of Dr. Arati Prabhakar to be Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Nominee:

• Dr. Arati Prabhakar to be Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (PN2267)

Dr. Arati Prabhakar served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2012 to 2017. Prabhakar was the first woman, at 34 years old, to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). From 1993 to 1997, she helped take the Manufacturing Extension Partnership from seed stage to national scale to boost the competitiveness of small- and mid-size manufacturers, and also the Advanced Technology Program to stimulate early-stage advanced technology development. Prabhakar spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, working to bring R&D to deployment as a company executive and as a venture capitalist. Prabhakar’s family immigrated from India to the United States when she was three years old. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, where she also earned an M.S. in electrical engineering.

On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET in 1324 Longworth Hearing Room, via Webex, and livestreamed on the Committee’s YouTube page, the Committee on Natural Resources will meet to consider the following bills:

• H.R. 6353 (Rep. Susan Wild), To authorize the National Service Animals Monument Corporation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes. National Service Animals Memorial Act.
• H.R. 6438 (Rep. Ken Buck), To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of the site known as “Dearfield” in the State of Colorado. Dearfield Study Act.
• H.R. 6799 (Rep. Brad R. Wenstrup), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing the John P. Parker House in Ripley, Ohio, as a unit of the National Park System. John P. Parker House Study Act.
• H.R. 7618 (Rep. Shontel M. Brown), To designate the Kol Israel Foundation Holocaust Memorial in Bedford Heights, Ohio, as a national memorial.
• H.R. 8393 (Chair Raúl M. Grijalva), To enable the people of Puerto Rico to choose a permanent, nonterritorial, fully self-governing political status for Puerto Rico and to provide for a transition to and the implementation of that permanent, nonterritorial, fully self-governing political status, and for other purposes. Puerto Rico Status Act. Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute

Hearing page

Chair Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.)

On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. ET, Rep. Ro Khanna, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, will hold a hybrid hearing to examine regenerative agriculture, the role it can play in preventing the worst of the climate crisis while protecting food supply, and the urgent need to reform federal policies that unjustly favor corporate agribusiness, often at the expense of family farmers.

Witnesses:

• Bonnie Haugen, Dairy Farmer, Filmore County, Minnesota
• Doug Doughty, Grain Farmer and Cattle Producer, Livingston County, Missouri
• Kara Boyd, President, Association of American Indian Farmers
• Dr. Rachel E. Schattman, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, University of Maine
• Brian Lacefield – Minority witness, Director, Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy

Climate change fundamentally threatens the world’s food supply as extreme weather events, water scarcity, pests, and warming make it harder to grow staple crops and renders farmland unusable. Regenerative agricultural practices, such as rotating crops, can help reduce and reverse the desertification of farmland, increase nutrients in the soil, and enhance food security.

The unfair market power held by corporate agribusiness, however, limits the freedom for small- and medium-sized farmers to adopt regenerative agricultural practices. While a small number of companies control most of the market for beef, pork, and grain, family farmers earn just 16 cents of every dollar spent on food.

The federal government already supports regenerative agriculture and conservation methods, but many of these programs are oversubscribed and under resourced. Some federal policy, however, supports inherently unsustainable practices, such as concentrated feeding operations, which produce large amounts of waste that cause significant greenhouse gas emissions and can runoff into water resources.

The hearing will examine how Congress can amend federal policies that unjustly protect corporate agribusiness, often at the expense of family farmers, and fully fund farm conservation programs.

The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, led by Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), will hold a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 3681 (Soto), To direct the United States Geological Survey to establish a program to map zones that are at greater risk of sinkhole formation, and for other purposes. Sinkhole Mapping Act of 2021.
• H.R. 5522 (Kind), To require the Secretary of the Interior to develop and maintain a cadastre of Federal real property. Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act.
• H.R. 5805 (Stansbury), To withdraw certain Bureau of Land Management Land from mineral development. Buffalo Tract Protection Act.
• H.R. 5350 (Fulcher), To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under geothermal leases, and for other purposes. Enhancing Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act.

Witnesses

Panel I: Administration Panel

• Michael D. Nedd (H.R. 5805, H.R. 5350), Deputy Director for Operations, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior

Panel II: Expert Witness Panel

• Jonathan Arthur (H.R. 3681), Executive Director, American Geosciences Institute
• Mary-Rose de Valladares (H.R. 5805), Chair, Land Use Protection Trust
• John Byrd (H.R. 5522), President, Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies
• Sarah Jewett (H.R. 5350), Director of Strategy, Fervo Energy, on behalf of Geothermal Rising

The purpose of the hearing is to examine federal regulatory authorities governing the development of interstate hydrogen pipelines, storage, import, and export facilities.

Witnesses:

• Dr. Holly Krutka, Executive Director of the School of Energy Resources, The University of Wyoming
• Andy Marsh, President & CEO, Plug
• Richard E. Powers, Jr., Esq., Partner and Head of the Energy Practice Group, Venable LLP
• Chad Zamarin, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategic Development, Williams

Hearing page

Witness:

• Alan F. Estevez, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce