Doc Hastings News

By a vote of two hundred and forty-one to one hundred and seventy-five, the U.S. House tonight opted to approve a Republican-backed bill that essentially seeks to give Canadian petroleum giant TransCanada final approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline through the American Midwest .

An effort to return some federal payments already made to counties that contain national forest lands, including Lincoln County, is being questioned by the chair of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources.

When a key House of Representatives panel took up a bill this week that would require annual lease sales and streamline permitting in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, home state Rep.

U.S. President Barack Obama was the last obstacle to getting the Keystone XL oil pipeline built through the country, the chairman of a House committee said.

House Republicans recently announced the creation of the Endangered Species Act Working Group, which will be led by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings and Western Caucus Co-Chair Cynthia Lummis .

Rep. Tom Cole , Oklahoma Republican, said Wednesday that he was confident Oklahoma will get the help it needs in the wake of the deadly tornado that swept through the state, adding that "these are awfully tough people, and we've done this before, sadly, so we're pretty good at dealing with it." Mr.

The sequester is forcing layoffs across the Pentagon's civilian workforce, no budget negotiators have been named, and the Farm Bill is a year late in coming.

When it comes to enforcing the environmental laws concerning certain species of federally-protected birds, the Obama administration and their environmentalist allies have been impressively diligent in charging oil companies, coal plants, and power stations when said birds get tangled up in their power lines or drown in their waste pits; in the past ... (more)

"Saturday Night Live" had some fun with last week's marathon Benghazi hearing, marrying House Republicans' fervor for media attention with the basic tenet of sweeps week programming, like stunt casting: We can't quibble with the logic of exploiting newsmakers to make people notice what's happening on Capitol Hill - frustrated conservatives bemoaned ... (more)

The federal government has sent Alabama a bill for $94,000, and Gov. Robert Bentley is refusing to pay it.

"You're absolutely right about the urgency of this," said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden to Lisa Murkowski .

The U.S. government has an obligation to ensure that oil and natural gas deposits are developed responsibly, a natural resource advocate testified.

Members of Congress from Washington, New York, North Dakota and Michigan, from both parties, are moving to shoot down a trial balloon in which people entering the United States by land from Canada and Mexico would be forced to pay a fee.

Lawmakers from both parties are pouncing on the federal government's attempt to regulate hydraulic fracturing, the natural gas extraction method also known as fracking, even before the draft rules have been released.

Two U.S. House members have appealed for quick action on a bill that would head off removal of the restored, historic Green Mountain Lookout, under legal fire from an extreme green group based in Montana.

The sprawling Mountains-to-Sound Greenway that stretches from Ellensburg to the Puget Sound shoreline is seeking status as a National Heritage Area.

Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week. There were no key votes in the Senate this week.

President Barack Obama expected to tell Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto that he will back a plan to open up more oil drilling for both countries near the maritime border.

Many years ago I was on the verge of selling another software program I wrote that would track capital assists using bar codes.

The boisterous, three-block long May Day crowd that marched on Seattle's Federal Building - and similar demonstrations Wednesday in six other Washington cities - carried a message: The latest generation of immigrants want to legally pursue the American dream.