In the News
Biden official offers support for reworked minerals list
by Hannah Northey
A senior U.S. Geological Survey official Tuesday voiced support for legislation that would expand the federal government’s list of critical minerals to include materials like copper. Colin Williams, who leads the agency's mineral resources program, said the administration would work with lawmakers to make sure H.R. 8446 protects the integrity of two federal critical minerals lists — one from the USGS and a second from the Department of Energy. “As a possible way to manage the two lists, the … Continue Reading
June 04, 2024
Jared Huffman calls for last year’s salmon relief funds to be expedited
by Sage Alexander
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman co-sent a letter to federal administrators on Tuesday calling for disaster relief funding to be allocated quicker for the state’s salmon fishery closure in 2023. A year later and no disaster funds have been distributed, and fishermen face another closed season. “California’s commercial, sport, and charter fishers, tribes, businesses, restaurants, and the communities who depend upon the salmon fishery cannot afford to wait any longer for the relief needed to weather the … Continue Reading
May 29, 2024
Natural Resources leaders spar over mine permitting plans
by Hannah Northey, Garrett Downs
House Natural Resources Republicans are probing whether the Interior Department flouted federal law and sidestepped public scrutiny when proposing new metrics for assessing mine approvals. Democrats are already calling the investigation a sham. Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, are questioning the Bureau of Land … Continue Reading
May 24, 2024
‘This is awful’: GOP slams offshore energy budget
by Heather Richards
House Natural Resources Republicans assailed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Liz Klein in a hearing Thursday for seeking increased funding for offshore wind while slowing down offshore oil leasing. “We cannot let the Department of the Interior sacrifice the livelihoods and security of Americans on the altar of hollow commitments to environmental activists,” said Energy and Mineral Resources Chair Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), calling on Klein to hold more offshore oil sales. Republicans … Continue Reading
May 23, 2024
National Endowment for the Arts awards grants
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman has shared the news that several recipients in California’s Second Congressional District — including two in Humboldt County — have been awarded a total of $120,000 through the National Endowment for the Arts. The California Film Institute in San Rafael has received $30,000 for Grants for Arts Projects — Media Art to support the Mill Valley Film Festival and related community programming. The Marin Shakespeare Company in San Rafael has received $20,000 for Grants for … Continue Reading
May 22, 2024
California Senate passes bill aiding SMART tax renewal
by Adrian Rodriguez
As SMART officials stay mum on when they will seek extension of a sales tax needed to keep trains rolling, a bill enabling voters to place a renewal on the ballot has passed the California Senate. Senate Bill 904, authored by state Sen. Bill Dodd, a Democrat from Napa, was proposed to help the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit secure its sales tax dollars, which account for nearly half of the agency’s total revenue. The tax collects about $51 million annually. The new legislation would clarify … Continue Reading
May 22, 2024
Angel Island gets $1.5 mil federal grant for Ayala Cove dock upgrade
by Francisco Martinez
Angel Island State Park has received a $1.5-million federal grant toward upgrading the dilapidated boat dock at Ayala Cove. The funding, announced May 13 by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Boating Infrastructure Grant program. The state park will combine the grant with $1.2 million in funding from the California Department of Parks and Recreation to complete the $2.7 million overhaul, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The … Continue Reading
May 21, 2024
Dems to GOP: Investigate mining companies, not greens
by Hannah Northey
House Democrats are trying to flip the script on the GOP's investigations into whether environmental groups are illegally representing foreign interests. Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico and Jared Huffman of California on Monday called on Chair Bruce Westerman of Arkansas to expand an ongoing investigation to include mining companies with foreign ties that may be sidestepping congressional oversight. The Republican-led … Continue Reading
May 20, 2024
California congressman urges closer consultation with tribes on offshore wind
by Claire Rush and Jennifer McDermott
A congressman who represents California’s north coast has sent a letter to federal regulators asking that they “urgently place” a senior official in the state to respond to tribal needs as wind power is developed offshore. U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman sent the letter as the U.S. offshore wind industry begins to take shape and as tribal communities in California and Oregon express frustration with what they say is a lack of consultation on proposals that affect culturally significant waters and … Continue Reading
May 08, 2024
Pipeline hearing hones in on safety, emissions concerns
by Andres Picon
A House subcommittee on Tuesday revisited concerns about pipeline safety and fossil fuel emissions as it works to add finishing touches to a bipartisan reauthorization bill for the nation’s pipeline regulator. The Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials met for its latest hearing on the “Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) Act,” H.R. 6494, which would renew safety programs at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials … Continue Reading
May 08, 2024
Democrats seek probe of foreign mining on public lands
by Hannah Northey
House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva and a number of other Democrats are planning to ask Congress' watchdog to investigate the extent to which foreign-controlled companies are extracting minerals from public lands, and whether those entities are complying with U.S. environmental and human rights standards. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and five of his colleagues will ask the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday to probe how much is known about foreign investment in mining of … Continue Reading
May 07, 2024
Nearly 75 Democratic lawmakers support Biden's LNG pause
Nearly 75 U.S. lawmakers from President Joe Biden's Democratic party on Tuesday praised his pause on approvals of exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, saying it would protect Americans from pollution and potential higher prices. Senators Jeffrey Merkley, Edward Markey and Representative Jared Huffman spearheaded a letter to Biden saying the pause allows the government to study whether the additional exports could saddle U.S. households and businesses with higher natural gas bills, … Continue Reading
May 07, 2024
Federal judge: Russian River dam releases are violating Endangered Species Act
by Andrew Graham
A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has violated the Endangered Species Act by disturbing salmon populations through flood-control releases from Coyote Valley Dam into the Russian River. Those releases, which relieve pressure upstream from the 66-year-old dam during rainy months, kick up sediment from the bottom of Lake Mendocino, a reservoir that serves as critical water storage for Sonoma County. The sediment increases turbidity in the river that harms and … Continue Reading
May 01, 2024
House approves gray wolf, mining and public land bills
by Scott Streater, Michael Doyle, Hannah Northey
The House on Tuesday passed several Republican-led natural resources bills amid sometimes fierce debate, underscoring the divide between the parties on public lands and endangered species. The bills, which passed mostly along party lines, seek to overturn a new Bureau of Land Management rule elevating conservation as a formal use, delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states and reverse a mining ban on sensitive federal lands in Minnesota. The Republican-led House also approved H.R. 615, … Continue Reading
May 01, 2024
House GOP Passes Bills That Attack Environmental Protections, Benefit Oil And Mining Companies
by Chris D’Angelo
Never missing an opportunity to make life easier for extractive industries, House Republicans passed a suite of bills this week to boost development and dismantle environmental protections across millions of acres of federal land. The bills stand little chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but they give GOP industry allies something to tout heading into the 2024 elections. And since several of the measures closely mirror priority actions found in Project 2025, the 920-page … Continue Reading
April 29, 2024
Trout Unlimited Wins Award for California Partnership Uniting Landowners to Save Coho Salmon
A novel Trout Unlimited partnership to help save California’s southernmost coho salmon from extinction has won national recognition from NOAA Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit presented the Partnership in the Spotlight Award to Trout Unlimited’s North Coast Coho Project on the banks of a salmon stream just north of San Francisco. “From developing and implementing projects to improve stream complexity to your work removing fish barriers, it is all making a big … Continue Reading
April 27, 2024
Bay Area lawmakers are trying to lure insurance companies back to California
Bay Area congressional representatives hope to lure property insurance companies back to California with legislation that could reduce their losses by giving property owners financial incentives to improve emergency preparedness. U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, announced bipartisan legislation on Thursday that would establish a grant program and offer tax breaks to property owners who take measures to fortify their property against fire and other disaster threats. The legislation was … Continue Reading
April 26, 2024
Acting US Labor Secretary lays out new farmworker protection rules at Santa Rosa vineyard
by Susan Wood
U.S. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su returned to her home state Friday to lay out new federal labor standards designed to protect farmworkers, particularly those operating under the H-2A program. The H-2A program allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers when it’s determined there’s a lack of able, willing and qualified workers. In addressing a crowd of more than 100 people, including dignitaries such as U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, Su paid homage to the setting, choosing … Continue Reading
April 25, 2024
Wine Country fire threat spreads to insurance coverage
by Susan Wood
Two North Bay congressmen said Thursday they don’t want homeowners and renters coping with the concern of wildfires and balking insurance companies to get burned twice. That’s why U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, held a press conference Thursday, using Coffey Park as a symbolic backdrop to discuss disaster resilience legislation introduced at the end of last month. The lawmakers gathered with a group that included local government officials and real … Continue Reading
April 23, 2024
California lawmakers request disaster declaration after state's second straight salmon season cancelation
by Nathan Strout
More than 20 federal lawmakers from California have called on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to declare a fishery disaster following the closure of the state’s salmon season for the second consecutive year. Earlier this month, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to close the 2024 commercial Chinook salmon fishery from the northern coast of the U.S. state of Oregon to the Mexico border. That closure is expected to go into effect in May. California Governor Gavin … Continue Reading