Rep. Jared Huffman Announces New Environmental Leadership Role in 114th Congress

January 27, 2015

WASHINGTON­—Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) today was named Ranking Member of the newly-created House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans. The Subcommittee is responsible for matters concerning America’s water resources, federal irrigation projects, generation of electric power from federal water projects and interstate water issues. This is Huffman’s second term in Congress, and his first Subcommittee leadership position.

“I am honored that my colleagues have supported me for this important position, and grateful to Ranking Member Grijalva and outgoing Ranking Member Napolitano for their leadership,” said Huffman. “As Ranking Member of the newly-created Water, Power, and Oceans Subcommittee, I know we’ll have our work cut out for us to restore fisheries, improve West-wide water supply reliability, and protect our coastline. I have been privileged to work on a number of statewide water successes in my career, and I look forward to tackling the complex natural resource issues that we face in a constructive, problem-solving manner.”

The Subcommittee’s oversight and legislative jurisdiction includes:

  • All measures and matters pertaining to irrigation and reclamation projects and other water resources development and recycling programs, including policies and procedures.
  • Indian water rights and settlements.
  • Generation and marketing of electric power from Federal water projects by Federally chartered or Federal regional power marketing authorities.
  • All measures and matters concerning water resources planning conducted pursuant to the Water Resources Planning Act, water resource research and development programs and saline water research and development.
  • Compacts relating to the use and apportionment of interstate waters, water rights and major interbasin water or power movement programs.
  • Rights of way over public lands for energy-related transmission.
  • Fisheries management and fisheries research generally, including the management of all commercial and recreational fisheries (including the reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act), interjurisdictional fisheries, international fisheries agreements, aquaculture, seafood safety and fisheries promotion.
  • All matters pertaining to the protection of coastal and marine environments and estuarine protection and coastal barriers (except coastal zone management).
  • Oceanography.
  • Marine sanctuaries.

Last week, Huffman was also named to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and the Subcommittee on Water, Resources and Environment. Huffman was also named today to the Natural Resources Committee’s Federal Lands Subcommittee and Oversight Subcommittee.

When serving in the California Assembly, Huffman chaired the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee. In that capacity, he played a leading role in crafting and passing an historic set of water reforms in 2009. That bipartisan water reform package was hailed as the most significant policy advance for California water in half a century and was broadly supported by agricultural and urban water managers and stakeholders throughout the state – from San Diego to Los Angeles, the Central Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The legislation was endorsed by conservationists, fishermen, and water interests statewide, a major accomplishment in an area that is frequently the source of significant conflict.

Prior to his election to the Assembly, Huffman was a publicly elected director of the Marin Municipal Water District, serving 190,000 people and overseeing a water system that includes seven dams, a recycling plant, a regional conveyance pipeline, and many cutting-edge water conservation programs. He also spent six years as an environmental attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he focused on river and fishery restoration.

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