Legislative Activity
This Week’s Hearings:
- Thursday, June 13: A House Natural Resources Subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing titled “Mining in America: The Administration’s Use of Claim Maintenance Fees and Cleanup of Abandoned Mine Lands.”
Regulatory Activity
Hydraulic Fracturing
The Interior Department will extend the public comment period on the revised proposed rule to regulate Hydraulic Fracturing activities on federal lands by 60 days. Comments were initially due by June 24, but will now be due by late August.
NOSAC
The National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee (NOSAC) will meet on June 25 by teleconference to approve a final report from the subcommittee on the Implementation of Standards from the International Labor Organization—Maritime Labour Convention of 2006 that will then be submitted to the Coast Guard. The committee will also consider recommendations for commercial diving standards.
DOE Research
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee will next meet June 27-28. Topics will include news from the Biological Systems Science and Climate and Environmental Sciences Divisions, discussion of the Office of Science’s Digital Data Policy, and an update on the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.
Building Codes
Feedback on the DOE’s draft public comments to revise the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is due by June 30. The IECC serves as a model building energy code for many governmental entities.
Offshore Wind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued the Final Sale Notice for two commercial wind leases offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A mock auction will be held on July 24. The non-monetary auction phase will begin on July 29, and the monetary auction phase will be held July 31.
Steam Power Plants
Comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to strengthen controls on wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants to surface waters and publicly owned treatment works are due by August 6. EPA estimates that the preferred alternatives would be economically achievable and cost between $185 million to $954 million to implement. The agency will host a public hearing in Washington, D.C. on the proposed pretreatment standards on July 9.