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United States House Committee on Natural Resources

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House Natural Resources Committee
Standing committee
Active

United States House of Representatives
118th Congress
History
Formed1991
SucceededCommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs
Formerly known asCommittee on Resources
Leadership
ChairBruce Westerman (R)
Since January 3, 2023
Ranking memberRaúl Grijalva (D)
Since January 4, 2023
Structure
Seats45
Political partiesMajority (25)
  •   Republican (25)
Minority (20)
Jurisdiction
Policy areasEnergy development, mining, mineral rights, wildlife, fisheries, public lands, oceans, Native Americans
Oversight authorityDepartment of Energy
Senate counterpartSenate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Subcommittees
Meeting place
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Website
naturalresources.house.gov
democrats-naturalresources.house.gov
Rules

The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources or Natural Resources Committee (often referred to as simply Resources) is a Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (1951), the name was changed to the Committee on Natural Resources in 1991. The name was shortened to the Committee on Resources in 1995 by the new chairman, Don Young (at the same time, the committee took over the duties of the now-defunct Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee). Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in 2006, the name of the committee was changed back to its title used between 1991 and 1995.[1]

Jurisdiction

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  1. Fisheries and wildlife, including research, restoration, refuges, and conservation.
  2. Forest reserves and national parks created from the public domain.
  3. Forfeiture of land grants and alien ownership, including alien ownership of mineral lands.
  4. Geological Survey.
  5. International fishing agreements.
  6. Interstate compacts relating to apportionment of waters for irrigation purposes.
  7. Irrigation and reclamation, including water supply for reclamation projects and easements of public lands for irrigation projects; and acquisition of private lands when necessary to complete irrigation projects.
  8. Native Americans generally, including the care and allotment of Native American lands and general and special measures relating to claims that are paid out of Native American funds.
  9. Insular areas of the United States generally (except those affecting the revenue and appropriations).
  10. Military parks and battlefields, national cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the Interior, parks within the District of Columbia, and the erection of monuments to the memory of individuals.
  11. Mineral land laws and claims and entries thereunder.
  12. Mineral resources of public lands.
  13. Mining interests generally.
  14. Mining schools and experimental stations.
  15. Marine affairs, including coastal zone management (except for measures relating to oil and other pollution of navigable waters).
  16. Oceanography.
  17. Petroleum conservation on public lands and conservation of the radium supply in the United States.
  18. Preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest on the public domain.
  19. Public lands generally, including entry, easements, and grazing thereon.
  20. Relations of the United States with Native Americans and Native American tribes.
  21. Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (except ratemaking).[2][3]

Members, 118th Congress

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Majority Minority

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 14 (Chair), H.Res. 15 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 79 (D), H.Res. 80 (R), H.Res. 164 (D)

Subcommittees

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Representative Kevin McCarthy (R) at an oversight hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power

In the 111th Congress, the number of subcommittees was reduced from 5 to 4. The Subcommittees on Insular Affairs and Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans were merged into the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife. In the 112th Congress, the number was again increased to 5, adding the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.

During the committee's official reorganization for the 113th Congress, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands was renamed the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation[4]

When former Chairman Doc Hastings of Washington retired from Congress, Rob Bishop of Utah took over as the committee's new chairman at the beginning of the 114th Congress. Congressman Bishop began the process of hiring new staff and reorganized the committee's structure as his predecessors had done.[5][6] The chairman eliminated the Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs subcommittee and split its duties between the renamed Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs and Water, Power and Oceans subcommittees. The chairman also created a new Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, keeping the total number of subcommittees at five[7]

The chairman also transferred jurisdiction over the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act from the former Public Lands and Environmental Regulation and established a renamed the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.[7]

Current subcommittees

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Subcommittee Chair[8] Ranking Member[a]
Energy and Mineral Resources Pete Stauber (R-MN) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Federal Lands Tom Tiffany (R-WI) Joe Neguse (D-CO)
Indian and Insular Affairs Harriet Hageman (R-WY) Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM)
Oversight and Investigations Paul Gosar (R-AZ) Melanie Stansbury (D-NM)
Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Cliff Bentz (R-OR) Jared Huffman (D-CA)

Chairs

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Chair Party State Start of service End of service
Committee on Public Lands
Andrew Gregg Democratic-Republican Pennsylvania 1805 1806
John Boyle Democratic-Republican Kentucky 1806 1807
Andrew Gregg Democratic-Republican Pennsylvania 1807
John Boyle Democratic-Republican Kentucky 1807 1808
Jeremiah Morrow Democratic-Republican Ohio 1808 1813
Samuel McKee Democratic-Republican Kentucky 1813 1815
Thomas B. Robertson Democratic-Republican Louisiana 1815 1818
George Poindexter Democratic-Republican Mississippi 1818 1819
Richard C. Anderson Democratic-Republican Kentucky 1819 1821
Christopher Rankin Jacksonian Mississippi 1821 1826
John Scott Anti-Jacksonian Missouri 1826 1827
Jacob C. Isacks Jacksonian Tennessee 1827 1830
Charles A. Wickliffe Jacksonian Kentucky 1830 1833
Clement C. Clay Democratic Alabama 1833 1835
Ratliff Boon Democratic Indiana 1835 1838
Zadok Casey Democratic Illinois 1838 1839
Thomas Corwin Whig Ohio 1839 1840
Samson Mason Whig Ohio 1840
Jeremiah Morrow Whig Ohio 1840 1841
William C. Johnson Whig Maryland 1841
Jeremiah Morrow Whig Ohio 1841 1842
Reuben Chapman Democratic Alabama 1842
Jeremiah Morrow Whig Ohio 1842 1843
John W. Davis Democratic Indiana 1843 1845
John A. McClernand Democratic Illinois 1845 1847
Jacob Collamer Whig Vermont 1847 1849
James B. Bowlin Democratic Missouri 1849 1851
Willard P. Hall Democratic Missouri 1851 1853
David T. Disney Democratic Ohio 1853 1855
Henry Bennett Opposition New York 1855 1857
Williamson R. W. Cobb Democratic Alabama 1857 1859
Eli Thayer Republican Massachusetts 1859 1861
John F. Potter Republican Wisconsin 1861 1863
George W. Julian Republican Indiana 1863 1871
John H. Ketcham Republican New York 1871 1873
Washington Townsend Republican Pennsylvania 1873 1875
Milton Sayler Democratic Ohio 1875 1877
William R. Morrison Democratic Illinois 1877 1879
George L. Converse Democratic Ohio 1879 1881
Thaddeus C. Pound Republican Wisconsin 1881 1883
Thomas R. Cobb Democratic Indiana 1883 1887
William S. Holman Democratic Indiana 1887 1889
Lewis E. Payson Republican Illinois 1889 1891
Thomas C. McRae Democratic Arkansas 1891 1895
John F. Lacey Republican Iowa 1895 1907
Franklin W. Mondell Republican Wyoming 1907 1911
Joseph T. Robinson Democratic Arkansas 1911 1912
Scott Ferris Democratic Oklahoma 1912 1919
Nicholas J. Sinnott Republican Oregon 1919 1928
Don B. Colton Republican Utah 1928 1931
John M. Evans Democratic Montana 1931 1933
René L. De Rouen Democratic Louisiana 1933 1940
James W. Robinson Democratic Utah 1940 1943
J. Hardin Peterson Democratic Florida 1943 1947
Richard J. Welch Republican California 1947 1949
Andrew L. Somers Democratic New York 1949
J. Hardin Peterson Democratic Florida 1949 1951
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
John R. Murdock Democratic Arizona 1951 1953
Arthur L. Miller Republican Nebraska 1953 1955
Clair Engle Democratic California 1955 1959
Wayne N. Aspinall Democratic Colorado 1959 1973
James A. Haley Democratic Florida 1973 1977
Mo Udall Democratic Arizona 1977 1991
Committee on Natural Resources
George Miller Democratic California 1991 1995
Committee on Resources
Don Young Republican Alaska 1995 2001
James Hansen Republican Utah 2001 2003
Richard Pombo Republican California 2003 2007
Committee on Natural Resources
Nick Rahall Democratic West Virginia 2007 2011
Doc Hastings Republican Washington 2011 2015
Rob Bishop Republican Utah 2015 2019
Raúl Grijalva Democratic Arizona 2019 2023
Bruce Westerman Republican Arkansas 2023 present


Historical membership rosters

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117th Congress

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Majority Minority

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 9 (Chair), H.Res. 10 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 62 (D), H.Res. 63 (R), H.Res. 92 (D), H.Res. 111 (D), H.Res. 475 (D), H.Res. 789 (Removing Gosar), H.Res. 1197 (R), H.Res. 1347 (D)

Subcommittees
Subcommittee Chair[10] Ranking Member[11]
Energy and Mineral Resources Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) Pete Stauber (R-MN)
Indigenous Peoples of the United States Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) Don Young (R-AK)
National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Joe Neguse (D-CO) Russ Fulcher (R-ID)
Oversight and Investigations Katie Porter (D-CA) Blake Moore (R-UT)
Water, Oceans and Wildlife Jared Huffman (D-CA) Cliff Bentz (R-OR)

116th Congress

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Majority Minority

Sources: H.Res. 24 (Chair), H.Res. 25 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 73 (D), H.Res. 74 (R), H.Res. 125 (D), H.Res. 148 (D), H.Res. 793 (D), H.Res. 1072 (R), H.Res. 1135 (D)

Subcommittees
Subcommittee Chair Ranking Member
Energy and Mineral Resources Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Indigenous Peoples of the United States Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) Paul Cook (R-CA)
National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Deb Haaland (D-NM) Don Young (R-AK)
Oversight and Investigations TJ Cox (D-CA) Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Water, Oceans and Wildlife Jared Huffman (D-CA) Tom McClintock (R-CA)

115th Congress

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Majority[12] Minority[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ @RachelFrazin (January 31, 2023). "AOC joins the House Natural Resources Committee, and becomes its top Democrat on the Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Van Drew left the Democratic Party on December 19, 2019, to join Republicans.

References

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  1. ^ "Incoming chairman pledges new agenda for House environment panel". Associated Press/Lodi News Record. December 8, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  2. ^ "Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives - 404". Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  3. ^ McCarthy, Kevin (3 January 2017). "Text - H.Res.5 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Adopting rules for the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress". congress.gov. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Rules for the Committee on Natural Resources" (PDF). Committee on Natural Resources Committee (PDF). January 23, 2013.
  5. ^ Bravender, Robin (January 7, 2015). "Staff shuffles abound across energy, enviro committees". Energy & Environment Daily. E&E Publishing, LLC. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  6. ^ Taylor, Phil (January 6, 2015). "New chairman overhauls committee staff". Energy & Environment Daily. E&E Publishing, LLC. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Subcommittee Changes
  8. ^ "Westerman Announces Subcommittee Chairs". Committee on Natural Resources. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  9. ^ Vu, Nancy (September 14, 2022). "Alaska's new member of Congress, Mary Peltola, is now on the House Natural Resources Committee — thanks to a resignation assist from Lori Trahan". Politico. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  10. ^ Chair Grijalva Announces Vice Chairs, Subcommittee Chairs for 117th Congress, Looks Forward to Climate and Environmental Justice Collaboration
  11. ^ Westerman Announces Subcommittee Ranking Members
  12. ^ H.Res. 6, H.Res. 51
  13. ^ H.Res. 7, H.Res. 45, H.Res. 52, H.Res. 95
  14. ^ Appointed to committee in 2015, previously served from 2011 to 2013
  15. ^ Sablan is an Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats
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