At a July 15 hearing held by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Neil Kornze, Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), testified on BLM’s proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands.

On July 8, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee heard testimony on the Administration’s plans for the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris. As part of the conference, the Obama Administration intends to commit America to reducing carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2025.

A list of notices from the federal register for July 2014 from agencies including the Department of the Interior, EPA, FEMA, USGS and more.

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July 2014

Budget

On July 22, the House failed to achieve the two-thirds majority vote required to pass the Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act of 2013 (H.R. 1022), which supported federal investment in research and development for energy critical materials.

The Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on July 23 to discuss the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is up for reauthorization in 2017. The hearing covered recent changes to legislation aimed at increasing the NFIP’s solvency and plans to update Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) across the country.

Senate Democrats introduced a bill that would fund science research and education and reauthorize the 2010 Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Reauthorization Act on July 31.

A subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee met on July 29 to review the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). Committee members and witnesses agreed that reauthorization for NEHRP, which expired in 2009, is critical.

President Obama announced the launch of the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) on July 16. The 3D Elevation Program, a partnership program led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), aims to map the lower 48 states, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories with a laser technology called lidar (light detection and ranging) in an eight-year period.

The Geoscience-Energy Consortium, which includes the American Geosciences Institute, hosted a briefing on July 18 titled “Geologic Carbon Storage: Feasibility, Technology, and Challenges.”