Harriet Hageman: ‘Regulatory Creep’ Disrupts Marine Mammal Protection Act

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At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) explained regulatory inefficiencies behind the Marine Mammal Protection Act and how it can help bolster the One Big Beautiful Bill Act if amended.

Transcript

00:00The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries will come to order.

00:05Good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome members, witnesses, and our guests in the audience in today's hearing.

00:11Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time.

00:18Under Committee Rule 4F, any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the Chair and the ranking member.

00:24I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' opening statements be made part of the hearing record

00:31if they are submitted in accordance with Committee Rule 3-0.

00:36Without objection, so ordered.

00:39I also ask unanimous consent that the Congressman from Alaska, Mr. Begich,

00:43the Congressman from Texas, Dr. Babin, the Congressman from Arizona, Mr. Siskamani,

00:48and the Congressman from Florida, Mr. Fine, be allowed to participate in today's hearing.

00:55Without objection, so ordered.

00:57We are here today to consider seven legislative measures.

01:02The Endangered Species Transparency and Reasonableness Act of 2025,

01:07sponsored by Representative McClintock of California.

01:11The Sushi Act, HR 3706, the Sushi Act, sponsored by Representative Babin of Texas.

01:17H.R. 3831, the Florida Safe Seas Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Webster of Florida.

01:26H.R. 4033, the Sturgeon Conservation and Sustainability Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Fine of Florida.

01:36H.R. 4293, to amend the Sykes Act to increase flexibility with respect to cooperative and interagency agreements for land management

01:46off of installations, sponsored by Representative Siskamani of Arizona.

01:51H.R. 4294, the MoS Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Elfrith of Maryland,

02:00and a discussion draft to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act, or MMPA, sponsored by Representative Beggage of Alaska.

02:08I now recognize myself for a five-minute opening statement.

02:13Today, the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries will examine seven bills that cover a wide range of issues,

02:20from a discussion draft to modernize the Marine Mammal Protection Act,

02:24to several species-specific bills that address regional issues such as shark feeding, invasive blue catfish,

02:32and the ESA treatment of farm-raised sturgeon.

02:36In the interest of time, I will highlight only two of the bills before us today,

02:41but I've already identified their numbers and their names.

02:45The first is the MMPA discussion draft.

02:48When MMPA was first enacted in 1972, it was 20 pages long.

02:53The document that NOAA or NOAA created just to establish the criteria for determining, quote,

03:00negligible impact, end quote, which is undefined in the MMPA now, is just as long,

03:08which is representative of how regulatory creep has affected the vast majority of statutes that we deal with on this subcommittee.

03:17The discussion draft defines terms like negligible impact and makes long overdue reforms to its regulatory process

03:25that governs tribal activities, state fish and wildlife agencies, commercial fishing, offshore energy, and the maritime sector.

03:33The discussion draft's reforms to the regulatory process are crucial to building on the success of the One Big Beautiful Bill,

03:40advancing the Trump administration's goal to unleash America's energy resources.

03:46Next, we have a bill by Congressman Siskamani, which makes changes to the Sykes Act,

03:51a statute meant to incentivize species conservation on Department of Defense lands

03:56by shielding them from the more punitive aspects of the Endangered Species Act.

04:01Unfortunately, in Fort Huachuca, a U.S. Army base in southern Arizona that houses many important assets,

04:10such as the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence and U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command,

04:16not all of the Sykes Act's promised benefits have been fully realized.

04:21This Army base has, in fact, been in nearly a decade of litigation with environmental groups

04:27over their ability to maintain an adequate water supply for base operations.

04:32Congressman Siskamani's bill would provide the flexibility needed to ensure the long-term viability of critical military assets.

04:42And lastly, I want to take a moment to recognize one of our witnesses, Major William Holcomb.

04:48He recently volunteered on his own time to assist with the law enforcement response

04:53to the recent flooding tragedy at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas.

04:57We all thank you for your service.

05:00With that, I want to take the time to thank all of our witnesses for being here today,

05:05and I look forward to a robust conversation.

05:26Bye-bye.

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