January 5, 2011 - Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today began his service as the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee for the 112th session of Congress. Rep. Markey has served on the Natural Resources Committee since 1976 and has a long history of legislative accomplishments in energy and environment issues. He is the House author of the fuel economy standards in the 2007 energy bill, co-author of the clean energy and climate bill that passed the House in 2009, and several energy efficiency bills.
"This Congress, Republicans will attempt to short-circuit the laws that keep our water clean, our air clear and our public lands pristine, while giving short shrift to emerging clean energy technologies that can create jobs and clean up our environment," said Rep. Markey. "With my fellow Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee, I believe we can chart a course that will continue the progress we've made on creating energy jobs here in America, without sacrificing our nation's natural heritage."
During his time on the Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Markey has authored or co-authored many pieces of legislation.
Examples include:
* Legislation to ensure American taxpayers receive a fair return on oil, gas and other minerals produced on federal lands.
* Legislation following the BP oil spill to ensure that this type of disaster never happens again.
* Legislation to reduce the federal deficit by recovering up to $53 billion dollars in lost royalty payments from oil companies who are drilling for free offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
* Legislation to promote renewable energy development while protecting our environment.
* Legislation to protect our nation's most important natural treasures such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Georges Bank off the coast of New England.
In addition, as Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the committee (which was then named the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee) during the early 1980s, Rep. Markey led several high-profile investigations into waste, fraud and mismanagement at the Department of Interior, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other agencies then within the committee's jurisdiction.
Most notably, these included an investigation into underpricing of coal leases in the Powder River Basin and an improper disclosure of confidential information relating to such leases that ultimately led to the resignation of then-Interior Secretary James Watt, after Watt described a panel convened by the Reagan administration to review the adverse findings made in a GAO report requested by Rep. Markey's subcommittee as consisting of "a black... a woman, two Jews, and a cripple."
