U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has been named chairman of the subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife, part of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Its jurisdiction includes oversight of the Clean Water Act, wetlands, the Endangered Species Act, invasive species and National Wildlife Refuges. (It is not responsible for writing the update to the Magnuson Stevens Act, the nation’s primary fishing law. That’s a function of the Commerce Committee.) The Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to be lively this Congress. Its new chairman, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., calls the scientific consensus that humans are a major cause of climate change a hoax. The committee’s top Democrat is Barbara Boxer, one of the Senate’s most forceful voices calling for action on climate change.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
