Environment & Energy Congressional Round-Up | January 20, 2025 - January 24, 2025

Highlights:

The House passed Reps. Jill Tokuda’s (D-Hawaii) and Ed Case’s (D-Hawaii) Continued Rapid 'Ōhi'a Death Response Act of 2025 (H.R.375), which has since been sent to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry for consideration. If passed, the bill would improve coordination between federal and state agencies to prevent the spread of Rapid 'Ōhi'a Death— a fungus that has decimated the 'Ōhi'a tree population, which is found only in Hawaii and has been key in protecting the state’s watersheds.

The House passed Modernizing Access to our Public Waters (MAPWaters) Act of 2025 (H.R.187). Reintroduced by Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) and bipartisan cosponsors, MAPWaters would improve data collection on recreational use of federal waterways and promote public access to federal waters. 

Reps. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) reintroduced the Coordination for Soil Carbon Research and Monitoring Act (H.R.641). The bill would bridge gaps in research and monitoring to improve the capacity of soil to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. EESI’s Farm Bill in Focus briefing, Climate-Smart Research for the Farms of the Future, highlights other federal research initiatives to bolster climate change mitigation through soil carbon sequestration. 

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and bipartisan cosponsors reintroduced the Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act (S.154) to extend the life of the System Conservation Pilot Program to 2026. The program tests water conservation strategies in the Colorado River Basin to alleviate the impacts of severe drought. For more on conservation efforts across the river basin, check out EESI’s article on how farmers in the region are responding to water shortages, and be sure to RSVP for EESI’s upcoming Congressional briefing on the Colorado River.

To catch up on all of the recent environmental and energy legislation in Congress, read the PDF here.