In one of the strangest moments of my academic career, I was invited to testify before the Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, on April 25, 2018 — strange because this was a Republican-controlled Congress, and I was concerned that some members were looking for information that could be used to weaken environmental regulations and review—as a life-long Democrat and dedicated environmental studies scholar, I absolutely did not want to contribute to such an effort. But I decided to have faith that good information and insight would benefit environmental planning processes, rather than cause additional problems. So I accepted the invitation in the spirit of collaboration, and not as a partisan, to discuss the importance of consistency, accuracy, and fairness in agencies’ application of NEPA at Point Reyes.
The link below is to video of the full hearing — my five minutes (almost exactly!) of testimony starts around minute 32:
My view from the witness stand — and the 5-minute time limit! I came in with 6 seconds to spare.