Press Releases

Ranking Member Huffman Blasts Decades-Long Water Theft by California Water District

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) responded to a newly released Inspector General summary report finding that the management and staff of California’s Panoche Water District orchestrated a decades-long operation to illegally divert and sell billions of gallons of water from federal facilities: “This wasn’t just a water theft—it was a betrayal of public trust on an almost cinematic scale. For over two decades, while the West endured historic droughts… Continue Reading

Ranking Member Huffman Statement on Trump Admin’s Leaked Budget Plan to Dismantle NOAA and Eliminate Climate Science

 - Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement after a leaked FY26 OMB Passback revealed the Trump administration’s plan to gut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), eliminate core science programs, and transfer key species protections from NOAA to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:? “The Trump administration has once again made clear that it’s not just hostile to science - it’s actively working to … Continue Reading

Huffman, Velázquez, Ocasio-Cortez, and Hernández Press DOE to Deploy Renewable Energy Funds for Puerto Rico

 Today, Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Pablo José Hernández (D-PR) urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate solar installations under Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund’s (PR-ERF) programs, warning that continued delays could have severe consequences for vulnerable communities across the island.“Every hurricane season we fail to act, we risk lives,” the lawmakers wrote. “The funding has been obligated, the technolog… Continue Reading

Media Advisories

House Natural Resources Committee Leaders to Host Issues Forum on Trump-Musk Attacks Targeting NOAA

 - TODAY at 1 p.m. ET, House Natural Resources Committee leaders will host an issues forum to discuss the escalating attacks on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's DOGE. The attacks jeopardize everything from disaster warnings and public safety to the stability of coastal economies and America’s ability to respond to the climate crisis. WHO MEMBERSRep. Seth MagazinerRep. Jared Huffman, Natural Resources Committee Ranking Memb… Continue Reading

Committee Democrats to Host Roundtable on Holding Big Oil Accountable

*** DUE TO OPPOSITION FROM THE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE MAJORITY, THE ROUNDTABLE HAS BEEN MOVED TO HC-6 IN THE CAPITOL. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL BE VERY LIMITED AND RSVPS ARE REQUIRED. THE EVENT WILL ALSO BE LIVESTREAMED. PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED ADVISORY BELOW. *** WASHINGTON - On Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Democrats will host a roundtable discussion with expert panelists titled, “Holding Big Oil Accountable for Extortion, Collusion, … Continue Reading

TODAY: Ranking Member Grijalva to Join Senator Markey, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez at Press Conference on 5-Year Anniversary of Green New Deal Resolution

(February 6, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) will hold a press conference with youth, labor, environmental justice, and public health leaders on TODAY, Tuesday, February 6th at 12:00 PM to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the introduction of the Green New Deal resolution. The Green New Deal galvanized a climate action movement and catapulted the issue of climate and environmental justice to the top of the national agenda. Senato… Continue Reading

Opinion Pieces

As Big Oil’s Mess in Our Oceans Grows, Their Bonding Requirements Should Too

Big Oil uses our ocean waters and coastlines as their own personal junkyard. For decades, oil and gas companies have been leaving behind their old, out-of-use equipment and infrastructure, forcing unnecessary risk and cleanup costs on American taxpayers. There’s no question it’s a problem, but until now, we didn’t know just how bad the problem was. At our request, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan government watchdog, recently took a closer look at the issue, and the fin… Continue Reading

Gutting the National Environmental Policy Act is a Political Vendetta, Not Permitting Reform

At the end of March, House Republicans passed H.R. 1, a shameless giveaway of handouts and loopholes to the oil, gas, and mining industries, fittingly dubbed the Polluters Over People Act. While oil companies’ record-breaking profits make it clear that they’re not an industry under duress, Republicans continue to push legislation to gut our most fundamental environmental and public health laws, namely the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to line industry pockets.  But … Continue Reading

House Dems fight for Arizonans. Republicans fight each other.

Making history isn’t always a good thing. Last week, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives seemed determined to prove that point. For the first time in more than a century, the Republican-controlled House failed not once, not twice, but 14 times to take the most basic first step of a new Congress—electing a Speaker of the House. The Republican party’s infighting has inspired entertaining social media memes, but if you’re hoping for them to do anything more tha… Continue Reading

Letters

Prior to Deepwater Horizon Anniversary, Top Committee Democrats Urge Full Environmental Review of Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling

Prior to the 14th anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Ranking Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Committee Vice Ranking Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) today sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) urging the agency to immedia… Continue Reading

Grijalva, Huffman Co-Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Whole-of-Government Approach to IUU Fishing, Forced Labor

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) today sent a bipartisan letter signed by a total of 26 Members to President Joe Biden urging the administration to use its existing authorities, including the new authorities that Congress provided in the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), to implement a whole-of-government approach to combating illegal, unreported, and … Continue Reading

Ranking Members Grijalva and Krishnamoorthi Support Actions to Combat Illegal Trade of Highly Endangered Pangolins in People’s Republic of China, Including Sanctions

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) today sent a letter to President Joe Biden commending the administration’s actions to take a stand against the illegal trade of pangolins and pangolin products in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC). READ the full letter to President Biden. As the lawmakers po… Continue Reading

Reports

Hearing Report: The Role of Public Relations Firms in Preventing Action on Climate Change

The Hearing Report presents select findings and redacted documents from the Committee's investigation into PR firms' work with fossil fuel companies. For decades, the fossil fuel industry denied or downplayed climate change and its role in causing it. As climate denial has become less accepted by the general public, the industry has worked with PR firms to execute subtler and more sophisticated campaigns to mislead the public and block climate change policy proposals. The Hearing Report details … Continue Reading

Repairing the Trump Administration's Damage to US Indigenous Communities and Charting a Better Way Forward

Dirty Deals: Four Years of the Trump Administration Putting Polluter Profits Over People

This report outlines the major damage the Trump administration has inflicted on the environment, economy, and energy supply of the United States and takes a closer look at the tactics they've used to perpetrate that destruction. Special attention is given to the federal agencies under the Committee's jurisdiction, including the Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The report is not an exhaustive list of … Continue Reading