Press Releases
Ranking Member Grijalva: Trump’s Endangered Species Act Changes Put Species at Risk as Favor to Industry
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Trump administration's newly announced weakening of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) through three separate rulemakings that will be announced in the Federal Register early next week. The changes were posted moments ago on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website. "The Trump administration doesn't seem to know any other way to handle the environment than as an obstacle to industry profi… Continue Reading
07.18.18
Grijalva: GOP Just Voted to Protect Secretary Zinke From Accountability by Denying Full Funding for DOI Inspector General
Washington, D.C. - Moments ago the House Republican majority voted down Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) amendment to the Department of the Interior (DOI) funding bill that sought to increase the DOI Office of Inspector General's (OIG) funding by $2.5 million. Grijalva said the vote shows how stubbornly Republicans refuse to hold Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke or the rest of the Trump administration's DOI appointees accountable for their multiple scandals, policy failures and em… Continue Reading
07.17.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Gosar Attack on Ironwood Forest Shows Little Respect for Historic Conservation, Local Input
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said Rep. Paul Gosar's (R-Ariz.) amendment to the Department of the Interior funding bill prohibiting the use of funds to manage Ironwood Forest National Monument - which is entirely within Rep. Grijalva's district - shows no respect for historic conservation or local input. The public strongly supports maintaining national monuments in Arizona, as the Trump administration learned in the midst of its 2017 push to shrink na… Continue Reading
07.17.18
Ranking Member Grijalva Leads Letter With More Than 100 Democrats Opposing GOP Defense Bill’s Attacks on Endangered Species
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a member of the House-Senate conference reconciling the two chambers' versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), sent a letter with 118 of his House Democratic colleagues this morning urging House and Senate lawmakers to remove language in the House version of the NDAA that weakens the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The letter, signed by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-M… Continue Reading
07.12.18
Grijalva: Republicans Still Scamming the Public on Endangered Species Act, Pushing Destructive Corporate Favors as “Reform”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today said that House Republicans' announcement this afternoon of a suite of nine bills that gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is part of their undisguised years-long pattern of pushing unpopular, environmentally destructive favors for corporate supporters. Grijalva questioned the thinking behind Republicans' in-your-face partisan destruction of one of America's bedrock environmental laws. Without the ESA, Grijalva pointed out, specie… Continue Reading
07.05.18
Grijalva: Congressional GOP Owns Pruitt’s Scandals as Much as Trump, Must Conduct Oversight or Public Will Expect More Ripoffs
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on Scott Pruitt's resignation as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. "The sad truth is that Mr. Pruitt is exactly the kind of person President Trump believes should run our government: someone who lies, abuses his office, enriches himself and his family at taxpayer expense and thinks his job is to keep CEOs happy rather than make Americans' lives better. From day one of his shameful ten… Continue Reading
06.28.18
Grijalva: Proposed Fish and Wildlife Service Rule Would Likely Cause Extinction of Endangered Red Wolves in the Wild
Washington, D.C. - Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally proposed a rule shrinking the management area for the North Carolina red wolf from the current range of nearly 2 million acres down to a single national wildlife refuge and an adjacent former bombing range, a plan that Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said signals the Trump administration's total capitulation to a small group of ideological wolf opponents. The proposed rule shrinks the red wolf management … Continue Reading
06.27.18
Grijalva, Pallone Highlight Lack of Administration Transparency and Oversight Compliance as Zinke Skates on Threats to Senators
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) today highlighted the Trump administration's total lack of compliance with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Department of Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General (OIG) in the matter of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's reported threats to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) during a 2017 phone conversation based on her vote o… Continue Reading
06.27.18
Ranking Member Grijalva, Team of House Democrats Call on Pruitt to Reissue Canceled Information Request on Methane Emissions
Washington, D.C. - In the wake of fresh evidence that the oil and gas industry's methane emissions are far greater than previously thought, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and four House Democratic colleagues today sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt urging him to reinstate a formal Information Collection Request (ICR) to the industry that he canceled in early 2017. The letter comes as a new report in the journal Science found that m… Continue Reading
06.21.18
Citing Internal Emails, Grijalva and Committee Dems Call for Investigation of Zinke Misusing Official Resources for Financial Gain
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and two other top Natural Resources Committee Democrats today sent a letter to the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General requesting an investigation into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's apparent use of official resources for personal financial gain. The letter points to internal DOI emails and a Zinke official schedule, revealed through Freedom of Information Act requests, showing that Zinke met with Monta… Continue Reading
06.19.18
Ranking Member Grijalva, Committee Dems Request Hearing as Trump Cancels Major Portions of the Successful National Ocean Policy
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that President Trump's destructive cancellation of much of the National Ocean Policy (NOP), which he announced in an executive order this afternoon, demands a Natural Resources Committee hearing as soon as possible. Grijalva and six House Democratic colleagues sent a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) requesting the hearing and underscoring the damage that could be done to ocean health without the environmental sa… Continue Reading
06.19.18
Grijalva: GAO Finds Private Companies Locking Up Millions of Acres of Public Lands by Sitting on Oil and Gas Leases, Some Decades Old
Washington, D.C. - A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that oil and gas companies are locking up millions of acres of public lands, primarily across the Western United States, by holding onto mineral leases where no oil or gas are being extracted and no exploration is taking place. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), one of the report's requesters, said today that the leases - some of which are decades old - are undeniable evidence that fossil fuel companies a… Continue Reading
06.13.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Today’s Vote on Tribal Recognition Bill Was “A Republican Shakedown Disguised as Legislation”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said that today's Committee vote on H.R. 3744, Chairman Rob Bishop's (R-Utah) "Tribal Recognition Act," shows that Republicans are willing to abuse congressional authority to politicize Native American rights. Bishop's bill, which passed with unanimous Republican support despite widespread opposition in Indian Country, would make Congress the sole arbiter of Native American communities' recognized status, wiping out decades of e… Continue Reading
06.12.18
Grijalva: IG Report Proves Trump’s Interior Department Lied About Missing Mountaintop Removal Research Funding
Washington, D.C. - A newly released Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General (OIG) letter responding to a request from Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) shows that DOI, under Secretary Ryan Zinke, has been lying for months about why and how it canceled a study on the human health impacts of mountaintop removal mining, a deadly practice with a long history of causing environmental damage throughout Appalachia. OIG finds that DOI could not explain why it canceled… Continue Reading
06.11.18
In Rare Move, Entire Committee Democratic Caucus Writes to Chairman Bishop Requesting Hearing on Workplace Harassment
Note: This has been updated from its original version to correct a bad link. Washington, D.C. - In a rare move, the entire Democratic caucus of the House Natural Resources Committee wrote to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) today requesting a hearing on sexual harassment and other types of workplace harassment at the Department of the Interior (DOI) and its agencies. Bishop has rejected similar calls from Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation… Continue Reading
06.05.18
Grijalva Highlights GAO Report Showing Unknown Taxpayer Costs for Oil and Gas Operations, Need for Updated Rules
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) highlighted the release this morning of a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that finds the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cannot accurately account for taxpayer cleanup risks at orphaned onshore oil and gas wells. The report, Bureau of Land Management Needs to Improve Its Data and Oversight of Its Potential Liabilities, finds a striking lack of data tracking across the agency on the public costs of orphaned well… Continue Reading
05.24.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Republicans’ Unrelated Anti-Environment Riders Made Bloated, Misguided DOD Bill Even Worse
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement after voting against this year's National Defense Authorization Act: "This bill was unacceptable. After spending nearly $5.6 trillion, taking service members from their families, and prosecuting the so-called 'War on Terror' for nearly two decades, the United States has done little to stabilize volatile regions across the world. It's long past time to fundamentally change course. This measure au… Continue Reading
05.22.18
Rep. Huffman Introduces Bill to Repeal GOP Tax Scam’s Arctic Wildlife Refuge Drilling Mandate
Washington, D.C.- To halt the oil and gas drilling exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge currently being rushed by the Trump administration, Vice-Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources Jared Huffman (D-CA), Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Donald McEachin (D-VA), and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) today introduced the Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act. The Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act would protect… Continue Reading
05.22.18
The Trump Administration Proposes to Roll Back Ban on “Extreme” Hunting Tactics in Alaska’s National Parks
Washington, D.C. - The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced yesterday that the National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to roll back a commonsense 2015 rule that protects wildlife in national preserves in Alaska from cruel hunting practices. The rule that the Trump administration wants to reverse prohibits the use of barbaric hunting practices, including shooting black bears and cubs in their dens, trapping wolves and wolf pups during denning season, using bait to hunt brown bears and hunt… Continue Reading
05.21.18
Grijalva Presses Zinke to Explain Why DOI Now Considers Uranium a “Critical Mineral” That Demands Loose Permitting Standards
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today asking him to clarify the process by which the Department of the Interior (DOI) determined uranium to be a "critical mineral" pursuant to Executive Order 13817, which directs DOI to assess which "non-fuel minerals" are essential to economic and national security and will therefore be eligible for looser permitting standards, among other benefits. DOI released its final critic… Continue Reading