Ranking Member Grijalva Calls GOP Interior Approps Amendments “Irresponsible,” Says Party “Ignores Public Opinion at Every Turn”
Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva highlighted the irresponsible amendments approved earlier today by the House Republican majority to this year’s Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Grijalva, who also pointed to the multiple Democratic amendments the majority defeated, called the vote series “a stark reminder of how strongly some of my Republican colleagues dislike sound land management and endangered species protections.”
The House is expected to finish voting on amendments to the bill, followed by a vote on final passage, on Thursday. Republican amendments approved today include language blocking Antiquities Act protections in several Western states and a measure prohibiting any increase in oil and gas royalties returned to taxpayers.
The Republican majority today voted down Democratic amendments to the bill that would have allowed scientifically sound regulation of ozone pollution, allowed for federal protection of streams from mining waste, and blocked a Republican effort to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list, among other important measures.
Grijalva introduced amendments during today’s debate to allow the federal restriction of international ivory trafficking and to ensure that land transfers to ranchers are covered by the National Environmental Policy Act. The Republican majority voted both measures down.
“Today’s votes were a stark reminder of how strongly some of my Republican colleagues dislike sound land management and endangered species protections,” Grijalva said. “Time after time they chose special interests over environmental protection and weaker standards over the public interest. Funding the Interior Department is not an excuse to rewrite our nation’s environmental laws in ways that would never pass muster as standalone efforts. This appropriations bill guts just about every conservation program we have and ignores public opinion on just about every issue our Committee handles. I’m thankful that President Obama has already signaled his opposition.”
Full List of Amendments Voted On Today
Only the amendments offered by Rep. Pearce (#16) and Rep. Hardy (#17) were approved.
1) Garamendi Amendment #1 – Increases the Fish and Wildlife Services Resource Management account for the removal of aquatic vegetation by $3.9 million and decreases the Bureau of Land Management account by $4.1 million
2) Capps Amendment – Increases the Inland Oil Spill Programs account by $5.4 million and decreases the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Ocean Energy Management account by the same amount
3) Sablan Amendment – Increases the Insular Affairs Assistance to Territories account by $5 million and decreases the Office of the Secretary Departmental Operations account by the same amount
4) Castor Amendment – Increases the Environmental Programs and Management account by $1.9 million and decreases the Office of the Secretary Departmental Operations account by the same amount
5) Grijalva/Lowenthal Amendment #1 – Strikes section 423 of the underlying bill, a section which prohibits the Office of Surface Mining from updating the stream buffer rule to protect streams from the disposal of surface mining waste
6) Tsongas Amendment #1 – Strikes section 425 of the underlying bill, a section which prohibits the use of funds in the bill for implementation of the coastal and marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based management components of the National Ocean Policy
7) Grijalva Amendment #2 – Strikes section 433 of the underlying bill, a section which requires the Secretaries of Agriculture or Interior to make vacant grazing allotments available, without environmental review, to grazing permit holders who are leasing grazing lands that are unusable because of drought or wildfire
8) Polis Amendment #1 – Strikes section 437 of the underlying bill, a section that would prohibit any agency in the bill from using funds to conduct rulemakings or issue guidance that takes into account the social cost of carbon pollution
9) Edwards Amendment – Strikes section 438, a section that would prohibit the EPA Administrator from using funds to propose, promulgate, administer or enforce air quality standards with respect to ozone pollution
10) Lawrence Amendment – Strikes section 439, a section that prohibits the Interior Department from using funds to implement, administer, or enforce the final rule entitled “Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands”
11) Polis Amendment #2 – Prohibits the use of funds in the bill to sell federal public lands in contravention of existing land sale authorities under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and without full environmental review
12) Tsongas Amendment #2 – Prohibits the use of funds to implement or enforce sections 117, 121, and 122 of the underlying bill related to endangered and threatened species protections. These sections prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from writing or issuing a proposed rule for the protection of sage-grouse, require the Secretary to reissue final rules overturned by a federal court to delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and Wyoming, and direct the Secretary to amend an interim rule on the conservation of the threatened northern long-eared bat to reopen the rule’s comment period and allow incidental killing of the animals
13) Grijalva Amendment #3 – Prohibits the use of funds to implement or enforce section 120 of the underlying bill, a section which prohibits the Interior Department from developing or revising regulations regarding imported ivory
14) Beyer Amendment – Prohibits the use of funds in contravention of Presidential executive orders that direct federal agencies to incorporate climate-resilience considerations into policies and procedures throughout the Federal Government (Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009 or Executive Order 13653 of November 1, 2013)
15) Blackburn Amendment – Cuts all accounts in the bill by 1 percent across the board
16) Pearce Amendment – Prohibits the use of funds in the bill to increase the rate of any royalty required to be paid to the United States for oil and gas produced on Federal land, or to prepare or publish a proposed rule relating to such an increase
17) Hardy Amendment – Prohibits the use of funds in the bill for the designation of a National Monument in the counties of Mohave and Coconino in Arizona; Modoc and Siskiyou in California; Chaffee, Moffat, and Park, Colorado; Lincoln, Clark, and Nye, Nevada; Otero in New Mexico; Jackson, Josephine, and Malheur in the Oregon; or in Wayne, Garfield, and Kane in Utah
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