Ranking Member Grijalva Statement on House Republicans’ Passage of Polluters Over People Act
Washington, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today issued the following statement on Republicans’ passage of H.R. 1, the Polluters Over People Act, through the House. The Polluters Over People Act is a shameless giveaway of handouts and loopholes to the oil, gas, mining, and other polluting industries. This legislation puts Americans in harm’s way by gutting our bedrock and environmental and public health laws and ignoring the climate crisis—all in the name of fast-tracking polluter projects.
“Today, House Republicans sent a very clear message to the American people: Your health, your safety, your environment, your concerns about climate change, and your wishes for a cleaner energy future all come second to polluter profits,” said Grijalva. “I’m proud that my Democratic colleagues stood so solidly against H.R. 1 in calling it what it is—just another page out of Republicans’ dangerous Polluters Over People playbook.
“We’ve already heard that this bill is dead-on-arrival in the Senate, but I’m certain Republicans’ endless crusade to gut our environmental and public health laws under the guise of ‘permitting reform’ is far from over. This decades-old attack on our protections has been at the top of polluters’ wish list for years and the GOP stands ready to pounce on any opportunity to push it through on their behalf.
“Moving forward, I urge my colleagues to continue to stand strong with the 40 million Americans in poor communities and communities of color who have been burdened by polluter industry exploitation, and now climate change, for too long. We know we need to build new infrastructure for our clean energy future, but we will not sacrifice our American principles of justice and equity to do so. Democrats already passed the most important solution to address project delays—let’s keep building on that momentum and put the Polluters Over People Act to rest.”
Last year, Democrats secured a major win for permitting when they passed more than $1 billion for federal environmental review and permitting offices in the Inflation Reduction Act. This funding address one of the main reasons for energy project delays and is expected to drastically reduce timelines for environmental reviews once implemented.
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