Press Releases
After Months of Administration Silence, Chair Grijalva and Vice Chair Haaland Lead Letter With House Democrats Seeking Documents on Park Service Reopening Health Policies
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Vice Chair Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) led a letter signed by six House Democrats today seeking long overdue information from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt about the National Park Service's (NPS) failure to consistently enforce mask-wearing or social distancing standards as it reopens sites around the country amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The letter follows one Grijalva and 11 other Democratic mem… Continue Reading
08.11.20
Wyden and Grijalva on New Interior Inspector General Report: Officials “Orchestrated A Cover-up To Protect Secretary Bernhardt During His Confirmation”
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), today called for a criminal investigation into Interior Solicitor General Daniel Jorjani after a new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) confirmed that DOI political appointees may have violated a court order by withholding documents to protect Secretary David Bernhardt during his confirmation process. The IG's findings further clarify t… Continue Reading
08.05.20
Chair Grijalva, Haaland Slam Trump’s Attempt to Rewrite History for Political Gain, Question Legality of Garden of Heroes Executive Order
Washington D.C. - Today, Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Vice-Chair Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), sent a letter to President Trump and U.S. Department of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt challenging the legality, use of taxpayer money, and political goals of Trump's Executive Order on Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes that was issued at his Mt. Rushmore campaign style rally on July 3, 2020. As Trump signed this order, Native Americans protest… Continue Reading
08.04.20
Chair Grijalva Celebrates Long Fought Victory of Securing Permanent, Full Land & Water Conservation Funding
Washington D.C. - Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement in anticipation of H.R. 1957, The Great American Outdoors Act becoming law today: "Today Americans can celebrate one of the most significant investments in environmental conservation in a generation. Permanent, full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund means that this vital program will never be held hostage again. Communities from Arizona, to Louisiana, to Maine, and every … Continue Reading
07.31.20
Chair Grijalva on Trump Admin’s New Endangered Species Act Standard: If This Had Been in Place Fifty Years Ago, Bald Eagles Wouldn’t Be Around
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Trump administration's newly released Endangered Species Act regulation. "The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to help endangered species flourish and expand back into their former habitats. If this rule were in place fifty years ago, the bald eagle would have been kept at death's door in perpetuity, limited to a few square miles here and there. If this administration can't tell the differ… Continue Reading
07.22.20
Chair Grijalva Hails Passage of Great American Outdoors Act, Points to Significant Local Benefits of Full Funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed House passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, one of Congress' most significant investments in environmental conservation in a generation. The bill - for which Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) is the House sponsor - fully funds the successful and popular Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually, well above its yearly average funding level, and creates the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restora… Continue Reading
07.21.20
Chair Grijalva Statement on Transfer of 65 Acres of Bureau of Land Management Property to Army Control to Accelerate Building of Trump’s Wall
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the transfer of approximately 65 acres of Bureau of Land Management property - including 53 acres near Yuma, Ariz. - to the U.S. Department of the Army to accelerate the building of President Trump's unpopular wall on our southern border. The transfer was made under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. "The Trump administration has no shame when it comes to destroying our public lands. They app… Continue Reading
07.21.20
Chair Grijalva: This Year’s House Version of the National Defense Authorization Act Includes Landmark Environmental Victories, and I Will Vote Yes
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today called the House version of this year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a significant victory for environmental conservation thanks to the inclusion of his Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act, Rep. Joe Neguse's (D-Colo.) Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act and Rep. Diana DeGette's (D-Colo.) Protecting America's Wilderness Act. The House voted to include all three measures as amendments, after which Grijalva sai… Continue Reading
07.20.20
Chair Grijalva Leads Letter Demanding Answers, Action Plan From Trump Admin on Puerto Rico’s Critically Low Census Response
Washington D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter today with 18 Members of Congress to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham seeking an explanation of the administration's plan to address Puerto Rico's critically low levels of 2020 Census response. Only 24.9 percent of Puerto Ricans have filled out the Census so far, well short of the state average Census response rate of 61.5 percent. The letter, available at https://bit.ly/3… Continue Reading
07.16.20
House Chairs Question Secretary DeVos’s Delay Distributing COVID-19 Relief for Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON D.C. - In a letter to Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) demanded an explanation for why the Department has delayed distributing emergency educational relief for Puerto Rico. Congress designated $400 million in the CARES Act to help Puerto Rico address immediate educational needs, and the Department has only disbursed $7 million, … Continue Reading
07.16.20
Chair Grijalva on Ruling Against Trump Weakening of Methane Rule: “The Administration Tried to Pass Off Pro-Polluter Fan Fiction as a Federal Regulation”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruling rejecting the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) attempt to rescind the 2016 Methane Waste Prevention Rule. "The courts are now continuously striking down the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle our public health and environmental laws. This decision is another rejection of the president's corrupt approach, which caters onl… Continue Reading
07.15.20
Chair Grijalva and Rep. McEachin on Today’s NEPA Rewrite: “This Country is Facing an Environmental Justice Test, and President Trump Has Failed”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), coauthors of the Environmental Justice for All Act - now a central piece of the House Democratic climate response package unveiled last month - issued the following statement on the environmental justice impacts of today's Trump administration weakening of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). "Americans today are reckoning with the destructive legacy of slavery, neglect and abuse of people o… Continue Reading
07.15.20
Chair Grijalva Statement on Today’s Trump Administration Weakening of National Environmental Policy Act Standards
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on today's expected announcement that the Trump administration is weakening National Environmental Policy Act regulations. "Our economy is leaving millions of people behind because the president has failed at his job, not because our environmental standards are too high. This rule change continues President Trump's sad tradition of giving more power to the powerful and making it harder for Americans to p… Continue Reading
07.13.20
Chair Grijalva Statement on Washington Football Team Retiring Name: “Native Americans Have Faced Racism Since Before Our Country Was Founded”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on today's announcement that the Washington football team will retire its current name in favor of another to be announced later. "The campaign to end this form of racism has been going on for years, but the team owner and many of the people who have profited from it have insisted they'd never change. Today's announcement comes because those profits are drying up after years of tireless campaigning to en… Continue Reading
07.09.20
Chair Grijalva on McGirt Ruling: Taking Laws and Treaties at Face Value is Overdue, and This is Part of Our Country’s Long Reckoning With Its Racist Past
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on today's Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which holds that much of the Eastern portion of Oklahoma is still a part of "Indian country" because Congress never changed the terms of longstanding treaties to that effect. "Our country is in the middle of a reckoning with its violent, racist past and the human consequences of ignoring that past. By taking the relevant laws and treaties at face va… Continue Reading
07.07.20
Chair Grijalva, Ranking Member Cantwell Urge Trump Administration to Stop Obstructing Release of “Sharpiegate” Report
Washington D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Senate Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who lead the committees of jurisdiction over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), wrote to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross demanding that the Trump administration stop interfering with the Department of Commerce Inspector General's (IG) "Sharpiegate" investigation that was scheduled to be released last week. The report evaluates the alleged political interference i… Continue Reading
07.06.20
Chair Grijalva, Leader of Amicus Brief Calling for Dakota Access Pipeline Shutdown, Calls Recent Pipeline Closures “Sign of What Strong Scrutiny Can Do”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruling this morning that the Dakota Access Pipeline must be shut down and drained of oil by Aug. 5 and the announcement over the weekend that the owners of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline have abandoned construction of the unpopular project prove the importance and beneficial impact of public scrutiny of the fossil fuel industry. Grijalva's Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 5986… Continue Reading
07.03.20
Chair Grijalva on Mt. Rushmore Fireworks Display Opposed by Tribes: “This is the Administration That Blew Up Sacred Native Burial Grounds for its Wall”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today released the following statement on President Trump's planned event at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, which will include a fireworks display that had not been practiced for more than a decade due to concerns about wildfires and water contamination. According to the impact assessment that allowed the event to go forward, "All tribes consulted objected to the event and consider it to be an adverse effect to the traditional cultural pr… Continue Reading
07.02.20
Udall, Murray, Pallone, Grijalva, Gallego Raise Concerns about Tribes Being Denied Access to Critical Federal COVID-19 Data
Washington D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), vice chairman on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenou… Continue Reading
07.01.20
Chair Grijalva Hails House Infrastructure Package – Highlights Advances on Water Infrastructure, Habitat and Coastal Protection, Tribal & Territorial Funding
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed House passage of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, and highlighted the many environmental conservation and water availability improvements the bill includes. A fact sheet laying out the bill's improvements in the Natural Resources Committee's jurisdiction is available at https://bit.ly/31BWJP2, Highlights include: Investing in modern water infrastructure projects that will provide reliable water supplies in a changing clim… Continue Reading