Press Releases
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
06.30.20
Chair Grijalva Hails Climate Committee Recommendations – Highlights Public Lands Net-Zero Carbon Bill, Environmental Justice, Other Measures
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva today congratulated the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and Chair Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) on today's comprehensive report recommending a broad and aggressive policy approach to climate change. The Committee, Grijalva said, has done a vital public service in focusing on the greatest threat humanity faces and basing its recommendations on thorough public outreach. Grijalva praised Speaker Nancy Pelosi's determination to create the Committee an… Continue Reading
06.25.20
Chair Grijalva Blasts Trump Administration Move to Hand Over Nearly 7 Million More Acres of Arctic to Oil and Gas Industry
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement in response to the Bureau of Land Management's release of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Trump administration's new management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which would open up roughly 6.8 million additional acres of public lands for oil and gas leasing: "Whatever else is happening in our country, the Trump administration makes time to hand over public land to the … Continue Reading
06.25.20
In New Letter, Chair Grijalva and Rep. Huffman Highlight President Trump’s Failure to Distribute Congressionally Approved Funding for Hard-Hit Fishermen
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), chair of the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, sent a letter to President Trump today questioning his administration's unexplained failure to distribute $300 million in financial aid to Tribal, subsistence, commercial, and charter fishery participants three months after Congress approved the measure as part of the CARES Act, which became law on March 27. The letter is available at https://bit… Continue Reading
06.25.20
New GAO Report Requested by Chair Grijalva Finds No Reliable Data on What Mining Companies are Taking From Public Lands or How Much It’s Worth
Washington, D.C. - A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that other than for coal, there is no reliable data on the amount or value of minerals that mining companies take from federal public lands, underscoring long-held concerns that hardrock mining on federal lands is a multi-billion-dollar industry with only minor taxpayer benefits and almost no public accountability. The report, available at https://bit.ly/2A3U5WT, finds that "federal agencies do not generally collect da… Continue Reading
06.18.20
GAO Report Requested by Chair Grijalva Finds Customs & Border Protection Needs to Improve Stakeholder Outreach on Reducing Slavery in Seafood Industry
Washington, D.C. - In a new report today requested by Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have not effectively coordinated with partner agencies to reduce human slavery and illegal labor practices in the seafood industry and need to improve their investigative methods. The report makes clear that collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), affiliated no… Continue Reading
06.17.20
Chair Grijalva, Reps. Lowenthal & Levin Press Interior Dept. for Explanation of Sudden Pro-Industry Changes to Oil and Gas Royalty Payments on Public Land
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) wrote to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt today seeking an explanation for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) recently released guidance making it easier for companies to pay less in public royalties for producing oil and gas on public lands. The revised guidance, the authors write, deprives taxpayers of a fair… Continue Reading
06.05.20
Chair Grijalva: Trump Illegal Rollback of Marine Monument Protections Shows He’s in “Recreational Destruction Mode” as He Clings to Power
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva today released the following statement on President Trump's decision to end restrictions on commercial fishing in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The move comes just one day after he signed an executive order waiving the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act in some circumstances, falsely describing the giveaway long sought by polluters as a targeted response to the current economic… Continue Reading
06.04.20
Chair Grijalva Introduces Bills to Expand Saguaro National Park, Allow Land Exchange to Support University of Arizona and U.S. Forest Service
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today introduced two bills to support national parks and public education in Arizona. The Saguaro National Park Boundary Expansion and Study Act, available online at https://bit.ly/3gXuDCK, adds 1,150 total acres to the eastern and western portions of the beloved national park. The expansions protect wildlife habitats, improve trail access and better connect the park with nearby state and local public lands. … Continue Reading
06.04.20
Chair Grijalva, Vice Chair Haaland Push for Explanation of Park Police Walling Off President’s Park, Historic Site of Decades of Civil Rights Activism
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Vice Chair Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) wrote to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt today pushing for an explanation of why U.S. Park Police have walled off public access to President's Park, a normally open area across the street from the White House that is managed by the National Park Service (NPS). Among other questions, the lawmakers ask Bernhardt what credible threat the closure is based on, and whether White House perimeter security … Continue Reading
06.04.20
Chair Grijalva: President Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks are Another Attack on Black Communities
Washington D.C. - U.S. House Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement today on President Trump's new executive order that waives bedrock environmental laws including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act. "President Trump seeks to make awful situations worse. Instead of creating unity and providing the leadership our nation needs, he has created chaos and fueled hatred following the murder of George Floyd and th… Continue Reading
06.03.20
Nadler, Grijalva, Smith and Thompson Call for Answers on Trump Administration's Use of Force Against Peaceful DC Protestors
Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) sent a letter today seeking answers on the Trump Administration's use of tear gas, pepper spray, smoke canisters, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to forcibly remove peaceful protesters gathered in Lafayette Square. The lette… Continue Reading
05.29.20
Chair Grijalva: Interior Secretary Bernhardt Should Fire Assistant Secretary Domenech After Second Watchdog Finding of Wrongdoing in Six Months
This press release has been updated from its original version. Mr. Domenech used tickets from Secretary Zinke, not Secretary Bernhardt, to hold his initial meeting with a senior EPA official. Tucson, Ariz. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) called on Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to fire Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech after the release of a new Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report finding that Domenech im… Continue Reading