Press Releases
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
05.14.18
Ranking Member Grijalva, Rep. Huffman Urge Securities Regulators to Investigate Wildlife Trafficking Complaint Against Facebook
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, sent a letter today to Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging him to investigate credible accusations that Facebook has been used to perpetrate illegal wildlife trafficking worth tens of millions of dollars. As a publicly traded entity, Facebook must abide by an SEC mandate to disclose potentia… Continue Reading
05.10.18
Grijalva Presses Zinke on Diversion of National Park Police to Border – Seeks Answers on Next Steps, Cost to Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Rember Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today pressing him for information on Zinke's recently announced decision to send National Park Police personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Trump's ill-defined and poorly thought-out border security efforts. Treating the Department of the Interior (DOI) or National Park Service (NPS) as border security agencies, and ordering staff to participate in operat… Continue Reading
05.10.18
Leading Democrats Introduce Historic Mining Reform Bill on Anniversary of President Grant Signing Mining Law of 1872
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, introduced the Hardrock Leasing and Reclamation Act of 2018 this morning, laying out Democrats' full range of priorities for hardrock mining reforms in the 115th Congress and beyond. The bill comes on the 146th anniversary of President Ulysses S. Grant's signing of the Mining Law of 1872, which has governed the extraction of ha… Continue Reading
04.27.18
Grijalva: No Reason to Weaken Well Control Rule as Trump Expands Offshore Drilling Near Deepwater Horizon Anniversary
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on today's announcement that the Trump administration will seek to modify the Well Control Rule, which regulates offshore oil and gas drilling. The move comes shortly after the eighth anniversary of the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon disaster that destroyed much of the Gulf economy and remains the country's most harmful offshore environmental disaster. "Republicans have decided the federal go… Continue Reading
04.25.18
Democrats to Demand Oil and Gas Industry Pay Fair Share for Coastal Restoration
Washington, D.C. - At an Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee hearing tomorrow morning on offshore revenue sharing with Gulf Coast states, Committee Democrats will demand that the oil and gas industry take responsibility for its significant role in causing the destruction of Louisiana wetlands, and pay its fair share to help repair the damage. In 2006, Congress passed the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which redirected up to $375 million each year in offshore revenues away fr… Continue Reading
04.25.18
House Natural Resources Committee Democrats Elect New IIANA Subcommittee Ranking Member
Washington, D.C. - Under the leadership of Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the Democratic Caucus of the House Natural Resources Committee met today to select a new ranking member of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs (IIANA). The meeting was necessary to replace the former IIANA Subcommittee Ranking Member Norma Torres (D-Calif.), who recently resigned from the Committee to serve on the House Rules Committee. The Democratic Caucus selected Rep. Rube… Continue Reading
04.25.18
Ahead of Wednesday House Vote, Grijalva Warns Against Salmon Destruction Bill – “Against the Wishes of Those it Would Hurt Most”
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's House vote on H.R. 3144, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' bill to legalize the ongoing destruction of salmon populations throughout the Pacific Northwest, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) warned Republicans against voting for a locally unpopular and economically destructive bill. The bill forcibly mandates an inadequate salmon recovery plan for the Pacific Northwest that federal courts have already ruled illegal. Today's bill overturns these court… Continue Reading
04.25.18
Republicans Hold Yet Another Hearing to Attack a Bedrock Environmental Law that Protects Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of a proactively-titled full committee oversight hearing today at 2 p.m. ET, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) called out Committee Republicans for holding another in a long-running series of misleading hearings designed to undermine the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law which gives people a voice in the federal planning process, protects the environment, and saves taxpayer money through informed decision-making. The hearing will be yet anoth… Continue Reading
04.24.18
Leading House and Senate Dems to Zinke: Send Beaufort Sea Oil Leasing Proposal Back to the Drawing Board
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led a Democratic letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today calling on him to stop preparations for a potential 2019 oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. The lawmakers, joined by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) - the lead sponsors of the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act - call the Bureau … Continue Reading
04.19.18
Democratic Letter to Zinke: Arctic Drilling Proposal Shows Trump, GOP Care More About Pleasing Oil Companies Than Public Opinion
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter with eight House Democratic colleagues to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today questioning the haste with which the Department of the Interior (DOI) is moving the country closer to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The letter highlights tomorrow's expected announcement in the Federal Register - publicized this morning - that DOI is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to allow dri… Continue Reading