Press Releases
Grijalva: LWCF Expired Because Republicans Let it Expire, Not Because it’s Controversial – And They Shouldn’t Hold it Hostage Now
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of Tuesday's expected Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee markup of a bill permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which expired Sept. 30, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that Republican leaders are responsible for the program's expiration and shouldn't hold the program hostage in the lame duck session between the Nov. 6 elections and the end of the 115th Congress. The House Natural Resources Committee… Continue Reading
10.01.18
Grijalva, Gallego, Lujan Grisham Lead Pair of Letters to Zinke Urging Halt to Further Action on Shrinking Utah National Monuments
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz) and Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Michele Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) led a pair of letters to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today, each signed by 61 of their House Democratic colleagues, urging him to halt work on any environmental impact statement (EIS) or monument management plan being prepared for Bears Ears National Monument or Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, both protected sites in Utah that President Trump atte… Continue Reading
09.25.18
Ranking Member Grijalva Introduces Endangered Species Protection Bill as GOPers Gear Up for “Wipeout Wednesday” Anti-ESA Hearing
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today introduced the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act, a bill that restricts the importation of African lions and other sport-hunted species that have been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The move comes a day before the Committee's Republican majority plans to hold a hearing on nine separate bills that would weaken the ESA and the public's ability … Continue Reading
09.21.18
Grijalva: If Secretary Zinke Wants to Protect the Grand Canyon, He Should Support Permanent Ban on New Uranium Claims and Full LWCF Funding
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), an original cosponsor of the bipartisan bill funding the National Park Service (NPS) maintenance backlog recently approved by the Natural Resources Committee, said today that if Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke truly wants to improve Grand Canyon National Park - as he is signaling with his trip this weekend to discuss maintenance needs - he should work with Congress to end new uranium mining in the park's watershed and fully fund … Continue Reading
09.21.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Trump Officials Have No Good Reason to Permit Black Rhino Trophy Import – Or Make Taxpayers Subsidize Rhino Hunts
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to permit a Texas billionaire who paid $275,000 at auction to hunt a critically endangered black rhino in Namibia and bring it as a trophy back to the United States is an insult to taxpayers and the very idea of environmental protection. There are fewer than 5,500 black rhinos in the wild, and Namibia has fewer than 2,000. “We shouldn’t allow critically endangered ani… Continue Reading
09.20.18
Ranking Member Grijalva, Leading Committee Democrats Urge BLM to Protect Vulnerable Arctic Habitat from Aggressive Oil Development
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Jared Huffman and Alan Lowenthal, both Democrats of California, wrote to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Deputy Director Brian Steed this morning urging him to maintain critical wildlife and caribou habitat protections near Teshekpuk Lake on Alaska's North Slope, which a new ConocoPhillips master plan targets for aggressive development despite existing restrictions in the area. Huffman is ranking member of the Subcom… Continue Reading
09.19.18
Grijalva, Bordallo Lead Letter to Cabinet Officials Urging Focus on Seafood Industry Slavery in SE Asia – Grijalva Requests GAO Study
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and eight House Democratic colleagues, including Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), sent a letter today to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen urging them to crack down on human trafficking in the seafood industry. The authors note that despite multiple activist and media exposés in recent years and a heightened level of public interest, litt… Continue Reading
09.19.18
Grijalva, Bordallo Lead Letter to Cabinet Officials Urging Focus on Seafood Industry Slavery in SE Asia – Grijalva Requests GAO Study
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and eight House Democratic colleagues, including Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), sent a letter today to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen urging them to crack down on human trafficking in the seafood industry. The authors note that despite multiple activist and media exposés in recent years and a heightened level of public interest, litt… Continue Reading
09.17.18
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Launch #SaveLWCF Countdown, Urge Vote On Bipartisan Bill Before LWCF Expires
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats launched an online #SaveLWCF initiative today highlighting successful Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) projects implemented across the country in the more than 50 years since the program was established in 1965. Natural Resources Democrats will tweet an LWCF success story every hour until Sept. 30, when the program is set to expire. Each tweet will tell the story of how… Continue Reading
09.17.18
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Launch #SaveLWCF Countdown, Urge Vote On Bipartisan Bill Before LWCF Expires
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats launched an online #SaveLWCF initiative today highlighting successful Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) projects implemented across the country in the more than 50 years since the program was established in 1965. Natural Resources Democrats will tweet an LWCF success story every hour until Sept. 30, when the program is set to expire. Each tweet will tell the story of how… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Kick Off “Wasted Resources” Series Highlighting GOP Oversight Failures, Misplaced Priorities
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats today launched Wasted Resources, a new multimedia series highlighting the major natural resources policy issues the Republican majority ignored over the course of the 115th Congress and the misguided hearings they chose to hold instead. The series kicks off today by highlighting a Committee hearing on July 13, 2017, featuring Republican witness testimony accusing multiple Nati… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Grijalva: Historic Bipartisan Agreement Reauthorizing LWCF, Paying for Park Maintenance Should Advance Quickly
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that measures just passed by the House Natural Resources Committee permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and dedicating new funding to National Park Service maintenance represent a historic bipartisan moment and should move forward quickly. "This is a taste of what's possible when people work together in good faith," Grijalva said today. "Days like these are far too rare in Congress, a… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Grijalva: Historic Bipartisan Agreement Reauthorizing LWCF, Paying for Park Maintenance Should Advance Quickly
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that measures just passed by the House Natural Resources Committee permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and dedicating new funding to National Park Service maintenance represent a historic bipartisan moment and should move forward quickly. "This is a taste of what's possible when people work together in good faith," Grijalva said today. "Days like these are far too rare in Congress, a… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Kick Off “Wasted Resources” Series Highlighting GOP Oversight Failures, Misplaced Priorities
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats today launched Wasted Resources, a new multimedia series highlighting the major natural resources policy issues the Republican majority ignored over the course of the 115th Congress and the misguided hearings they chose to hold instead. The series kicks off today by highlighting a Committee hearing on July 13, 2017, featuring Republican witness testimony accusing multiple Nati… Continue Reading
08.16.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Yesterday’s IG Finding Overlooks Attempted Behind-the-Scenes Politicization of NPS Climate Report
Washington, D.C. - In response to a request from Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) yesterday afternoon released its conclusions on how a recent National Park Service (NPS) report on human contributions to climate change was produced. The lawmakers requested the investigation in early April to determin… Continue Reading
07.25.18
Grijalva, House Democrats Urge Trump to Offer Same Tariff Relief to Fishing Communities He’s Now Offering to Farmers
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and three key House Democratic colleagues sent a letter to President Trump today urging him to extend financial relief to American fishermen and women reeling from his failed tariff battle with China. The letter points out that Trump’s tariffs on steel have impacted the price of boats, fishing hooks, and lobster and crab traps, and that China’s 25 percent retaliatory tariff on 170 American seafood products has had an already crippling … Continue Reading
07.25.18
Ranking Member Grijalva Introduces Suite of Bills to Protect Southern Arizona Historic, Environmental Sites
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today introduced a set of bills designed to promote Arizona public land conservation, including the Great Bend of the Gila National Monument Act to designate a national monument on approximately 85,000 acres of federal land in Southern Arizona. The monument will be managed as part of the Bureau of Land Management's National Conservation Lands. The area identified by the bill is filled with cultural and histori… Continue Reading
07.19.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Trump’s Endangered Species Act Changes Put Species at Risk as Favor to Industry
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Trump administration's newly announced weakening of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) through three separate rulemakings that will be announced in the Federal Register early next week. The changes were posted moments ago on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website. "The Trump administration doesn't seem to know any other way to handle the environment than as an obstacle to industry profi… Continue Reading
07.18.18
Grijalva: GOP Just Voted to Protect Secretary Zinke From Accountability by Denying Full Funding for DOI Inspector General
Washington, D.C. - Moments ago the House Republican majority voted down Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) amendment to the Department of the Interior (DOI) funding bill that sought to increase the DOI Office of Inspector General's (OIG) funding by $2.5 million. Grijalva said the vote shows how stubbornly Republicans refuse to hold Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke or the rest of the Trump administration's DOI appointees accountable for their multiple scandals, policy failures and em… Continue Reading
07.17.18
Ranking Member Grijalva: Gosar Attack on Ironwood Forest Shows Little Respect for Historic Conservation, Local Input
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said Rep. Paul Gosar's (R-Ariz.) amendment to the Department of the Interior funding bill prohibiting the use of funds to manage Ironwood Forest National Monument - which is entirely within Rep. Grijalva's district - shows no respect for historic conservation or local input. The public strongly supports maintaining national monuments in Arizona, as the Trump administration learned in the midst of its 2017 push to shrink na… Continue Reading