Press Releases
Committee Dems to Zinke: Increasing the Fees at National Parks Defies Interior’s Mission to Improve Access to Public Lands
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and 10 Committee Democrats sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke opposing the National Park Service (NPS) proposal to increase the entrance fees at 17 of its most popular national parks. The members state that the dramatic increases to entrance fees will discourage lower income Americans from visiting and enjoying public lands. Our most popular national parks, like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, should be focused on … Continue Reading
12.21.17
Grijalva’s Bipartisan Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill Reaches 218 Cosponsors
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) bill to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) - a popular and successful conservation tool that protects open spaces and promotes recreation throughout the country - reached 218 bipartisan cosponsors today, the magic number needed to pass a bill on the House floor. Ranking Member Grijalva and Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) introduced H.R. 502 in January of this year, and since then it has garnered b… Continue Reading
12.20.17
Grijalva on the Passage of the GOP Tax Scam and Inadequate Disaster Relief Plan
Washington, D.C. - House Republicans voted for a second time today to shower early Christmas presents on the richest one percent and wealthy corporations, while raising taxes on millions of middle class families. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) - who served on the tax bill conference committee, but did not sign the final conference report - voted against the bill because it will have devastating consequences on American families while opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Re… Continue Reading
12.15.17
Grijalva: Sec. Perdue’s Answers to Questions Reaffirm My Support for Continuing Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Moratorium
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said a response from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to his questions about the agency's recent recommendation to consider canceling a 20-year moratorium on new uranium mining claims near the Grand Canyon has only strengthened his support for keeping the moratorium in place. Perdue was responding to Grijalva's Nov. 3 letter, which noted that the USFS review "offers no analysis or justification for lifting the morator… Continue Reading
12.14.17
Grijalva Congratulates Committee Staffer Matt Strickler on Appointment as Virginia’s Next Secretary of Natural Resources
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today congratulated Matt Strickler, a senior policy advisor for the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats, on his newly announced appointment as Virginia Gov.-Elect Ralph Northam's (D) next secretary of natural resources. Strickler was a policy aide for Northam before coming to Capitol Hill. "You know you have good staffing when this is the next career move," Grijalva said today. "Matt is one of Capitol Hill's sharpest en… Continue Reading
12.14.17
Republicans Double Down on Trump’s Illegal Repeal of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
Washington, D.C. - In a desperate effort to cover up President Trump's illegal proclamation to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, House Republicans held a hearing today on a bill to abolish the national monument and replace it with three new monuments and a national park. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) points out that the immediate introduction and swift committee consideration of H.R. 4558 confirms the Utah delegation lacks confidence in the legality of the Pr… Continue Reading
12.13.17
Ranking Member Grijalva Highlights Broad-Based Economic, Environmental Opposition to Doomed Partisan GOP Fisheries Bill
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the broad-based economic and environmental opposition to H.R. 200, today's highly partisan rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fisheries and fishing quotas across U.S. waters. The GOP bill is opposed by the Seafood Harvesters of America and a wide swathe of restaurants and individual commercial fisherman and by dozens of environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, Defenders of W… Continue Reading
12.12.17
Grijalva: 9th Circuit Ruling Upholding Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Withdrawal is a Huge Win for Environment, Tribes
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding the Obama administration's 20-year withdrawal of more than 1 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims. The ruling is an enormous blow to the National Mining Association (NMA), which filed a lawsuit in 2011 seeking to block the withdrawal, and other special interests who had called Obama's actions illegal. Today's 2:00 p.m. Energy … Continue Reading
12.11.17
Ranking Member Grijalva: Tuesday Hearing Will Highlight Need for Continued Protection for the Grand Canyon
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that he will use Tuesday's hearing on Republican and Trump administration demands for more mining of uranium and other minerals from public land to highlight the threat those plans pose to the Grand Canyon. Grijalva will highlight the need to maintain the existing Obama-era moratorium on new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres in the region. In late September, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) urged the U.S. For… Continue Reading
12.07.17
Democrats: After Alaska Lease Sale Fails to Raise Significant Revenue, GOP Must Face Reality on Arctic Refuge Drilling Plan
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and two other high-ranking Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter today to Keith Hall, director of the Congressional Budget Office, requesting a reassessment of how much revenue a Republican effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling could realistically generate. The letter is available at http://bit.ly/2k9iCh9. The move comes as President Trump and Republicans in Congr… Continue Reading
12.07.17
Grijalva Shows Secretary Zinke’s Goal for Interior Reorganization has Already Been Met
Washington, D.C. - House Republicans are holding a hearing this morning to justify Secretary Ryan Zinke's efforts to drastically reorganize the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) without Congressional or public support. Secretary Zinke has been vocal about his plans to shift more department resources and personnel from Washington, D.C. to field offices across the country, but has not shared the scope and details of his plans. To prove that there isn't a need to reorganize the Department and … Continue Reading
12.07.17
Rep. Grijalva Releases Updated Trophy Hunting Report as Trump-Zinke Moves Threaten Future of Multiple Endangered Species
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today released an updated version of a report on trophy hunting and endangered species protection that his staff initially released in 2016 in response to the tragic killing of Zimbabwe's famed Cecil the Lion. The release comes in the wake of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's recent announcements that he plans to create a federal advisory committee to promote the hunting of imperiled wildlife and to allow the … Continue Reading
12.04.17
Grijalva: Trump Destruction of National Monuments No More Legal Than Muslim Ban
Washington, D.C. - President Trump is expected to announce at 2:30 p.m. EST today that he will attempt to drastically shrink Utah's Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument through a presidential order with no legal basis. President Trump will likely move forward with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's recommendation to shrink the two Utah monuments by approximately 85 percent, making this the largest reduction of national monuments in history and could open the … Continue Reading
12.01.17
Memo to Reporters: Utah National Monuments Story Includes History of Republican Lying About Public Outreach, Legal Record
Washington, D.C. - President Trump is expected to travel to Utah on Monday and announce plans to modify the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. President Trump's actions - which are illegal and will face a series of court challenges - are based on blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations of the legal history and monument designation process. In addition to a long history of now well-known fabrications and misstatements, Republicans must contend with the f… Continue Reading
11.30.17
House Republicans Vote to Imperil a Minnesota Wilderness Area for Foreign Mining Company
Washington, D.C. - On a largely party line vote, the U.S. House advanced a Republican bill that would resurrect two expired leases in the Superior National Forest for a Chilean mining conglomerate seeking to build a copper sulfide mine near one of America's most visited wilderness areas. The bill (H.R. 3905) would overturn a 2016 U.S. Forest Service finding that building a copper sulfide mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Northern Minnesota could result in "extreme" a… Continue Reading
11.30.17
Reps. Thompson, Grijalva Introduce Gun Violence-Free Sportsmen’s Legislation as Alternative to Failed SHARE Act
Washington, DC - Former Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus Chairman Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today introduced H.R. 4489, the Authorizing Critical Conservation for Sportsmen and Sportswomen (ACCESS) Act. The bill comes on the heels of House Republicans' failed attempts to advance the SHARE Act (H.R. 3668), a bill riddled with anti-conservation and anti-gun safety provisions. The ACCESS Act expands access for fish… Continue Reading
11.29.17
Trump, House Republicans Fail to Deliver Infrastructure Package, Scapegoat Environmental Review Instead
Washington, D.C. - In an attempt to divert attention away from their inability to craft and advance legislation that would provide much needed funding to repair our country's crumbling infrastructure, House Republicans are holding a hearing this morning to blame the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for their failures. NEPA is a bedrock conservation law that requires federal agencies to consider potential environmental impacts of projects they undertake or permit. According to a report by… Continue Reading
11.17.17
Trump Administration Fulfills Donald Jr.’s Wish List Amidst Escalating Military Action in Zimbabwe
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) posted in the Federal Register today that they're reversing an Obama-era policy on allowing elephant hunting trophies from two countries, with shaky governance and conservation policies, to be shipped back to the United States. Under the new rule, elephants hunted in Zimbabwe and Zambia between 2016 and 2018 can now be imported. Earlier this week at a forum co-hosted by the Safari Club International Foundation - an organization that fre… Continue Reading
11.16.17
Grijalva, 16 Democrats Introduce Comprehensive Energy Reform Legislation to Increase Taxpayer Benefits, Promote Conservation
Washington, D.C. - As House Republicans continue to promote enormous oil and gas industry giveaways as their vision for energy policy, and as Senate Republicans move to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of an unrelated tax bill, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) laid out a smarter way forward by introducing the Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act (SEDRA) today with 16 House Democratic cosponsors. The bill protects the Arctic Refuge, allows ener… Continue Reading
11.14.17
Grijalva Calls Out Committee Republicans for Failing to Address the Humanitarian Crisis in Puerto Rico & USVI
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's 2 p.m. ET hearing, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) pointed out that Committee Republicans are taking advantage of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) vulnerable state by focusing on expanding federal control over the island's recovery efforts, instead of talking about providing immediate relief for the territories. The Committee invited Governor Ricardo Rosselló of Puerto Rico and Governor Kenneth Mapp of USVI to discuss thei… Continue Reading