Press Releases
Committee Republicans Hold Another Hearing that Aims to Give Away Our Public Lands to Big Oil
Washington, D.C. - Committee Republicans are returning to Washington D.C., after a five week recess with a clear message to the public - they value the interests of their allies in the oil and gas industry over fulfilling their duty to protect and preserve our public lands. At 10:00 a.m. this morning, Committee Republicans are holding an Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee hearing on three Republican-backed bills that would ultimately waive bedrock environmental laws, hand over our public … Continue Reading
08.25.17
Grijalva, Pallone Urge Interior to Resume NAS Study on Mountaintop Removal Mining, Question False Budgetary Rationale
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) today sent a letter with several colleagues to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to allow the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) to resume an ongoing study of the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining. The Department of the Interior's (DOI) Office of Surface Mining Reclamati… Continue Reading
08.22.17
New Ranking Member Report Documents Industry Influence, Lack of Public Transparency in Trump Admin National Monument Review
Washington, D.C. - A new report released by House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) documents the strong influence of the oil and mining industries over the soon-to-be-completed Trump administration "review" of 27 national monuments around the country and sheds new light on the review's unpopularity. The report - Fossil Apostles: Fossil Fuels, the GOP, and the Fate of Our National Monuments - is available at http://bit.ly/2iofeBx. Today's report finds … Continue Reading
08.21.17
Grijalva on DOI Stopping Mining Health Impact Study: When Industry Hurts Working People, Trump and Zinke Cover for Them
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the news that the Department of the Interior (DOI), under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, has ordered the National Academy of Sciences to stop its study of the human health impacts of mountaintop removal mining. The study, which was already underway and had conducted multiple public listening sessions, was being conducted on a DOI contract that the Trump administration decided to suspend. "Eve… Continue Reading
07.28.17
Help Protect our Marine Sanctuaries & Marine Monuments from Being Opened Up to Oil & Gas Development
NOAA has extended the deadline for public comment on a federal review of designation or expansion of 11 national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments, due to "public interest and requests for additional time." The new deadline is August 14. A bicameral letter from Senator Peters, Ranking Member Grijalva, and others, urged the Secretary to extend the public comment period. The ongoing Department of Commerce review is a result of President Trump's executive order to review offshore en… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Grijalva: Zinke Threats Against Alaska Over Trumpcare Vote Raise Ethical Questions, Threaten Environment
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's willingness to deliver threats against the state of Alaska, in retaliation for Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) principled stance against Trumpcare, was an alarming sign of how far the administration's ethical standards have fallen and how irresponsible the Interior Department has become. Grijalva plans to request a formal investigation later today. As Alaska Dispatch News first report… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Ranking Member Grijalva Questions Today’s GOP Attacks on Antiquities Act, Boundary Waters and Federal Use of Climate Science
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of this morning's 10:00 a.m. hearing in the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) questioned Republicans' insistence on blocking federal agencies from accounting for the social cost of carbon - an important measure of the cost to society of each ton of carbon pollution - in regulatory analysis. Grijalva also questioned Republican efforts to block the president from establishing new national monuments in Minnesota. H.… Continue Reading
07.26.17
Grijalva Highlights Republican Bill to Allow Sea Lion Slaughter, Ignore Deadbeat Dams Ahead of This Morning’s 21-Bill Markup
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted H.R. 2083, a featured part of this morning's 21-bill markup, as a clear example of the intellectual bankruptcy of Republican environmental policies in the modern era. Rather than addressing the undisputed central role outdated and obsolete dams play in the ongoing drop of the Columbia River salmon population, the bill increases the number of public permits to kill sea lions along the river in hopes that this wi… Continue Reading
07.25.17
65 House Democrats Band Together to Protect Marine Sanctuaries & Marine Monuments from Being Opened Up to Oil & Gas Development
Washington, D.C. - As the Trump administration is pushing to open up our oceans and coasts to unsafe oil and gas development, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Vice Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today urging him to protect our unique ecosystems and cultural sites throughout U.S. waters. The Congressmen, along with 63 House Democratic colleagues, expressed their strong support for the 11 national marine san… Continue Reading
07.20.17
Ahead of Today’s King Cove Road Floor Vote, Grijalva Says to Listen to Scientists
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's House floor vote on the Republican-backed King Cove Road Land Exchange Act (H.R. 218) - a bill that greenlights construction of a habitat-destroying road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) pointed out that claims that the people of King Cove have been ignored by Congress are completely false. In fact, American taxpayers have handed over more than $30 million to help the town develop a relia… Continue Reading
07.19.17
Video Highlights of Today’s Jeff Corwin Testimony on Preserving the Endangered Species Act, Rejecting Republican Attacks
Washington, D.C. - Well-known wildlife biologist and television host Jeff Corwin testified at today's Natural Resources Committee hearing that despite frequently repeated Republican talking points, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been a tremendous success since its inception and has led to the recovery of iconic species - including the bald eagle - that would be extinct today if the law had been weakened or abandoned in the past. Corwin pointed out in testimony that the rebounding health o… Continue Reading
07.19.17
As Today’s House Budget Markup Kicks Off, Grijalva Highlights “Flagrantly Outdated” GOP Oil Estimates, Touts Alternatives
Washington, D.C. - As today's 10:00 a.m. House Budget Committee markup of the House Republican fiscal year 2018 budget proposal gets underway, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) questioned Republican estimates of revenue generated by opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and touted clean alternative energy development as a more popular and more economic option. The budget proposal includes instructions to the Natural Resources Committee to generate $5 billion… Continue Reading
07.18.17
Grijalva Highlights False GOP Talking Points, Budget Option to Drill in Arctic Refuge Ahead of “Drill, Baby, Drill” Alaska Hearing
Washington, D.C. - As House Republicans prepare to publish budget reconciliation language today that could lead to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling - continuing a decades-long ideological effort to drill in one of the nation's most pristine protected habitats - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) highlighted the almost total lack of GOP imagination on energy and economic policy. The budget language comes ahead of today's hearing at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time i… Continue Reading
07.13.17
Grijalva on Zinke Statement That Hanford Reach, Craters of the Moon are Safe From Arbitrary Review: “Pulling Names Out of a Hat”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on today's announcement by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that he is no longer considering recommending status or acreage changes to Craters of the Moon National Monument (Idaho) or Hanford Reach National Monument (Washington) as part of his ongoing, arbitrary "review" process of more than two dozen national monuments around the country: "The news that Secretary Zinke has decided not to attempt t… Continue Reading
07.13.17
Grijalva: Republicans Should Repudiate “Jaw-Dropping” Witness Emphasis on “Assimilation” at Today’s Tribal Policy Hearing
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said following today’s recently concluded hearing on Native American tribal recognition and land management policy that his Republican colleagues should repudiate the assertions of Don Mitchell - a Republican-invited witness - that the purpose of the Indian Recognition Act (IRA) of 1934 was to hasten the “assimilation” of Native American communities. Mitchell also told the Committee today that groups such as the Graton Rancheria and Ma… Continue Reading
07.13.17
Grijalva Questions False Premise, Slanted Republican Witness Panel at Today’s Hearing on Tribal Land Trust Issues
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) challenged the Republican majority's decision not to invite any Native American witnesses to today's 10:00 a.m. hearing on the federal tribal recognition process, where attorney Don Mitchell will testify at Republicans' behest despite tribal observers previously comparing him to the Ku Klux Klan. Mitchell referred sarcastically to "Alaska 'tribes'" in a July 2016 Alaska Daily News op-ed. The Native news outlet Indianz.com yeste… Continue Reading
07.12.17
Ahead of California Water Vote, Grijalva Questions GOP Industry Giveaways & Lack of Transparency, Highlights Dem Alternatives
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's House floor debate on H.R. 23 - the misnamed "Gaining Responsibility on Water Act" - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) highlighted the bill's enormous giveaways of natural resources to special interests and Republicans' decision to introduce today's bill without holding any hearings or allowing Committee members to offer prior amendments. Grijalva also highlighted a series of Democrat-supported efforts - including water reuse, desalination, wate… Continue Reading
07.06.17
Grijalva Presses Zinke to Explain How “Energy Dominance” Will Be Implemented Given Clear Conflicts With Existing Laws
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke this morning pressing him to explain how "energy dominance" - the administration's name for its vision of heavy corporate favoritism on energy and environmental issues - can be turned into realistic policy given the requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) to manage public lands "on the basis of multiple use and sustained yield." The letter comes as Zinke i… Continue Reading
06.30.17
Ahead of Bundy Retrial, Grijalva Requests GAO Report on Threats, Attacks Against Federal Land Managers and Agency Property
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of the scale of recent threats against and attacks on federal land management agency officials and property. The request comes shortly ahead of the July 10 retrial date for four alleged perpetrators of the 2014 armed standoff near Bunkerville, Nev. The full request letter is available at http://bit.ly/2urAuHp. Noting that the 2015 armed standoff at Malheur National… Continue Reading
06.29.17
Grijalva on Trump’s Mexican Wolf Announcement: “This Decision and Building the Border Wall Ensure Mexican Wolves’ Extinction”
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) announcement on recovery planning for the endangered Mexican gray wolf: "I'm disappointed that the Trump administration has once again allowed politics to override science. Research shows clearly that areas in southern Utah and Colorado are within the historic range of the Mexican wolf and contain suitabl… Continue Reading