Press Releases
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
04.18.18
Committee Leaders Urge FEMA to Extend Army Corps’ Mission in Puerto Rico Until All Electric Customers are Restored
Committee Leaders Urge FEMA to Extend Army Corps' Mission in Puerto Rico Until All Electric Customers are Restored Members Concerned that Electric Grid is too Fragile for Army Corps Departure as Power Failures Continue Washington, DC - Today, the top Democrats of four House Committees sent a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long requesting an extension of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) mission to restore power in Puerto Rico, which is current… Continue Reading
04.16.18
Dems Urge Republicans to Conduct Meaningful Oversight as Inspector General Finds Sec. Zinke Took Flight for Personal Reasons
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said today that Republicans in Congress need to conduct more careful oversight of Trump administration officials in the wake of a Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General (OIG) report finding that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent taxpayer funds on a chartered flight for personal reasons unconnected to his official … Continue Reading
04.12.18
Grijalva Asks DOI to Disclose Political Appointee Vetting Procedures After Racist and Delusional Statements by Interior Officials
Washington, D.C. - In the wake of multiple high-ranking Department of the Interior (DOI) officials making racist, delusional or conspiratorial public statements on social media, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today requesting "a detailed description of the vetting process at DOI for acting and permanent political appointees, including any review of relevant qualifications, background, and ethical considerations." Grijalva's letter, availa… Continue Reading
04.12.18
Grijalva Calls for a Hearing on the Flawed and Poorly Documented DOI Reassignment Process
Washington, D.C. - In response to the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report finding that recent reassignments of senior, career officials at DOI were carried out, "without a written plan or clear criteria," and that appeared to punish employees that worked on climate change or conservation, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) today to request an oversight hearing to get more answers about the rea… Continue Reading
04.12.18
Grijalva Applauds the American People for Speaking Up and Opposing the NPS Fee Hike
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) praised the American people for making their voices heard and opposing the National Park Service (NPS) proposal to nearly double the entrance fees at 17 of our most popular national parks. More than 100,000 people submitted public comments opposing the fee hike and as a result, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke pulled back his original proposal and announced today that NPS is only increasing the ent… Continue Reading