Press Releases
Grijalva Highlights Potential Real-World Impacts of Impending Interior Department Budget Cuts Republicans Won’t Oppose
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today highlighted the real-world impacts of a 10 percent budget cut across the Department of the Interior (DOI), a figure that has been widely suggested as the Trump administration's likely target for fiscal year 2018. Greenwire reported on Feb. 28 that Trump is likely to seek a 10 percent Department-wide budget cut, citing multiple sources. Among other impacts, if implemented evenly across DOI agencies, a 10 percent reduction would elim… Continue Reading
03.15.17
At Corporations’ Behest, Republicans Launch Coordinated Legislative and Legal Attack on Marine Monuments at Today’s 10:00 a.m. Hearing
Washington, D.C. - In an effort to undermine the Antiquities Act, Committee Republicans are holding a hearing this morning to attack Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush's uses of the Act by falsely claiming they overreached when they designated national marine monuments in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) points out that the hearing is part of Chairman Rob Bishop's (R-Utah) larger plan to push his anti-public lands agenda through Congress.… Continue Reading
03.08.17
Ranking Member Grijalva, Rep. Lowenthal Push EPA Head to Reverse Industry Favor, Get Answers on U.S. Methane Emissions
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, today sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt urging him to reissue an Obama-era information request to the oil and gas industry on methane emissions from production operations - a request Pruitt recently canceled one day after receiving a request to do so as a favor to the industry, d… Continue Reading
03.08.17
Grijalva Presses Interior Secretary on Whether He Believes Monuments Can Be Revoked Through Executive Action Without Congress
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today pressing him to explain his stance on whether presidents can use the Antiquities Act to revoke national monument status at existing monument sites. In an early test for Zinke, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and other Republicans are urging the Trump administration to use the Act to withdraw monument status at Utah's Bears Ears National Monument and elsewhere despite the law not … Continue Reading
03.07.17
Grijalva on Vote to Scrap BLM Planning Rule: Republicans Are More Concerned With Obama Legacy Than With Governing
Washington, D.C. - Today the Senate repealed the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Planning 2.0 Rule using the Congressional Review Act, a previously arcane law Republicans have used since the beginning of this Congress to eliminate a host of federal regulations without regard for the economic or environmental consequences. Planning 2.0, promulgated under the Obama administration, was an update to Reagan-era BLM rules that guide public input and decision-making on managing the approximately 250 … Continue Reading
03.07.17
House Natural Resources Democrats Call for Committee Hearings on Republican Health Care Repeal Plan’s Consequences for Indian Country
Washington, D.C.- As House Republicans pursue a rushed and secretive strategy to repeal the Affordable Care Act, top Democrats on the House Committee on Natural Resources today called on Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) to hold a full Committee hearing on the effects that an Affordable Care Act repeal would have on tribal health and communities. The letter was sent by Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Vice-Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Indi… Continue Reading
03.07.17
Grijalva Urges Army Corps, Nuclear Regulators to Stop Cutting Corners for Nuclear Plant in Hurricane Alley’s Biscayne Bay
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released a letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) today requesting information about the agencies' plan to permit the construction of two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, a site adjacent to Biscayne and Everglades National Parks. According to formal comments filed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the Nati… Continue Reading
03.06.17
Grijalva Annotates GOP Interior Department Budget Views, Highlights Bishop’s $50 Million Demand to Cover Costs of His Land Giveaways
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted Chairman Rob Bishop's (R-Utah) $50 million budget demand, in the formal Republican "views and estimates" on the fiscal year 2018 budget, to make up for lost revenue from his plan to give away federal land. Bishop's demand marks the latest in a string of efforts to get others to take responsibility for the costs and likely legal struggles of his anti-public lands campaign. Under Congressional Budget Office acco… Continue Reading
03.01.17
Grijalva to Zinke: Succeeding as Secretary Means Protecting Interior’s Mission and Budget, Staying True to Your Word on Public Lands
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today urged newly confirmed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to reject the White House's threat to cut 10 percent from the Department of the Interior (DOI) budget in fiscal year 2018, to reject extreme proposals to give away millions of acres of public land to state and local entities, and to invest in the DOI mission of protecting our country's natural resources. "Happy talk about making this country great doesn't make up for gut… Continue Reading
03.01.17
Hearing on 21st Century Water & Power Infrastructure Projects Fails to Acknowledge Climate Change Impacts
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's first Water, Power and Oceans Subcommittee hearing on modernizing our nation's water and power infrastructure for the 21st Century, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) pointed out that the Republican hearing memo fails to acknowledge climate change as a growing threat and does not take into account the impacts our changing climate will have on our water infrastructure. In anticipation of the White House's infrastructure proposal, House Republican… Continue Reading
02.28.17
GAO Debunks GOP Claims on Endangered Species Act Litigation – Grijalva Calls for More Honest Debate, Increased Protection Funding
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report today thoroughly debunking a common Republican talking point on citizen lawsuits and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), prompting Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) to call for an end to misleading GOP rhetoric. In a letter today, available at http://bit.ly/2ma0xTn, Grijalva also urges the House Appropriations Committee to increase funding for threatened and endangered species programs at the U.S. F… Continue Reading
02.28.17
Ahead of Trump Address, Grijalva Calls Push to Defund Environmental Agencies “Immoral,” Points to Likely Climate Quality Impacts
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today said the Trump administration's widely reported intention to slash the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget and foreign assistance to pay for what President Trump last week called "one of the greatest military buildups in American history" is more proof that Trump has lost his moral authority as a national leader. "Only someone with no concern for the future sees our environment as a source of money for more bloated militar… Continue Reading
02.28.17
Grijalva Questions Potentially Illegal DOI Halt to Natural Resources Valuation Rule That Closed Corporate, Taxpayer Royalty Loopholes
Washington, D.C. - In a letter to Acting Interior Secretary Jack Haugrud today, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) asked for an explanation of the Office of Natural Resources Revenue's (ONRR) decision to stop enforcing a months-old rule that fixed longstanding problems with the valuation of public resources and royalties owed to the public. The agency announced on Feb. 27 that it was indefinitely postponing implementation of the Consolidated Federal Oil & Gas and Federal & … Continue Reading
02.27.17
Grijalva Request for Information Leads DOI to Correct Bogus Job Number – Ranking Member Promises Ongoing Scrutiny
Washington, D.C. - After Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Acting Interior Secretary Jack Haugrud on Friday questioning a Department of the Interior (DOI) blog post that falsely claimed repealing the Stream Protection Rule would save 7,000 "clean coal" jobs, E&E News reported today that the post's reference to the bogus job figure had been quietly removed. Grijalva said the change is evidence that the Trump administration will need constant congressional scrut… Continue Reading
02.23.17
Grijalva Pushes for Answers as Trump Interior Officials Contradict Previous Jobs Impact Estimate of Canceling Stream Protection Rule
Washington, D.C. - In a new letter to Acting Secretary of the Interior Jack Haugrud, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) asks why a recent Department of the Interior (DOI) blog post falsely claims the cancellation of the Stream Protection Rule - which regulated the dumping of waste from mountaintop removal mining until Republicans repealed it earlier this month - would prevent the loss of 7,000 "clean coal" jobs, when previous DOI estimates had shown the rule would actually add 156… Continue Reading
02.23.17
Grijalva on the Passing of American Samoa Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released a statement on the passing of his friend and colleague, Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa. "I'm heartbroken by the news that Eni has passed," said Grijalva. "I was lucky enough to have served with him on the Natural Resources Committee where I got see him fight every day to better the lives of his constituents. He dedicated his career to being a strong advocate for the people of American Samoa and ma… Continue Reading
02.16.17
Increasing Pressure on Trump, Dems Hail National Congress of American Indians Resolution Predicating Border Wall on Tribal Consent
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Norma Torres, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, today hailed the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) for resolving, at its just-concluded Executive Council Winter Session, to oppose border wall construction on Native American land without tribal consent. The resolution increases pressure on the Trump administration and its Republican allies to explain how they inte… Continue Reading
02.16.17
Grijalva Questions Republican Attack on Science as Majority Preps Vote to Kill Bear Cubs, Wolf Pups in Alaska Natl. Wildlife Refuges
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of today's House vote to repeal a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that prohibits the slaughter of Alaskan wolf and bear populations on National Wildlife Refuges using methods widely recognized as inhumane and unsportsmanlike by hunters and the general public, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) questioned why Republicans have made the effort such a high priority. He called on Speaker Paul Ryan to cancel the vote and focus on legislation that improv… Continue Reading
02.15.17
Rep. Grijalva on Addition of Offshore Drilling Agency to GAO High-Risk List: “Fix This Before We Start Drilling More of Our Oceans”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today issued the following statement on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) adding the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) oversight of offshore oil and gas extraction activities to the 2017 High Risk List. GAO describes the list as a catalog of government agencies and programs that have the greatest "vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are mos… Continue Reading
02.14.17
Grijalva Requests GAO Analysis of Bureau of Land Management Hacking Vulnerability in Online Lease Sales of Public Resources
Washington, D.C. - Amid growing public concern over whether our nation's political and governmental computer systems are vulnerable to foreign hacking, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment of the threat of hacking to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) new online lease sale system for public mineral resources. In his request letter, available a http://bit.ly/2lLQy2p, Grijalva also asks GAO to assess the new online … Continue Reading