Press Releases
Grijalva Launches a New Resource to Anonymously Report Fraud, Waste & Abuse
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, launched a new Tip Line page on the Committee's website today that encourages federal employees at the U.S. Department of the Interior or other agencies working on environmental issues, government contractors, and the general public to anonymously report wrongdoing within the Trump administration. The need for a whistleblower page became apparent after Committee Republ… Continue Reading
02.08.17
Committee Launches New Lighthearted Video Series Profiling House Democrats Fighting to Protect the Environment
Washington, D.C. - Who do you think would survive longer in the wilderness, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) or Donald Trump? To find out the answer check out the first edition of "Better Know A Member," starring Congressman Grijalva as he candidly talks about his favorite outdoor activities, natural resources policies and programs he plans to defend, and the "extreme" environmental activities he takes part in. View the full video interview h… Continue Reading
02.07.17
Senate, House Natural Resource Leaders Blast Dakota Access Pipeline Decision, Stand up for Tribal Sovereignty and Treaty Rights
WASHINGTON, DC - In a letter to President Donald Trump, members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Committee on Natural Resources blasted the Trump Administration's approval of a final easement to build the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and their failure to undertake meaningful consultation with Native American tribes. "This blatant disregard for federal law and our country's treaty and trust responsibilities to Native American tribes is unacceptable. We strongly… Continue Reading
02.07.17
Grijalva on Trump Administration’s Decision to Proceed with Building the Dakota Access Pipeline
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) received a letter today from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army notifying him that the Army will move forward, as soon as tomorrow, with granting an easement to the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline. "Before the Women's March and before thousands of people protested at airports, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies were camping in the freezing cold to defend their rights. The Obama Administration he… Continue Reading
02.07.17
Democrats Call for Continued Action as Republicans Reject Transparency, Terrorism Reforms to Rules and Oversight Plan
Washington, D.C. - At today's recently concluded organizing meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee, the Republican majority voted down a number of Democratic proposals that, among other reforms, would have mandated financial disclosure by politically appointed Trump administration witnesses; strengthened language in the Committee's oversight plan to acknowledge the human causes of climate change; and added terrorist funding through natural resources trafficking to the Committee's overs… Continue Reading
02.07.17
As GOP Votes Down Transparency Rule at Another Committee, Leading Dems Highlight Need to Expose Trump-Style Conflicts of Interest
Note: The headline of this press release has been slightly changed from its original version to reduce confusion. The qutoe from Rep. Bennie Thompson was added to the online version and was not included in the initial release. Washington, D.C. - The Republican majority on the House Committee on Natural Resources just voted down a Democratic proposal to require that hearing witnesses working for the Trump administration disclose financial conflicts of interest before appearing to testify, contin… Continue Reading
02.03.17
Grijalva on GOP Vote to Wipe Out Methane Emissions Rule: “This Majority Exists to Give Away Public Resources to Private Interests”
Washington, D.C. - After the House Republican majority's just-concluded vote to repeal the Interior Department's rule prohibiting methane waste on public lands - a vote that caps a week spent slashing environmental and corporate disclosure rules - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva said the Republican majority has proven that giving away public goods to private entities is all the majority seems to know how to do. Each vote is pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Con… Continue Reading
02.02.17
Fishing Industry Groups Join Grijalva, Huffman in Opposing Trump’s Economically Damaging Executive Order on Regulations
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Water, Power, and Oceans Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) sent a letter to President Trump today urging him to rescind the "one in, two out" executive order on regulations issued earlier this week and an earlier memorandum instituting a regulatory freeze. These two actions have the combined effect of preventing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from opening or … Continue Reading
02.02.17
Grijalva on Disavowal of Unpopular Public Lands Giveaway Bill by Its Sponsor: “Activism is the Strongest Power in Washington”
Washington, D.C. - Following the sudden abandonment of a House Republican bill to give away millions of acres of federally protected land in response to massive public protests, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva called on public lands supporters to continue their activism and urged Republican leaders to rethink their unpopular environmental policies. "Political activism is the only way to protect public lands from President Trump and his cheerleaders in Congress, and it works," Grijalva sa… Continue Reading
02.01.17
Grijalva on GOP Vote to Wipe Out Stream Protection Rule: “Donald Trump Didn’t Do This – Rank-and-File Republicans Did”
Washington, D.C. - House Republicans began their all-out assault on regulatory health, safety, and financial protections today by voting to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, which would help protect waterways and communities from the negative effects of unchecked coal mining. Following the just-concluded House vote to wipe out the Stream Protection Rule, a Department of the Interior regulation that regulates the dumping of waste from mountaintop removal (MTR) mining, Ranking Member Raúl … Continue Reading
02.01.17
Grijalva Highlights Industry Favoritism, Hits to Public Health and Royalties in Upcoming Republican Deregulatory Votes
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the damage to public health and the environment that will stem from impending Republican votes to wipe out the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Methane and Waste Prevention Rule; the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement's (OSMRE) Stream Protection Rule; and the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Resource Extraction Rule, each of which carries significant benefits for ordinary Americans … Continue Reading
01.30.17
In Letter to Speaker Ryan, Ranking Members Grijalva, Pallone Highlight Indian Country Impacts of Repealing Affordable Care Act
Washington, D.C. - In a previously unreleased Jan. 24 letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) highlight the damage to Indian Country should Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and urge the majority to reconsider its plan to eliminate the law. The letter, which chronicles the full range of funding and services at risk, is available at http://bit.ly/2j9wdr7. The … Continue Reading
01.26.17
GOP Set to Scrap Rule Protecting Coal Country Using Quick and Dirty Process in House Floor Vote Next Week
Washington, D.C. - House Republicans are expected to vote next week to eliminate the Department of the Interior's Stream Protection Rule (SPR), which protects public health and the environment from the worst impacts of coal mining. As National Public Radio covered in a segment this morning, opposition to the move is widespread and extends to a fourth-generation West Virginia coal miner whose wife suffered severe asthma from coal dust exposure. The piece notes that the miner, Chuck Nelson, began… Continue Reading
01.26.17
Ranking Member Grijalva: Regardless of Who Picks Up the Tab, the Price of Trump’s Border Wall is Too High
Washington, D.C. - President Trump yesterday signed an executive order that pursues the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border - a project that would harm wildlife, erode tribal sovereignty, disrupt communities and perpetuate a humanitarian crisis. Despite repeated promises that "Mexico will pay," House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that American taxpayers will pay billions for Trump's wall. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reiterated in strong terms yesterday that his cou… Continue Reading
01.24.17
Grijalva Statement on Trump Administration Freeze of EPA Grants to Flint, MI and Other Communities
Washington, D.C. - Today, Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) issued the following statement on the Trump Administration's decision to bar the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from awarding grants and contracts: "President Trump is withholding critical aid from communities across the country that desperately need funding to ensure safe drinking water, reduce asthma-causing air pollution, clean up contaminated and unsafe lands and waterways, and con… Continue Reading
01.24.17
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Respond to Trump’s Advancement of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva and key members of the Committee released the following statement today on the announcement that President Donald Trump will advance the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines through executive order. Grijalva - who published a Feb. 27, 2014, New York Times op-ed opposing the Keystone pipeline and who met with leaders at the Standing Rock Sioux camp opposed to Dakota Access early last year - has been a leading advocate f… Continue Reading
01.24.17
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Elect Subcommittee Ranking Members
Washington, D.C. - Under the leadership of Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the Democratic Caucus of the House Natural Resources Committee held an organizational meeting today during which members were elected to serve as the Ranking Members of the five subcommittees: Rep. Colleen Hanabusa of Hawaii, subcommittee on Federal Lands Rep. Jared Huffman of California, subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans Rep. Alan Lowenthal of California, subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Re… Continue Reading
01.24.17
Grijalva, Whitehouse to Trump: Keep Climate Denying Industry Shill Away from NOAA
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sent a letter to President Donald Trump today, urging him to remove a notorious climate change denier from his landing team at the Department of Commerce (DOC), which includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Kenneth Haapala, president of the oil industry funded Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) at the Heartland Instit… Continue Reading
01.13.17
Grijalva Welcomes Democratic Committee Members, Looks Forward to Promoting Solutions and Blunting GOP Environmental Attacks
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today welcomed the newly announced Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee. Grijalva said he looked forward to working with them and returning members to promote conservation and stop what are expected to be two years of constant Republican attacks on America's bedrock environmental laws. New members Reps. Colleen Hanabusa (Hawaii), Nanette Barragán (Calif.), Darren Soto (Fla.), Jimmy Panetta (Calif.)… Continue Reading
01.12.17
Ranking Member Grijalva, Rep. Meehan Offer Bill to Permanently Establish Land & Water Conservation Fund, Prevent 2018 Expiration
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) today introduced bipartisan legislation to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act. In the more than 50 years since it was first passed with overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats, the LWCF has come to be recognized as America's most important conservation program. The bill introduced today, available at http://bit.ly/2… Continue Reading