Press Releases
Ranking Member Grijalva: DOI Report Confirms Federal Coal Program is Broken and Outdated, Highlights Need for Reforms
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the release of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) scoping report on the review of the federal coal program, which concluded that "modernization of the coal program is warranted." "The first phase of Interior's coal program review tells us what the Government Accountability Office, the DOI Inspector General and others have already said: the federal coal program is broken and outdated," Grijalva said. "If the Ame… Continue Reading
01.11.17
Today’s Grijalva Amendment to GOP Deregulatory Bill Would Strip Republican Language Harming Federal Land Management Agencies
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) will offer an amendment today to strip language in H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act, that makes it much more difficult for national land management agencies to protect public resources. Formally, H.R. 5 would make all land use management plans published by the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) subject to an onerous economic analysis through a procedure described in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (R… Continue Reading
01.10.17
Grijalva Calls for Dem Action as GOP Prepares to Cancel Environmental Rules Even After Frivolous Investigations Found No Problems
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) yesterday sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to the entire House Democratic Caucus urging a united front against House Republican leaders' plan to eliminate two environmental standards - the Stream Protection Rule and the Methane Waste Prevention Rule (MWPR) - using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Republicans are expected to use the CRA early in the 115th Congress to attempt to cancel federal agency rules instituted under the Ob… Continue Reading
01.09.17
Dear Colleague Letter on CRA Repeal of Stream Protection and Methane Rules Jan. 9
Ranking Member Grijalva urges House Democrats to oppose the Republican attempts to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, which governs mountaintop removal mining, and the Methane Waste Prevention Rule, which prevents the oil and gas industry from wasting natural resources owned by the public.… Continue Reading
01.06.17
Grijalva Expresses “Profound Disappointment” With Administration Choice Not to Protect Grand Canyon Through National Monument
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today expressed his "profound disappointment" in the Obama administration's decision not to protect the Grand Canyon area by establishing Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument. The effort to create the monument - strongly backed by Native American tribes across the region - is supported by 82 percent of voters nationally and 80 percent of voters in Arizona, a rare instance of an environmental initiative transcending political ph… Continue Reading
01.05.17
Grijalva Amendment to Republican REINS Act Forces GOP to Either Acknowledge Harms of Deregulation or Hide Data From the Public
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva will offer an amendment to the sweeping House Republican deregulation bill known as the REINS Act later today that forces GOP lawmakers to either account for the health and environmental impacts of weakened federal standards or vote against providing the public with valuable information about the costs of their actions. Formally, Grijalva's amendment mandates that any agency promoting a rule offer a public accounting of the rule's impact… Continue Reading
01.03.17
Grijalva Pushes Back on GOP Proposal to Make it Even Easier to Give Away America’s Public Lands
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a notice to Democratic leadership today highlighting a significant change the Republican Conference has proposed to House rules. The new provision would help House Republicans pursue their long-stated goal of giving away National Parks, Forests, Public Lands, Wildlife Refuges and other federal areas - currently owned and used by the American people - by requiring the House to pretend such giveaways have no cost. The Congre… Continue Reading
12.28.16
Grijalva Applauds President Obama for Designating Two New National Monuments; Remains Optimistic Grand Canyon is Next
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) praised President Obama for taking another pivotal step in cementing his environmental legacy by establishing two new national monuments that will protect Native American lands, as well as critical environmental, historical and cultural resources. Today, under the Antiquities Act of 1906, Obama designated Gold Butte in Nevada and Bears Ears in Southern Utah. The President's announcement failed to include the proposed Greater Gra… Continue Reading
12.20.16
Grijalva: Arctic Withdrawal Helps Cement Obama’s Environmental Legacy
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today applauded President Obama's decision to permanently protect the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic Ocean from future offshore drilling. "Today's announcement is a victory for the environment, our climate, and one of the last great pristine wildernesses on Earth, and a defeat for Big Oil and their 'drill everywhere' agenda. The oil and gas industry will whine, but the fact is they still have acc… Continue Reading
12.19.16
Stream Protection Rule Release Evidence of an Administration Putting People First
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today hailed the release of the final Stream Protection Rule by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), a long-overdue regulation that will help protect people, water supplies, and wildlife from the destructive effects of mountaintop removal mining. "Mountaintop removal coal mining is one of the most destructive things that companies do to the environment, literally blasting off… Continue Reading
12.13.16
Grijalva Statement on New EPA Fracking Report: “The Trump Administration Will Answer to the Public If They Ignore This”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the newly released Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on fracking's impacts on drinking water sources as "the most thorough review of the issue ever published" and said the Trump administration will have a hard time downplaying or ignoring fracking's threats to drinking water now that the report is public. Incoming EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in 2014 inaccurately dismissed an agency report on fracking a… Continue Reading
12.13.16
Ranking Member Grijalva Statement on 176,000-Gallon Oil Spill in North Dakota: “We Can’t Say We Weren’t Warned”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on this morning's news of a 176,000-gallon oil spill from a ruptured pipeline in North Dakota. The spill occurred just 150 miles from the site of the water protector demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which Grijalva visited in September and highlighted in a Sept. 20 roundtable on Capitol Hill. "Americans who support tribal rights, the environment and the rule of law stood in free… Continue Reading
12.13.16
Ranking Member Grijalva Leads Letter Demanding Federal Enforcement Against Human Trafficking in Hawaiian Fishing Industry
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and three other key Democratic lawmakers late yesterday sent a letter to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) demanding overdue enforcement against widely reported incidents of human trafficking in U.S. waters by commercial fishing vessels. The letter, available at http://bit.ly/2gDweCw, points out that the well-known labor exemptions used by the Hawaii longline fleet were not de… Continue Reading
12.08.16
As Oklahoma AG Heads to EPA, Grijalva Introduces “Preventing Preventable Earthquakes Act” to Prompt Fracking Standards
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today introduced the "Preventing Preventable Earthquakes Act," which directs federal or state officials to prevent manmade earthquakes of the kind that has plagued Oklahoma in recent years. The bill would ensure that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, whose deep ties to the oil and gas industry have already received widespread coverage, would address the issue as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the T… Continue Reading
12.07.16
Grijalva on Scott Pruitt Nomination to EPA: “He Bragged About Suing, Trashing and Manipulating the Agency He’s Supposed to Lead”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today rejected the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pruitt's misleading rhetoric and lack of transparency in dealings with the EPA, whose Clean Power Plan he sued to block, has been covered by the New York Times and many other outlets. As the Times reported in December 2014, Pruitt once passed off a letter written by lawyers for Devon Energy, a large oil and… Continue Reading
12.07.16
Ranking Member Grijalva Leads Letter With Key Democratic Leaders Urging Interior Secretary to Revive Red Wolf Recovery Program
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and eight other key Democratic Members of Congress - including Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies - sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell this morning calling on her to override the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) recent … Continue Reading
12.05.16
Grijalva Thanks Obama, Hails Announcement That Dakota Access Pipeline Will Be Subject to Full Environmental Impact Analysis
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the announcement that the Dakota Access Pipeline Project - the subject of months of demonstrations that included law enforcement spraying unarmed water protectors with high-pressure water hoses in freezing conditions - will be subject to a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act, which will include a public comment period and a full asse… Continue Reading
11.18.16
Grijalva: Reported Withdrawal of Arctic From Drilling Threats in New Five-Year Offshore Plan “A Win Years in the Making”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the announcement that the Obama administration's five-year lease sale plan for the Outer Continental Shelf will not permit new leasing off the coast of Alaska. Grijalva signed a letter in May to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell urging the administration to withdraw the Arctic from further leasing consideration. "This decision is an environmental win years in the making," Grijalva said today. "We're going to see unpr… Continue Reading
11.15.16
Grijalva Hails New Methane Rule, Urges Regulatory Continuity Rather Than Blanket Rejection From Incoming Administration
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva hailed today's newly announced Interior Department methane emissions rule for oil and gas extraction on federal land. He urged the incoming administration to maintain the standard. "Blanket rejection of every Obama administration action, no matter how scientifically well-founded or profitable to the American people those actions might be, is not a viable governing strategy," Grijalva said. "This is a good example of a change that's alrea… Continue Reading
11.14.16
Grijalva on Army Corps Announcement of Continued Tribal Consultation on Dakota Access Pipeline: “Send DOJ Observers to the Area”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Army Corps of Engineers' new announcement that it will continue consultations with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe before making a final decision on the fate of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. "The Army Corps is right to continue consulting with the Standing Rock Sioux, and everyone who pushed against rubber-stamping this pipeline should feel a very real measure of success and vin… Continue Reading