Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Water, Wildlife and Fisheries
Grijalva on Trump’s Infrastructure Plan
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) responded to the release of President Trump's "infrastructure plan" that aims to gut fundamental clean water and air protections and puts our children's health at risk: "This is not a plan, it's not even a proposal. This is a sheet of tired, Republican talking points that blame everything on basic environmental protections and in the end, do nothing," Grijalva said. "Local communities, not big corporate developers who solely ca… Continue Reading
01.30.18
Grijalva: Trump Gutting Environmental Standards for Infrastructure Isn’t a Real Plan, It’s “A Tunnel Back to the Gilded Age”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said following the State of the Union that President Trump's push to weaken or eliminate a wide swath of environmental standards in the name of infrastructure development shows the president cares about making rich corporations happy more than Americans' health, incomes or quality of life. Trump's plan to waive environmental laws, reduce public input on projects and provide no new meaningful funding is the opposite of a serious … Continue Reading
01.29.18
Grijalva Highlights Long List of Republican Attacks on Our Communities’ Health and Environment Ahead of State of the Union
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of President Trump's State of the Union address, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) staff released a year-end report today titled, 2017: A Year of the Resistance to highlight the relentless attacks Republicans in Congress and the administration have made on our country's foundational environmental policies. Republicans have successfully undermined key environmental laws and have introduced new pieces of legislation that put our public lands, waters, clean… Continue Reading
12.13.17
Ranking Member Grijalva Highlights Broad-Based Economic, Environmental Opposition to Doomed Partisan GOP Fisheries Bill
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the broad-based economic and environmental opposition to H.R. 200, today's highly partisan rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fisheries and fishing quotas across U.S. waters. The GOP bill is opposed by the Seafood Harvesters of America and a wide swathe of restaurants and individual commercial fisherman and by dozens of environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, Defenders of W… Continue Reading
11.29.17
Trump, House Republicans Fail to Deliver Infrastructure Package, Scapegoat Environmental Review Instead
Washington, D.C. - In an attempt to divert attention away from their inability to craft and advance legislation that would provide much needed funding to repair our country's crumbling infrastructure, House Republicans are holding a hearing this morning to blame the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for their failures. NEPA is a bedrock conservation law that requires federal agencies to consider potential environmental impacts of projects they undertake or permit. According to a report by… Continue Reading
11.02.17
Natural Resources Dems to Trump: Ocean Monuments Report Belongs to the American People
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and 19 House Democrats sent a letter to President Trump today urging him to release the Department of Commerce report sent to the White House last week on Secretary Wilbur Ross' review of 11 National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments. Secretary Ross promised to consider the 100,000 public comments the Department received, but has failed to inform the American people of his plans. In the interest of bipartisanship… Continue Reading
11.02.17
Democrats Ask Commerce Secretary Ross about Marine Monuments Report
Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and 19 House Democrats sent a letter to President Trump today urging him to release the Department of Commerce report sent to the White House last week on Secretary Wilbur Ross' review of 11 National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments.… Continue Reading
10.26.17
Committee Dems Respond to Report that Threatens Fishermen, Declares Open Season on Marine Mammals and Endangered Species
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Committee Democrats today slammed a new Department of Commerce report issued under Executive Order 13783, which recommends unsupportable and dangerous changes to the way we manage our oceans. Among other moves, the report calls for weakening already inadequate consultation requirements for Essential Fish Habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Act; requiring expensive and time-consuming cost-benefit analyses that would bias feder… Continue Reading
10.26.17
Grijalva and Pingree: Commerce, Justice Departments Must Take Stronger Enforcement Actions against ‘Codfather’ to Deter Pirate Fishing
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) sent a letter today to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Jeff Sessions, urging them to penalize Carlos Rafael - the notorious 'Codfather' of New Bedford, Mass. - for violations of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). While Rafael pled guilty and was sentenced for violations of the Lacey Act, he has not been… Continue Reading
09.26.17
Grijalva & Huffman Ask for Bipartisan Cooperation to Reauthorize Critical Fisheries Management Law
Washington, D.C. - At today's 10:00 a.m. fisheries management hearing on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) - a bipartisan law that aims to foster long-term biological and economic sustainability of our nation's marine fisheries - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Water, Power and Oceans Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) highlight the need for bipartisan cooperation to reauthorize the law and make updates to improve fisheries … Continue Reading
09.21.17
Grijalva: Trump Administration Has Just Days to Ensure Justice for New England Fishermen in Historic Illegal Fishing Case
Washington, D.C. - Just ahead of a closely watched sentencing hearing for Carlos Rafael, the leader of a notorious illegal fishing operation that has badly damaged the New England fishing economy, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent two letters today - one to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and the other to Department of Commerce Inspector General Peggy Gustafson - urging renewed attention to his case and an investigation of whether federal … 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
06.20.17
Grijalva Calls on Bishop to Hold NOAA Budget Hearing to Examine How Deep Cuts Would Harm Ocean Protections, Species Programs
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) today urging a hearing for Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to testify on the Trump administration's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In line with the drastic cuts proposed across natural resources, environmental and science agencies, the administration's budget reduces NOAA funding by 17 percent compared to the FY17 co… Continue Reading
06.14.17
Grijalva Highlights Job-Killing Risks of Trump’s Red Snapper Plan as Federal Register Admits it Presents a Severe Overfishing Threat
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement today in response to the Trump administration proposal to extend the 2017 private boat red snapper season in federal Gulf of Mexico waters from 3 days to 42 days: "The red snapper population in the Gulf has been recovering from years of overfishing. Our priority now has to be maintaining and continuing that recovery. Gulf Coast businesses literally cannot afford a fishery management fiat that el… Continue Reading
06.07.17
Ignoring Widely Understood Need to Remove Deadbeat Dams, GOP Will Push Sea Lion Slaughter at Thursday Salmon Hearing
Washington, D.C. - Republicans at tomorrow's 10:00 a.m. Natural Resources Committee hearing on Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's H.R. 2083 will argue that the best way to rescue the Pacific Northwest's ailing salmon runs is to kill approximately 1,000 area sea lions rather than breach, bypass, or remove a series of four outdated dams along the Snake River, as a federal judge and the vast majority of stakeholders and scientists have called for. The fact that these dams pose the greatest threat to the… Continue Reading
05.25.17
Grijalva to Zinke: Who Removed Reference to Climate Change Science in U.S. Geological Survey Press Release?
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today requesting information on the administration's censoring of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) press release put out after three USGS scientists and three outside colleagues published new climate change research in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. The administration, as the Washington Post reported, removed a reference in the press release to the relationship between climat… Continue Reading
05.23.17
Grijalva: This Budget is What Republicans Signed Up For When They Supported Trump – and It Would Destroy Our Environment
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted four environmental policy areas the Trump administration's proposed budget would hit especially hard, calling on Republicans to reject it out of hand or explain why they continue to support an administration that has lost all credibility. "This budget is the reality of the Republican vision for the country, and Republicans in Congress need to admit it," Grijalva said today. "It treats our environment as a spee… Continue Reading
05.16.17
As GOP Pushes Deregulation, Taxpayers Potentially on the Hook for Billions in Decommissioned Oil Rig Cleanups, GAO Will Testify
Washington, D.C. - A Government Accountability Office (GAO) witness at tomorrow's House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the fate of decommissioned offshore oil rigs will testify that taxpayers could be required to pay billions of dollars to meet cleanup requirements ignored or abandoned by oil companies. The hearing comes as Republicans argue for less stringent federal oversight of efforts like the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Rigs-to-Reefs Program, which converts deco… Continue Reading
05.11.17
Grijalva on Congress Overturning Obama-era Rules: “Republicans Have Put the Health & Well Being of Everyday Americans in Jeopardy”
Washington, D.C. - As of today, Congress can no longer use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn Obama-era rules. The Republican-controlled Congress successfully voted to overturn thirteen rules issued under the Obama administration and President Trump signed them into law. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) points out that nearly a quarter of the rules were blatant attacks on our environment. "On our very first day in Congress, House Rep… Continue Reading
05.02.17
Tomorrow’s Water, Power & Oceans Hearing Will Feature GOP Arguing Against Tribal, Environmental Protections for Hydro Permitting
Washington, D.C. - Democrats at tomorrow's Water, Power and Oceans Subcommittee hearing on hydropower development will reject Republican demands to weaken protections for tribes and the environment in the hydropower licensing process. Given the length of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydropower licenses - which are typically valid for 50 years - many hydropower projects coming up for relicensing are operating on permits granted prior to the passage of modern environmental laws. As… Continue Reading