Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Water, Wildlife and Fisheries
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
04.28.17
Trump’s Offshore Drilling & Marine Sanctuaries Executive Order Puts Coastal Communities at Risk
Washington, D.C. - Ahead of President Trump's signing of an executive order that will try to open up more of our oceans to offshore drilling, weaken safety regulations, and launch a review of all national marine sanctuaries designated in the last decade, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) released the following statement condemning the administration's actions. "Opening up our oceans to more of… Continue Reading
04.07.17
After Four Weeks of Infrastructure-Related Hearings Heavy on Deregulation, Grijalva Asks Where GOP Infrastructure Plan is Hiding
Washington, D.C. - Following a month's worth of Natural Resources Committee hearings in which Republicans and their invited witnesses argued falsely that major environmental deregulation is the only way to improve our nation's infrastructure, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today asked where the Republican infrastructure plan is hiding and why the GOP is using infrastructure as the latest cover story for its unchanging pro-polluter agenda. Throughout the month, Republican lawma… Continue Reading
03.28.17
Grijalva: Trump Order Ending Federal Climate Planning, Opening New Federal Coal Leases is “Major Self-Inflicted Wound”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today called the Trump administration's impending executive order canceling federal climate change planning and mitigation efforts and ending the federal coal leasing moratorium "a major self-inflicted wound" and pointed out that it would likely harm communities, in Appalachia and elsewhere, that the White House has promised to help. Today's order rolls back current rules mandating that federal agencies plan for the realities o… Continue Reading
03.22.17
Grijalva Presses Bishop to Call Interior Secretary Zinke for Hearing on Department’s Future in Light of Budget Cuts, Other Needs
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) urging him to call a hearing for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to testify on the future of the Interior Department, in light of the Trump administration's proposed 12 percent budget cut, and on other issues Zinke has yet to address. "Given the lack of detail provided in the President's proposal," Grijalva writes, "it is critical that Secretary Zinke appear before the Committee … 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
03.07.17
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
03.01.17
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
02.07.17
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
02.02.17
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
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
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
03.11.16
Grijalva to EPA: Keep Nuclear Waste out of our National Parks
Washington, D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter this morning to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy urging her to take immediate action to stop the flow of radioactive water from the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station into Biscayne National Park. The National Park Service and local officials in South Florida identified the Turkey Point cooling water canal system at as an environmental hazard and… Continue Reading
02.24.16
Hearing Wrap-up: House Republicans Use California Drought as Excuse to Gut the Endangered Species Act
Witnesses Mr. Richard Pool, President and Owner of Pro-Troll Fishing Products, Concord, California Mr. David Murillo, Mid-Pacific Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation, Washington, DC The Honorable Brett Barbre, Director of the Municipal Water District of Orange County, Yorba Linda, California Mr. Thad Bettner, General Manager of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, Willows, California Mr. Tom Birmingham, General Manager/General Counsel of the Westlands Water District, Fresno, C… Continue Reading
01.12.16
Ranking Member Grijalva Ahead of Tomorrow’s Clean Water Rule Debate on the House Floor: “This Is Not Serious Work Product”
Washington, D.C. - Tomorrow the House will debate a Republican resolution nullifying the Clean Water Rule proposed last year by the Obama administration, which is currently not in effect due to ongoing litigation. As a result of the ongoing delay, farmers and communities around the country continue to rely on the previously existing Clean Water Act guidance document - an outdated, confusing, and arbitrary regulatory process established by the Bush administration - which even the conservative Ame… Continue Reading