Press Releases

Currently showing results related to Federal Lands

04.19.18

Democratic Letter to Zinke: Arctic Drilling Proposal Shows Trump, GOP Care More About Pleasing Oil Companies Than Public Opinion

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter with eight House Democratic colleagues to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today questioning the haste with which the Department of the Interior (DOI) is moving the country closer to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The letter highlights tomorrow's expected announcement in the Federal Register - publicized this morning - that DOI is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to allow dri… Continue Reading

04.12.18

Grijalva Applauds the American People for Speaking Up and Opposing the NPS Fee Hike

Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) praised the American people for making their voices heard and opposing the National Park Service (NPS) proposal to nearly double the entrance fees at 17 of our most popular national parks. More than 100,000 people submitted public comments opposing the fee hike and as a result, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke pulled back his original proposal and announced today that NPS is only increasing the ent… Continue Reading

02.16.18

Grijalva Questions Interior Department’s Ignorance as Questions Mount on Utah National Monument Foe’s Conflicts of Interest

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke this morning questioning whether the Department of the Interior (DOI) was aware of Utah State Rep. Mike Noel's (R) significant conflicts of interest in touting President Trump's shrinking last year of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. As the Salt Lake Tribune reported earlier this week, Noel - a leading figure in pushing Trump's move and a vocal opponent of federal land … Continue Reading

02.14.18

Ahead of Tomorrow’s Hearing on Managing Federal Lands Along the Border, Grijalva & McEachin Call Out Republicans for Depriving Border Communities of Their Basic Rights

Washington, D.C. - Ahead of tomorrow's 10 a.m. hearing on Republican calls to further degrade environmental protections along the U.S. border with Mexico, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Donald McEachin (D-Va.), are criticizing Congressional Republicans for their efforts to deprive border communities of basic rights in the guise of increasing border security. Republicans are proposing … Continue Reading

02.12.18

As Trump Proposes to Destroy Land and Water Conservation Fund & Privatize Infrastructure, Grijalva Highlights 219 LWCF Cosponsors

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted his bill permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which funds public land acquisitions and conservation efforts across the country, and underscored the bill's 219 House cosponsors as a rebuke to President Trump's budget proposal slashing LWCF land acquisition by approximately 90 percent from fiscal year 2017 levels. Grijalva's bill, H.R. 502, would pass the House today if given a … Continue Reading

02.12.18

Grijalva: We Need to Know Who Directed Trump’s Environmental Budget Cuts, Understand Potential Conflicts of Interest

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said the Trump budget plan's deep cuts to popular environmental programs and failure to address climate change, despite clear national security warnings from his own top military officials, need to be understood through the lens of the Interior Department's ongoing conflict-of-interest scandals and lack of transparency. Grijalva pointed to regulatory carveouts and industry-slanted budget priorities that strongly suggest lo… Continue Reading

02.12.18

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

01.29.18

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

01.29.18

Grijalva Will Circulate Letter at Tomorrow’s Hearing Urging Sec. Zinke to Declare Bears Ears Monument Off Limits to Extraction

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) will ask members of the Natural Resources Committee at tomorrow's hearing on the fate of Bears Ears National Monument to sign a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to withdraw the land inside the monument's traditional, lawful boundaries from new oil, gas and mining claims. The move comes shortly ahead of the Feb. 2 opening of much of the monument to new extraction claims, which could be maintained even when Presi… Continue Reading

01.22.18

Grijalva: Trump Admin Wrecks Alaska Wilderness As Interior Department Drifts Through Shutdown Without Leadership

Washington, D.C. - As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed the land transfer order today opening a section of wilderness in Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to road construction, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said the move - particularly alongside Zinke's recent lawless tweeting about offshore drilling policy in Florida and the illegal shrinking of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - worsens the damage done to the Inte… Continue Reading

01.16.18

Dems Question BLM Withdrawal of Fracking Rule – Agency Admits It Won’t Generate New Energy on Public Lands

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, sent a letter this morning to Joseph Balash, assistant secretary of the Interior for land and minerals management, questioning the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) decision to withdraw its fracking rule, which lays out environmental and operational safety standards for fracking operations on public lands. The agency admits th… Continue Reading

12.21.17

Committee Dems to Zinke: Increasing the Fees at National Parks Defies Interior’s Mission to Improve Access to Public Lands

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and 10 Committee Democrats sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke opposing the National Park Service (NPS) proposal to increase the entrance fees at 17 of its most popular national parks. The members state that the dramatic increases to entrance fees will discourage lower income Americans from visiting and enjoying public lands. Our most popular national parks, like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, should be focused on … Continue Reading

12.21.17

Grijalva’s Bipartisan Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill Reaches 218 Cosponsors

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva's (D-Ariz.) bill to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) - a popular and successful conservation tool that protects open spaces and promotes recreation throughout the country - reached 218 bipartisan cosponsors today, the magic number needed to pass a bill on the House floor. Ranking Member Grijalva and Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) introduced H.R. 502 in January of this year, and since then it has garnered b… Continue Reading

12.20.17

Grijalva on the Passage of the GOP Tax Scam and Inadequate Disaster Relief Plan

Washington, D.C. - House Republicans voted for a second time today to shower early Christmas presents on the richest one percent and wealthy corporations, while raising taxes on millions of middle class families. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) - who served on the tax bill conference committee, but did not sign the final conference report - voted against the bill because it will have devastating consequences on American families while opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Re… Continue Reading

12.15.17

Grijalva: Sec. Perdue’s Answers to Questions Reaffirm My Support for Continuing Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Moratorium

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said a response from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to his questions about the agency's recent recommendation to consider canceling a 20-year moratorium on new uranium mining claims near the Grand Canyon has only strengthened his support for keeping the moratorium in place. Perdue was responding to Grijalva's Nov. 3 letter, which noted that the USFS review "offers no analysis or justification for lifting the morator… Continue Reading

12.14.17

Republicans Double Down on Trump’s Illegal Repeal of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Washington, D.C. - In a desperate effort to cover up President Trump's illegal proclamation to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, House Republicans held a hearing today on a bill to abolish the national monument and replace it with three new monuments and a national park. Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) points out that the immediate introduction and swift committee consideration of H.R. 4558 confirms the Utah delegation lacks confidence in the legality of the Pr… Continue Reading

12.11.17

Ranking Member Grijalva: Tuesday Hearing Will Highlight Need for Continued Protection for the Grand Canyon

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today that he will use Tuesday's hearing on Republican and Trump administration demands for more mining of uranium and other minerals from public land to highlight the threat those plans pose to the Grand Canyon. Grijalva will highlight the need to maintain the existing Obama-era moratorium on new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres in the region. In late September, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) urged the U.S. For… Continue Reading

11.08.17

Grijalva: Today’s Republican Oil and Gas Giveaway Same as the Last One – And They’re Not Even Trying to Justify It

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said ahead of today's 10:00 a.m. markup of H.R. 4239, the latest in a never-ending string of Republican oil and gas deregulation efforts, that the entire premise of the bill has already been debunked and Republicans are only proceeding because they have no other ideas. "This bill has all the signs of mental exhaustion," Grijalva said. "It's the same polluter industry wish list they've presented for years dressed up in yesterday… Continue Reading

11.03.17

Grijalva Pushes for Answers, Committee Hearing As Forest Service Suggests New Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon

Washington, D.C. - In a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) today, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) repeated his previously ignored request for a hearing on his bill - H.R. 360 - to create the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument, an effort that has new resonance in the wake of a U.S. Forest Service report to the president opening the door to new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. Grijalva first requested a hearing on the bill in January, which Chairman Bishop ig… Continue Reading

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