Press Releases
Chair Raúl M. Grijalva Statement on Impending Trump Administration Lease Sale for Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement today on the impending Trump administration lease sale for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "This administration is ending as it began, with a desperate push for oil drilling regardless of the human or environmental costs. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would destroy one of the most iconic wilderness areas on Earth for no discernible public benefit, and it's as wrong to allow it now as it'… Continue Reading
11.13.20
Livestream Next Week: Tuesday Hearing on Ocean Climate Action Bill – Effort Would Create Jobs, Reduce Emissions, Protect Millions From Climate Impacts
Washington, D.C. - The full House Committee on Natural Resources, led by Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), will hold a legislative hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time titled Ocean Climate Action: Solutions to the Climate Crisis. The hearing will include consideration of Grijalva's H.R. 8632, the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, introduced on Oct. 20. The 324-page package is the first comprehensive legislative effort to fully utilize oceans' climate mitigation potent… Continue Reading
10.28.20
Chair Grijalva Releases Roadmap to Repair DOI & Other Agencies, Reverse Damage From Four Years of Trump Administration Corruption and Incompetence
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the majority staff of the House Natural Resources Committee today released a 47-page report outlining the Trump administration's destruction of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other agencies in the Committee's jurisdiction and how to restore those agencies' effectiveness and credibility. The report, titled Dirty Deals: Four Years of the Trump Administration Putting Polluter Profits Over People, is available online at https:… Continue Reading
10.26.20
Chair Grijalva Highlights New Report Documenting “Shameful” Trump Administration Data Breaches That Publicized Native American Tribal Finances
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted a new Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report documenting what he called "shameful" data breaches in federal agency handling of sensitive Native American governments' financial information. The breach occurred as part of the administration's larger failure to disburse Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding to Tribes that could have prevented severe outbre… Continue Reading
10.21.20
Chair Grijalva Leads House Lawmaker Letter Calling for Investigation of Insider Trading by Puerto Rico Hedge Fund Creditors
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and other key lawmakers today wrote a letter to Natalie Jaresko, executive director of the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), urging "a thorough, independent investigation into the serious insider trading allegations levied against hedge fund creditors in the context of the restructuring of Puerto Rico's central government debt" before any further negotiations take place. The letter, available at https://bit.ly/… Continue Reading
10.20.20
Chairs Grijalva, Castor Introduce Landmark Oceans Solutions Bill to Tackle Climate Crisis
Washington D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today unveiled his Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act at a virtual press conference with his co-lead, House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), original cosponsors, and a range of bill endorsers. This landmark legislation was introduced by more than a dozen members of the House of Representatives to address the ocean impacts of climate change and reform federal ocean manage… Continue Reading
10.14.20
In New Letter, Chair Grijalva Pushes Bernhardt for Written Explanations of Administration’s Shifting Narrative Around Violent Lafayette Square Crackdown
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent Interior Secretary David Bernhardt a letter asking for documents and interviews to explain the administration's violent June 1 law enforcement crackdown at Lafayette Square against peaceful civil rights protesters. The letter, available at https://bit.ly/2SWtxg4, highlights inconsistent and evasive testimony from Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan at the Committee's July 28 hearing and the administration's consisten… Continue Reading
10.06.20
Ahead of Today’s Hearing, Chair Grijalva Highlights GAO Finding that Bureau of Land Management Royalty Cuts for Industry Violated Internal Protocols
Washington D.C. - Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) this morning highlighted a newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) royalty reductions for oil and gas companies during the COVID-19 pandemic violated its own regulations, and were implemented so haphazardly and inconsistently that BLM cannot determine if it achieved its stated goals of conserving public resources and protecting U.S. taxpayer interest… Continue Reading
10.05.20
Rep. Gallego, Chair Grijalva, Sen. Cantwell Lead Letter to Sec. Perdue Urging Pause or Reversal of Roadless Rule Exemption in Tongass Natl. Forest
Washington, D.C. - Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) led a bicameral letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today urging a pause or full reversal of the proposed exemption of Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which has protected tens of millions of acres of federal lands from overdevelopment and unwarranted logging since Jan. 12, 2001. On the House side, the letter - available online at… Continue Reading
10.05.20
Chair Grijalva, Committee Democrats Release “The Melting Arctic” Report Ahead of Today’s Forum on Impacts to People and Wildlife
Washington D.C. - Today Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva and Committee Democrats released a new report entitled The Melting Arctic: Climate Change Impacts on People and Wildlife to accompany a livestreamed Democratic forum to investigate the same topic that will commence today at 2:00 pm Eastern time. The full report, available online at https://bit.ly/34oGxQJ, provides an in-depth look at the extreme negative impacts the climate crisis has had on this fragile landscap… Continue Reading
10.05.20
Chair Grijalva Unveils Discussion Draft of Bill Providing Climate Solutions for U.S. Territories, Seeks Stakeholder and Public Input
Washington D.C. - Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today released a discussion draft of legislation to reduce climate crisis impacts on U.S. territories and freely associated states. Chair Grijalva encouraged local government officials, organizations and communities to provide feedback on the discussion draft by Friday, Nov. 13. "U.S. territories are facing sea level rise, more frequent and intense tropical storms, extreme temperatures, and serious public he… Continue Reading
10.02.20
Chair Grijalva, Ranking Member Bishop Highlight New GAO Report They Requested on Deficiencies in Federal Oversight of Human Rights Abuses
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Ranking Member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) today highlighted a newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report they had requested demonstrating more safeguards need to be put in place to ensure taxpayer money does not support human rights abuses by park rangers overseas. The GAO report, Combatting Wildlife Trafficking: Agencies Work to Address Human Rights Abuse Allegations in Overseas Conserva… Continue Reading
09.30.20
Natural Resources Committee Advances Bills to Protect Boundary Waters From Mining, Remove Confederate Monuments, Protect Public Lands
Washington D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today led a Committee markup to advance 19 pieces of legislation, including key Natural Resources measures to protect federally recognized waters from dangerous mining, remove Confederate monuments from public lands, and support Indian Country. One bill provides federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Bill texts, amendments, amendments in the nature of a substitute, and vote counts can be found at the House of Represe… Continue Reading
09.25.20
Chair Grijalva on Ruling Against William Pendley: Gov. Bullock Was Right to Bring This Case
Chair Raul M. Grijalva released the following statement on the federal ruling that William Perry Pendley was illegally running the Bureau of Land Management: "The lesson of this ruling is that Gov. Bullock was right to bring this case and Mr. Pendley's apologists were wrong to support him. His decisions should be erased from the record. Our form of government is stronger than the the Trump administration's authoritarian impulses, and the Senate Republicans incapable of standing up to it have onl… Continue Reading
09.24.20
Chair Grijalva Statement on Forest Service’s Newly Announced Roadless Rule Exemption for Tongass National Forest: “This is Putting Polluters Over People”
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the U.S. Forest Service's newly announced upcoming publication of a Final Environmental Impact Statement that will exempt the Tongass National Forest in Alaska from the 2001 Roadless Rule. "The Trump administration just opened up one of the world's biggest carbon sinks to more resource extraction and ignored overwhelming public opposition in order to do it. This is what America looks like when those i… Continue Reading
09.24.20
Chair Grijalva Leads House, Senate Members in Sending Amicus Brief on Dakota Access Pipeline to Federal Court Ahead of Crucial Ruling on Tribal Rights
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today led the filing of an amicus curiae brief alongside House and Senate colleagues with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a case filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other Native American tribes against the Army Corps of Engineers over permits granted to build the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Among other issues, the brief - available at https://bit.ly/3i1w6Y0 - cites Congress' interest in "preser… Continue Reading
09.24.20
Chair Grijalva, Committee Members Question DOI Efforts to Build Road on Congressionally Protected Lands, Properties Purchased with Conservation Funds
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) led a letter today with seven other House Committee Democrats to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt questioning the Department of the Interior's (DOI) effort to rush forward a road-building project through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (NCA) in Southern Utah. Under DOI's preferred alternative, the planned four-lane highway, part of the Northern Corridor Project for St. George, Utah, would run through land protected by Congre… Continue Reading
09.22.20
Chairs Raúl M. Grijalva and Eddie Bernice Johnson Lead House Letter to NOAA Pushing for Explanation of Political Interference in Whale Safety Assessment
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) today led a letter with three other key House colleagues asking for an explanation of political interference in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) assessment of seismic testing impacts on North Atlantic right whales. The letter seeks the swift release of a pending scientific integrity inqu… Continue Reading
09.22.20
Chair Grijalva Applauds House Passage of Bills to Strengthen Indian Country, Combat Crisis of Murdered and Indigenous Women
Washington D.C. - Yesterday the House of Representatives passed six bipartisan Natural Resources Committee bills under suspension of the rules, including two bills to combat the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Of those six, five have now been approved by both the House and Senate and are set to become law. "This Committee is working to strengthen Indian Country at every opportunity," said Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva. "Since the beginning of this Cong… Continue Reading
09.18.20
Chair Grijalva: Administration Delays and Incompetence Cost Puerto Rican Lives, and Finally Approving Overdue Assistance is No Triumph
Washington, D.C. - Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said today ahead of the administration's expected 9:30 a.m. Eastern time press conference in Puerto Rico to announce the release of a formerly withheld round of disaster aid that four years of Trump administration abuse and neglect have caused preventable deaths in Puerto Rico, and today's announcement will not erase Puerto Rican memories of how the president has treated the island and its people. "President Trump talks about Puerto Ric… Continue Reading