December 30, 2020
In a new letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, available at http://bit.ly/2WTA50Q, Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) requests footage from body-worn cameras used by National Park Service (NPS) officers involved in the Dec. 27 Tasering of Darrell House, a Marine Corps veteran and enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and Oneida Nation, at Petroglyph National Monument.
Grijalva requests four pieces of information on the recent incident:
All footage recorded by any NPS officer's bo… Continue Reading
December 21, 2020
House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today highlighted the inclusion of his Saguaro National Park Boundary Expansion Act, along with landmark tribal water priorities, renewable energy wins, and Insular provisions as part of the Fiscal Year 2021, Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (H.R. 133) set to become law this week. H.R. 133 advances multiple tribal water rights settlements, including the largest water rights settlement in history between the federal … Continue Reading
December 16, 2020
Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wrote to President-elect Joe Biden this morning urging him to extend his mask-wearing mandate, initially announced as applying to all federal buildings, to federally managed public lands sites as well. In the letter, available at http://bit.ly/3qYaqC9, Grijalva notes that the Trump administration's Interior Department has faced heavy criticism for inconsistent regulations, arbitrary opening and closing protocols, and failures to provide protective equipmen… Continue Reading
December 08, 2020
December 06, 2020
Several names are floating around for Joe Biden's possible nominee for Interior secretary, but in recent weeks Rep. Deb Haaland's name has risen above the din.
The New Mexico Democrat could become the first Native American to lead the Interior Department. She has lawmakers, tribal leaders, progressive groups, and even Mark Ruffalo backing her for the job.
Haaland made history in 2018 as one of the first Native American women to be elected to Congress along with Sharice Davids, a Democrat from … Continue Reading
May 29, 2020
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A senior Trump administration official misused his office for private gain by capitalizing on his government connections to help get his son-in-law hired at the Environmental Protection Agency, investigators said in a report obtained by The Associated Press.
The Interior Department's Inspector General found that Assistant Interior Secretary Douglas Domenech reached out to a senior EPA official in person and later by email in 2017 to advocate for the son-in-law when he was… Continue Reading
November 16, 2020
On Sept. 11, the CEO and two other top executives at the international mining giant Rio Tinto announced they would step down following public outrage at the company's destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site in Australia known as Juukan Gorge.
Back in May, the company had blown up the rock shelters - they housed Aboriginal artifacts dating back 28,000 years - to gain access to millions of dollars' worth of iron ore.
Although the departure of the company's leading figures and i… Continue Reading
October 29, 2020
When Americans think about our national parks and natural beauty, our minds often jump - whether or not we've visited these places - to images we've seen of ice sheets at Glacier National Park, the moonlike wastes of Death Valley, or iconic images of groves at Joshua Tree National Park. While the classic look of these places is fixed in our minds, the places themselves are changing for the worse, and if we don't take action, old images may be all we have left to enjoy.… Continue Reading
May 13, 2020
In April 2019, President Trump launched a public relations campaign designed to make Americans forget that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. He complained on Twitter that Puerto Ricans seeking disaster aid "only take from USA" and "hurt our farmers and states." His spokesman, Hogan Gidley, referred to Puerto Rico as "that country" not once but twice in a subsequent interview about what the president's initial comments meant.
None of this was accidental. On Trump's watch, in addit… Continue Reading
May 14, 2018
Last week Ranking Member Grijalva and Rep Lowenthal, the top Democrat on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, introduced the Hardrock Leasing and Reclamation Act of 2018.
The Grijalva-Lowenthal bill requires hardrock mining operations to meet some of the same requirements and standards that already apply to oil, gas, and coal development on public lands. Among other measures, the bill would:
Eliminate the antiquated use of mining claims, and create a leasing system for hardrock mi… Continue Reading
May 08, 2018
Today marks the 230th day since our fellow Americans living in Puerto Rico lost power and were devastated by Hurricane Maria. Many people living on the island are still lacking power and still need assistance from the federal government. Instead of addressing the immediate needs of the people, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) traveled to Puerto Rico to promote oil and gas projects and discuss importing fossil fuels to the island. Bishop has continuously ignored the fact that renewable energy sources… Continue Reading
April 24, 2018
The House is voting on H.R. 3144 on Wednesday - also known as the Columbia River Salmon Extinction Act - which will drive the Pacific Northwest's salmon runs closer to extinction. Federal agencies have been ordered by the courts to develop a new salmon recovery plan to bring back dwindling salmon populations. H.R. 3144 attempts to mandate an outdated recovery plan that won't recover salmon and that has been deemed illegal by federal courts. Ranking Member Grijalva opposes the bill for the follow… Continue Reading
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