congress

February 12, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Westerman today introduced the Trillion Trees Act. The bill is one of three components of Republicans’ legislative attempts to address climate change. Trump has endorsed tree planting to fight climate change, despite repeatedly denying the current climate crisis.

February 11, 2020

Washington, DC-- Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (PAW)-- a bill to protect more than 1.4 million acres of wilderness, conserve critical habitat, and safeguard thousands of miles of rivers across the United States. The package includes designations for new Wilderness areas, Wild and Scenic rivers, forests and other protections across California, Colorado and Washington.

December 20, 2019

Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), along with Representatives Steven Horsford (D-Nev.-04), Dina Titus (D-Nev.-01), Mark Amodei (R-Nev.-02) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.-03) today announced the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Nevada Test and Training Range Withdrawal and Management Act. The legislation protects 1.3 million acres of Wilderness and makes progress toward embeddingTribal considerations into land management. However, the legislation does allow for limited military expansion to address national safety and security needs.

December 19, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) today introduced the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act. The bill will make permanent a ban on new uranium mining on about 1 million acres of public land adjacent to, and hydrologically and ecologically connected to, the Grand Canyon.

November 20, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the House Natural Resources Committee took up legislation to designate new wilderness in California, Washington, and Colorado. Included in the bills passed out of committee are the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (H.R. 2199); San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act (H.R. 2215); Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act (H.R. 2250); Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (H.R. 2642); the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2019 (H.R. 2546); and the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act (H.R. 1708).

November 19, 2019

WASHINGTON,D.C. -- Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Restore Our Parks Act (S. 500), the Land and Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act (S. 1081) and the Conservation of America’s Shoreline Terrain and Aquatic Life (COASTAL) Act out of committee.

October 23, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The US House of Representatives today passed legislation to finally reform the Mining Law of 1872.  The legislation provides the first update to the mining laws since the time of pick and shovel miners. 

October 18, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today marks 47 years since the Clean Water Act was passed into law. Since then, water quality in the United States has improved remarkably. The number of healthy waterways has doubled, providing clean water for drinking, recreation and wildlife. Like other bedrock environmental safeguards, the Clean Water Act has come under attack recently as the Trump administration has sought to make it harder for states to protect local waterways. 

September 24, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C: Daniel Jorjani was confirmed today as solicitor for the Department of the Interior. His confirmation comes as Jorjani is under investigation for his role in the Interior Department’s unethical public records process.

September 24, 2019

Today the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife will hold a hearing a suite of bills to strengthen protections for endangered species. Included is the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish in Need (PAW and FIN) of Conservation Act, which reverses recent Trump administration rollbacks to the highly successful Endangered Species Act. The hearing comes at the same time the Western Caucus is holding a roundtable to unveil a number of bills that would further undermine endangered species protections.

September 17, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, Representatives Grijalva, Beyer, and Dingell introduced the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish in Need of Protection Act. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Udall. The bill reverses recent Trump administrations rollbacks to the highly successful Endangered Species Act.

September 9, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Natural Resources Committee today is holding an oversight hearing on Interior Secretary Bernhardt’s plan to relocate the Bureau of Land Management headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. New questions about the move have been raised following the naming of William Pendley as acting head of the agency.