congress

August 8, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Senator Cory Booker today introduced the Climate Stewardship Act. The legislation, endorsed by the Sierra Club, calls for the planting of billions of trees, improved conservation practices on working lands, grants for renewable energy and energy efficiency on our nation’s farms, and wetland preservation. It is sponsored in the House by Rep. Deb Haaland. 

June 5, 2019

Today a House Natural Resources Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act. The bill would permanently protect 1 million acres of public lands around the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims. It follows the release late yesterday of recommendations from Trump’s Interior Department that clear the way for a vast expansion of dangerous mining on public lands.

June 4, 2019

Today, Sierra Club joined U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee; leaders from Indigenous nations; local elected officials; veterans; and conservation groups in supporting H.R.1373 - Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act. The Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act, will make the 20-year mining moratorium established in 2012 permanent. All told, the legislation would protect approximately one million acres of public lands north and south of the Grand Canyon from toxic mining.

May 15, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife today held a hearing on the Tribal Heritage and Grizzly Bear Protection Act. Introduced by Rep. Grijalva, the bill would protect grizzly bears at a time when hostile state management and federal proposals, climate change and shifting food sources threaten their continued recovery. Grizzly bears are sacred to many Tribal Nations and as a top predator, play a vital role in balancing natural systems.

May 15, 2019

Tribal leaders today testified before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife in support of the Tribal Heritage and Grizzly Bear Protection Act. As noted by Lynnette Grey Bull, Senior Vice President of Global Indigenous Council and spokesperson for the Northern Arapaho Elders Society of the Wind River Indian Reservation, the Act is based on The Grizzly: A treaty of Cooperation, Cultural Revitalization and Restoration. It is the most signed treaty in history.

May 9, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Representative Raúl M. Grijalva and Senator Tom Udall today introduced legislation to finally reform the Mining Law of 1872. The legislation would be the first update to the mining laws since the time of pick and shovel miners.

May 2, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Energy and Natural Resources Committee Member Senator Maria Cantwell and House Natural Resources Committee Member Representative Ruben Gallego today introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act. The bill would permanently codify the Roadless Rule and strengthen protections for 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forest System lands across 39 states from logging and road building. Despite the Roadless Rule’s many successes and the millions of taxpayer dollars it saves, there have been multiple Congressional attempts to strip Roadless Rule protections from millions of acres of public lands. This effort by Representative Gallego and Senator Cantwell will ensure pristine National Forests for generations to come.

December 21, 2018

WASHINGTON, DC - Just one week after Donald Trump declared that “I am proud to shut down the government" in order to secure taxpayer funding for a racist, useless, and destructive border wall he has repeatedly claimed would be paid for by Mexico, Trump has vetoed legislation to fund the government and provoked a government shutdown.

December 6, 2018

Washington, DC— More than 500 geographically and ideologically diverse organizations joined a coalition to oppose President Trump’s border wall and militarization efforts. The groups reject new miles of wall planned under the Trump administration, including a 20-mile section just west of El Paso and concrete walls that have been contracted out at more than $20 million per mile for the Rio Grande in South Texas.

October 2, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today advanced a host of public lands legislation including, Restore Our Parks, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act, Every Kid Outdoors Act and the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

September 27, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Natural Resources Committee today passed a suite of bills undermining the Endangered Species Act. The action is the latest in a string of anti-wildlife actions by the committee this week.

August 28, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today more than a dozen leading forest scientists and experts submitted a letter to Congress warning Farm Bill conferees of dangers inherent in logging provisions included in the House version of the bill.