The Trump Administration Can’t Ignore Ra煤l Grijalva Anymore

Gavel in hand, the new House Natural Resources chairman is ready to take on industry and work to restore protections for birds and public lands.

On January 7, Rep. Ra煤l Grijalva (D-Arizona), the new chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, sent a pointed letter to David Bernhardt, the acting secretary of the Department of the Interior. Grijalva wanted to know why the department鈥檚 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was moving ahead with public meetings on plans for oil and gas leasing in Alaska鈥檚 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite a partial government shutdown that had furloughed thousands of Interior employees and halted other operations. The meetings should be delayed, ; holding them during a shutdown 鈥済ives the strong impression that BLM is simply trying to check the boxes and end the comment periods as soon as possible.鈥

Two days later, BLM announced . Huh. This was something new.

It鈥檚 not clear if Grijalva鈥檚 note drove BLM鈥檚 decision, but getting his way was a welcome change for the nine-term congressman from Arizona. Grijalva says he sent Interior seeking explanations for the department鈥檚 policies under Ryan Zinke, the former secretary who became the target of multiple ethics probes and resigned in December.

Grijalva, the committee鈥檚 ranking Democrat since 2014, has watched in frustration as the Trump administration barrels ahead toward its stated goal of energy dominance. In December, for example, BLM issued plans that would lift restrictions on oil and gas development in some nine million acres of Greater Sage-Grouse habitat on federal lands that had been protected under a 2015 compromise to keep the birds from being listed under the Endangered Species Act. Interior is also moving quickly to facilitate drilling in the Arctic Refuge and expand energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, along with taking a decidedly industry-friendly approach to enforcing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).

Under previous chair Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the committee鈥攚hich oversees federal lands, wildlife, oil and gas, mining, tribal issues, and oceans鈥攚as sympathetic to the administration鈥檚 agenda. Industry representatives made up nearly a third of the witnesses invited to give testimony before the committee in 2017 and 2018, according to . Energy companies鈥攅specially fossil fuel interests鈥攚ere invited most often. 

But now Grijalva holds the gavel. He can issue subpoenas and hold oversight hearings, and says he to testify before the committee. He decides which legislation the panel will consider. And although the bills he sends to the Democrat-controlled House will face long odds with both the Senate and White House in Republican hands, the next two years are an opportunity to get them teed up for passage should his party take control in 2020.

In an interview about his plans as chairman, Grijalva, 70, tells 爆料公社 that climate change will be the focus of major hearings and the lens through which his committee views nearly every issue. 鈥淏uilding climate resilience and finding ways to stretch our limited water supplies鈥攖hose are going to be a priority,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to accept climate change as a fact鈥攁nd science鈥攁nd not spend any time going through denial or avoidance on the issue.鈥

A second emphasis of Grijalva鈥檚 chairmanship will be investigating industry鈥檚 influence at Interior and passing bills that steer the department toward what he describes as a more balanced mission that recognizes the many uses of public lands, not just their commercial value. 鈥淚t鈥檚 systemic, that culture that has been put into Interior up and down the line, and I think that鈥檚 what we want to get at,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have legislative fixes for some of these rollbacks.鈥

Some of those proposals will have major implications for birds and other wildlife. The administration鈥檚 efforts to weaken the MBTA, for instance, will be the focus of committee hearings and possible legislation, Grijalva says. Interior drew rebukes and legal challenges from the 爆料公社 and others when it announced in 2017 that it was changing its interpretation of the MBTA and would no longer penalize the unintentional killing of birds鈥攌nown as 鈥渋ncidental take鈥濃攂y energy companies and others. The department is expected to firm up that position soon through a formal rulemaking process, but Grijalva might try to head it off with a bill to enforce incidental take.

And while Grijalva thought the 2015 compromise on sage-grouse management was too easy on the fossil fuel industry, 鈥渘evertheless, that鈥檚 the thing in place,鈥 he says. 鈥淣ow to try to undo that is a different issue. We鈥檙e going to fight that very hard and try to work out legislatively how to protect that.鈥

Conservation groups see a proven ally in the new chairman. 鈥淚f you look at his legislative priorities, both on the proactive side and bad bills he tried to fix or make sure didn鈥檛 go through, he鈥檚 been a tireless advocate for conservation and public lands,鈥 says Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities.

As an example, Weiss notes that Grijalva sponsored a 2009 bill that established the  within BLM. 鈥淭hat really marked a turning point in terms of thinking about BLM land as not just the 鈥楤ureau of Leasing and Mining,鈥 as it鈥檚 sometimes called, but recognizing that BLM plays a crucial role in preserving America鈥檚 public lands and not just leasing them out,鈥 Weiss says. 

But under President Trump, critics say, the agency has embodied that disparaging nickname. The BLM might have delayed public meetings on the Arctic Refuge, but that鈥檚 just a speed bump on its fast track to more drilling on Alaska鈥檚 North Slope. 鈥淭he Arctic to me is one of the priorities,鈥 Grijalva says. 鈥淥ur point is to try, legislatively and otherwise, to interject ourselves into that process.鈥

Grijalva says he鈥檒l also investigate the administration鈥檚 controversial decision to cut roughly two million acres from the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, potentially opening those tracts to energy development and logging. 鈥淲e want to know why, who profits, what happened to the science,鈥 he says. 鈥淚s it that are also the drivers here?"

While he anticipates accusations from some Republicans that he's launching political attacks on the Trump administration, Grijalva says he simply wants to fulfill the committee鈥檚 responsibility as a check on the executive branch. 鈥淚f we approach it professionally, fact-based, I think the American public are going to understand that we鈥檙e just doing our job and that they deserve to know what鈥檚 going on,鈥 he says. 鈥淓verything that we鈥檙e going to be examining from a position of majority, we asked for information from the position of minority and were ignored. We鈥檙e not inventing this. We weren鈥檛 waiting for this opportunity to serve revenge cold. This is the process.鈥

Grijalva became active in environmental issues in the 1990s, when he joined residents rallying for cleanup of groundwater contamination in Tucson. But he says his roots as a conservationist where he spent his early childhood. 鈥淭he bird life around where I grew up was unbelievable,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t was near the Santa Rita Mountains. There was a lake there and you could see the migrations come and see who鈥檚 leaving.鈥 (Now preserved as the Ra煤l M. Grijalva Canoa Ranch Conservation Park, the site is .)

As the son of a cowboy who emigrated from Mexico and the representative for a district with 300 miles of border, Grijalva is vehemently opposed to President Trump鈥檚 proposed wall. He  to highlight the serious impacts scientists say the wall would have on his home region鈥檚 landscape and wildlife. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no secret that every one of us that represents a district that touches the border ,鈥 Grijalva says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an environmental argument鈥攁 very strong one鈥攁gainst the wall.鈥

Protecting that landscape was a focus of Grijalva鈥檚 13 years on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, which he chaired from 2000 to 2002. He played a lead role in creating that serves as 鈥渁 national model鈥 for sustainable development, according to Supervisor Sharon Bronson, who served with him on that body. Bronson has known Grijalva for over 30 years and considers him a friend, but she says government officials called to explain their controversial policies should tread lightly.

鈥淥ne thing for certain about Congressman Grijalva is that he knows BS when he hears it, and he will use all the resources at his command to get the facts that he鈥檚 seeking,鈥 she says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 respectful, but he鈥檚 tough. If he鈥檚 smiling at you and not saying much, you鈥檇 better make sure you鈥檙e not bleeding.鈥

Grijalva might be tough, but he's also a little intimidated, he admits, by the 鈥渦nbelievable opportunity and responsibility鈥 of leading the committee at such an extraordinary political moment. He worries that some conservationists who are appalled by Trump鈥檚 policies expect the situation to change overnight under his chairmanship.

鈥淚t won鈥檛. But we are going about the business of changing the culture in our government that has allowed all of this to happen,鈥 Grijalva says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the task ahead.鈥