As Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, I am advancing the most aggressive climate agenda ever pushed in Congress. My Environmental Justice for All Act will give historically marginalized communities the tools needed to fight back against environmental racism. Under my leadership, the Great American Outdoors Act, one of the most significant investments in environmental conservation in a generation, became law. I helped pass the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, which included my Grand Canyon Protection Act to ban uranium mining near the national park. I introduced the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act to leverage the ocean’s potential in the fight against climate change.

Environmental Justice For All Act

For too long, low-income communities, tribal and indigenous communities, and communities of color have been shut out of the decision-making process and left without the tools to fight back when big corporations set up shop in their back yards.

My landmark Environmental Justice for All Act would enable frontline environmental justice communities to hold polluters accountable in court for projects that use federal funds and engage in environmental discrimination.

This legislation is rooted in the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life. It is informed by the belief that federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities.

Among other provisions, the Environmental Justice For All Act:

• Strengthens environmental compliance and pollution standards by requiring the consideration of cumulative environmental impacts in permitting decisions under the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The bill ensures that permits will not be issued if projects are unable to show a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health after consideration of cumulative impacts. Currently, there is no federal limit on cumulative impact pollution for environmental justice communities that are already overburdened by industrial pollution.
• Provides new enforcement tools to counter environmental discrimination by strengthening the Civil Rights Act to allow citizens and communities to legally challenge prohibited discrimination in court, overturning the Alexander v. Sandoval ruling; and
• Promotes more equitable access to environmental amenities, including through technical application assistance for federal grants, and dedicated environmental justice community grants to support research, education, outreach, development, and implementation of projects to improve environmental conditions in environmental justice communities.

The Great American Outdoors Act

The Great American Outdoors Act is one of Congress’ most significant investments in environmental conservation in a generation. This legislation is truly an investment in our children, our environment, and our quality of life. With climate change advancing around the country, this couldn’t come at a better time.

The legislation fully funds the successful and popular Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually, well above its yearly average funding level, and creates the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, which will provide funding to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Education to fix buildings, trails, roads and other public infrastructure in need of repair for the next five years.

I have championed both the permanent authorization of and full funding for LWCF for many years and introduced the Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act in 2018 to achieve both goals. The passage of the Great American Outdoors Act marks the culmination of years of effort by a large network of colleagues and advocates to achieve LWCF’s full promise.

The Grand Canyon Protection Act and The Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act

The Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, which included my Grand Canyon Protection Act was passed by the House of Representatives in February of 2021. Protecting our environment is not a matter of choice or political preference and that’s why the Senate must act to pass this legislation into law.

If passed into law, this package would designate almost 1.5 million acres of public land as wilderness, add 1,200 miles of rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and withdraw over 1 million acres from new mining claims. In total, the amount of land protected under the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act would be almost 3 million acres.

The Grand Canyon Protection Act would permanently withdraw more than 1 million acres of federal land north and south of Grand Canyon National Park from eligibility for any future mining claims and leaves valid existing claims intact. Of all the places on Earth to protect from mining pollution, the Grand Canyon should be the least controversial. Protecting the Grand Canyon region is an environmental justice issue, an economic issue, and a moral issue all at the same time, and I’m proud to bring this coalition together to resolve it in the public interest once and for all.

Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act

Federal policy has neglected our oceans for far too long, especially with whole ecosystems already disappearing to climate change. Ocean health is human health, which is why this bill is based on real public input rather than polluter demands or special interest favors. Every day we wait to update our ocean laws for the modern world is a day we’ll look back on with regret.

The Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act would modernize federal ocean management policy to account for climate change. The bill limits climate impacts on marine habitats, promotes carbon sinks in federal waters, advances Arctic conservation efforts with climate change in mind, modernizes fishing fleet fuel regulations, and takes other steps to align ocean policies with modern environmental and economic reality.

The Extinction Prevention Act of 2021

In 2021, I introduced the Extinction Prevention Act, a comprehensive bill that will provide much-needed resources to protect some of the most imperiled wildlife species in the United States.

This bill requires the Department of the Interior to provide financial assistance for the conservation of butterflies and moths in North America; plant species in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands; freshwater mussels in the United States; and bony fish found in desert ecosystems in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Among other things, the bill establishes the North America Butterfly Conservation Fund, the Pacific Islands Plant Conservation Fund, the Freshwater Mussels Conservation Fund, and the Southwest Desert Fish Conservation Fund. In selecting projects for assistance, the Interior must prioritize projects that conserve threatened and endangered species.