Raúl Grijalva

We don't have to guess what these states will do.

The federal government's role should be to protect our lands against sale and external taxation and regulation

What the government has done to us and our lands has been to create a mess.

The idea of 'trust land' is not normal and should be fixed to recognize that our Nation is the owner of our lands

For 50 years, the official policy of Congress has been to support tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

This bill allows those same oil companies to prepare their own environmental reviews.

NEPA is, from most of the testimony and the discussion--the drought in the Southwest and other parts of the country, that is the fault of too much regulation and NEPA.

What we don't need is permitting reform that guts and takes away the protections that NEPA gives to communities like mine.

It feels a little like deja vu. A few weeks ago, we sat in this room while my colleagues across the aisle spent hours scapegoating our environmental review processes.

Not one Republican voted for that Inflation Reduction Act or any other legislation.

We want to attract and keep the best, and these skilled and dedicated public servants are needed now more than ever.

All told, our committee has passed scores of bills out of the House, and 149 passed Senate and became law--149.

We are at the center of Federal efforts toward environmental justice, and we are a vital--and that concept has been made a vital component of any response to the climate crisis.

As the chairman mentioned, it is difficult to overstate the importance of the work of our committee.

No question that our 150-year-old mining laws need reform.

The mining industry uses up our public lands, ignores tribes' concerns, spills their toxic waste into our communities and waterways, and leaves their messes for the rest of us to clean up . . . the Republicans' bill does nothing to solve…

As long as the present mining law exists, the legislation we are talking about today, it only makes matters worse.

These bills, on the other hand, are a checklist for industry.

We believe that tribes deserve to be meaningfully consulted before development happens on their ancestral lands.

The Subcommittee Chair's bill even lets mining companies conduct their own environmental reviews.

To start with, the Chair's bill explicitly says, and I quote, 'Environmental reviews shall not require consideration of downstream indirect effects of oil and gas consumption.'

These bills have always been a gift to the polluters, but with the context of climate crisis that we all know is real, we are living in that right now. These bills now become reckless and, to some extent, dangerous.

I associate myself with the Ranking Member's opening comments. And while my colleagues across the aisle are finally beginning to admit climate change does exist, and that it is real, the bills they are putting forward up for discussion…

I appreciate the courtesy, and a special thanks to the Ranking Member for adding her leadership and her perspective to this Subcommittee.

Permit MN would loosen our mining regulations for the most toxic industry in America.