Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Archives

Heinrich, Senate Democrats Call On Biden Administration To Undo Unlawful Changes To National Monuments

April 23, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM):

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, along with 18 of his Senate colleagues, sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland urging her recommend that President Biden undo any unlawful attacks on the Antiquities Act. Since 1906, sixteen presidents from both parties have used the Antiquities Act to protect places across the nation.

“From Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to Harriet Tubman’s house in Maryland, the Antiquities Act has long protected key landscapes and historical sites. National monuments protect our most precious natural, cultural, and historical resources, and threats to the integrity of any monuments established under the Antiquities Act threaten the protection of all monuments,” wrote the senators.

President Trump eliminated 2 million acres of protections for Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments — the largest rollback of federally protected lands in American history. The previous administration took this action despite the fact that Americans across the country overwhelmingly voiced support for keeping the monuments intact.

The question of the validity of these reductions is being challenged in court, which is now on hold pending the Biden administration’s review of President Trump’s actions. Secretary Haaland visited Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument last week and is expected to make a recommendation to President Biden soon.

“During your confirmation process, you committed to undertaking a thorough review of the Antiquities Act proclamations of the previous Administration. Former President Trump illegally attempted to reduce the protections provided by proclamations that previous presidents issued. We urge you to defend the Antiquities Act and recommend that President Biden review President Trump’s actions and undo any unlawful attacks on the Antiquities Act,” continued the senators.

National monuments and America’s public lands help fuel an $887 billion outdoor recreation industry, which sustains 7.6 million jobs and creates $65.3 billion in federal tax revenue and $59.2 billion in local and state tax revenue. In New Mexico alone, the outdoor recreation economy is responsible for 99,000 jobs.

The letter, led by Senator Heinrich, was also signed by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.)

The full text of the letter is below and available here.

Dear Secretary Haaland:

We write in support of the Antiquities Act and the critical role it plays in protecting our nation’s most important and endangered places.

Since 1906, sixteen presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect places across our nation. From Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to Harriet Tubman’s house in Maryland, the Antiquities Act has long protected key landscapes and historical sites. National monuments protect our most precious natural, cultural, and historical resources, and threats to the integrity of any monuments established under the Antiquities Act threaten the protection of all monuments.

During your confirmation process, you committed to undertaking a thorough review of the Antiquities Act proclamations of the previous Administration. Former President Trump illegally attempted to reduce the protections provided by proclamations that previous presidents issued. We urge you to defend the Antiquities Act and recommend that President Biden review President Trump’s actions and undo any unlawful attacks on the Antiquities Act.

We thank you for your commitment to conservation of our nation’s most important places and history.

Sen. Murkowski warns climate change ‘directly impacting’ Alaska

March 6, 2019 –Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday said climate change is “directly impacting” her home state’s way of life.

“It’s impacting subsistence. It’s impacting food security. It’s certainly impacting our economy with our fisheries,” Murkowski, the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said at the panel’s first hearing this year devoted to climate change.

“Clearly the effort here is to get a bipartisan conversation going,” she added. “I think that the rhetoric surrounding the issue of climate and climate change can be so heated and so animated and so, often times, just a very toxic discussion that you can’t get to focusing on the solutions.”

The Senate panel heard from experts on how climate change was impacting the electricity sector. Murkowski and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), highlighted their energy-producing states in their remarks, though.

Murkowski said her state is seeing diminishing sea ice and a change in wildlife migration patterns. And she expressed concerns that rural communities throughout her state aren’t using green energy.

Read the full story at The Hill

Lobbyists circle shark-finning bill

October 12th, 2016 — Shark-fishing houses are banding together to fight a bipartisan bill that would ban the trade of shark fins.

The ad-hoc Sustainable Shark Alliance last week registered to lobby with the sole goal of defeating the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. -Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Del. Gregorio Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands), seeks to expand on Congress’s ban on shark finning, in which fishermen cut off the fish’s fin and return it to the ocean, usually to die.

Supporters say finning is cruel and has decimated populations of shark species, including endangered ones. The bill has dozens of co-sponsors, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). It was introduced at a news conference with actor Morgan Freeman.

But the shark industry, which supports the ban on finning, says the bill would shut down much of the industry.

Domestic fisherman use more than just the fin, but the fin — usually exported to China for use in soup and other culinary purposes — represents about half the monetary value of the fish, said Shaun Gehan, the lobbyist for the ad-hoc coalition.

Read the full story at The Hill