President Trump announced the United States will begin the withdrawal process from the Paris Climate Accord, leaving America as the only nation to abandon the global effort to combat climate change. New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Chair Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and NDC Climate Change Task Force Co-Chairs Don Beyer (VA-08), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean Casten (IL-06), and Susan Wild (PA-07) spoke out on the Administration’s announcement that it would begin the legal process for withdrawal, and stressed th... Read more

Congressmen Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) and Don Beyer (VA-08), co-chairs of the Congressional Safe Climate Caucus, are calling on the Trump Administration to remain in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. In a letter to President Trump, the Members wrote, “As members of the Safe Climate Caucus, we write to express the importance of the United States maintaining its commitment to the international community by staying in the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Clima... Read more

Today, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) made a guest appearance in a Natural Resources Committee hearing on his bill, H.R. 2795, the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act. His testimony, as prepared, is below (video of remarks as delivered here). The hearing is the most significant step procedural step forward to date for the bipartisan, bicameral legislation inspired by the work of Dr. E.O. Wilson, which was reintroduced earlier this year. This year the bill to protect biodiversity by providing for the crea... Read more

Recreation economy booms, outpacing farming, mining BY KELLIE LUNNEY - 09/20/2019 Outdoor recreation, led by boating and fishing, made up 2.2% of the country's gross domestic product in 2017 and outpaced the overall economy's growth, according to a new government report. The outdoor recreation economy in 2017 accounted for $427.2 billion in GDP, generated $778 billion in gross output and supported 5.2 million jobs, the Bureau of Economic Analysis found. The sector increased by 3.9%, a faster cli... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer, a vocal critic of the EPA during President Trump’s tenure, today got his first chance to question an EPA Administrator in the Trump era. He drew direct connections Administrator Wheeler’s leadership at the EPA and the list of requests which coal baron Robert Murray presented to Trump Administration officials shortly after Trump took office. Beyer framed the overview as a “report card” on the Murray action plan [via NYT] for Wheeler and Trump’s EPA [VIDEO]: BEYER: During your conf... Read more

Democrats propose bill to revoke Trump endangered species rollback BY REBECCA BEITSCH - 09/17/2019 Democrats are fighting back against a Trump administration rule that scraps numerous protections for endangered species. Legislation filed in the House on Tuesday would rescind a rule announced by the Department of the Interior in August that rolls back the Endangered Species Act (ESA), dramatically scaling back America’s landmark conservation law. The regulation allows economic considerations to b... Read more

Today, the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), led by Chair Derek Kilmer, NDC Vice Chair Scott Peters, and the NDC Climate Change Task Force Co-Chairs Reps. Don Beyer, Sean Casten, Elaine Luria, and Susan Wild, released policy principles and endorsed legislation to combat climate change. In doing so, the NDC seeks to address the climate challenge with the urgency the crisis demands and to embrace the notion that the U.S., through its powerful economy and culture of innovation, can be best positioned t... Read more

Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, introduced legislation today to repeal all three Trump administration final rule changes to the Endangered Species Act, which taken together will fundamentally change the way we protect threatened and endangered species. Under Trump’s rules, the administration can ignore long-term threats to wildlife from climate change an... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) released the following statement today after the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its repeal of the Waters of the United States rule: “All Americans and virtually all industries rely on clean water. But the Trump administration has again chosen to dish out another favor to corporate polluters at great expense to the American people. The Waters of the United States rule has played a critical role in ensuring the health of our waterways and tributaries, and the Unite... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today applauded the House passage of the Protecting and Securing Florida's Coastline Act (H.R. 205), which blocks new offshore drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act (H.R. 1941), which blocks new offshore drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. The legislation included an amendment to ban seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean, an initiative Beyer spearheaded with his bipartisan Atlantic Seismic Airgun ... Read more