Think Progress Using the USA Today op-ed as a guide, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) on Wednesday tweeted a list of reasons why Zinke believes wildfires have grown worse in the western United States. The list did not include climate change. “I’d rather hear from scientists about what causes wildfires, but he keeps censoring them,” Beyer said in response to Zinke’s op-ed. The Department of the Interior has been accused of removing mentions of climate change from its website since Zinke took over as head of... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer issued the following statement today after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed to roll back fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks: “In one of President Trump’s most significant efforts to undo Obama’s environmental legacy, he solidified his own: prioritize the wish list of big corporate polluters over the health of the American people. In rolling back the fuel-efficiency standards, the Trump Administration h... Read more

POLITICO House Democrats have asked the Office of Government Ethics to review acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler's meetings with companies that employed him as a lobbyist, Emily Holden reports. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and several colleagues sent a letter to the independent agency following reporting from E&E News that Wheeler met with at least three former clients in recent months as deputy administrator. The Democrats pointed to Scott Pruitt's resignation "under a cloud of ethical controver... Read more

Rep. Beyer (D-VA) led a group of House Democrats today asking the Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) for a review of recent meetings between Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and his former lobbying clients. The inquiry followed reporting by E&E that Wheeler met with at least three clients of Wheeler’s former lobbying firm this summer, which may have violated his Trump Administration ethics pledge. The Representatives wrote: “Acting Administrator Wheeler served as a r... Read more

The Hill A group of House Democrats is calling for the government’s ethics office to investigate acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Andrew Wheeler's meetings with former lobbying clients. Democratic Reps. Don Beyer (Va.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.) want the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the meetings, first reported Thursday by E&E News, violated ethics standards. “Andrew Wheeler is the Acting Administrator of the... Read more

Think Progress Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) on Friday led a group of House Democrats in sending a letter to the Office of Government Ethics asking it to conduct an investigation to determine whether Wheeler violated his ethics pledge. Beyer is the second-ranking Democrat on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and the ranking member of its subcommittee on oversight. The House members asked the Office of Government Ethics to investigate Wheeler’s involvement with past lobbying clients to d... Read more

Yahoo News Staffers for Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., noticed the late-June tweet even as much of Washington obsessed over Pruitt’s latest scandals involving used mattresses and expensive moisturizer. “The fossilized skull of a T-Rex ancestor on display Secretary Zinke’s office is exactly the kind of wonder that Department of Interior should be trying to conserve,” Beyer told Yahoo News. “The Trump administration seems oblivious to the fact that cutting Grand Staircase-Escalante in half and selling off... Read more

Huff Post Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) skewered Zinke in a series of posts to Twitter on Thursday, comparing him to the ousted EPA chief. “Pruitt was not the only Trump Cabinet member with terrible ethics problems, and Zinke’s issues also stem from ignoring ethics guidelines while empowering industry,” Beyer wrote. Click here to read the full article Read more

The announcement by the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that it will open a formal investigation of Secretary Ryan Zinke’s real estate dealings with energy giant Halliburton represents the eleventh federal investigation into Zinke opened to date. Most of those investigations are for potential ethical violations. “Scott Pruitt clearly was not the only member of Trump’s Cabinet with multiple, serious ethics problems,” said Rep. Beyer. “Unfortunately, as in ... Read more

Safe Climate Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) and Don Beyer (VA-08) released the statement below following the passage of H. Con. Res. 119, the anti-climate, Republican resolution denouncing a carbon tax: “In the same week research was released stating a carbon tax could be implemented without hurting the economy, Congressional Republicans decided to adopt a resolution denouncing a hypothetical carbon tax under the premise that it would be detrimental to the economy. For decades, ec... Read more