Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement today in response to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announcement of an upcoming proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule: “With every new act to loosen protections for clean air and, today, clean water, it becomes clearer and clearer that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt considers environmental protection an inessential component of his job. The Clean Water Rule protects public health and natural resources, which ... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement in response to news that President Trump will soon announce his intention to exit the Paris Climate Agreement: “The Paris Climate Agreement negotiated by President Obama, leading global climate scientists, and other responsible world leaders represents our best opportunity to arrest the devastating effects of global climate change. Today’s news that Donald Trump intends to pull out of the global accord stands in stark contrast to overwhelming p... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) issued the following statement today on the Trump budget: “While President Trump’s budget will not pass Congress, it is nonetheless a telling statement of Republican priorities: cutting taxes for the wealthy while gutting innumerable programs and agencies that protect the most vulnerable. The Trump budget is rooted in fantasy. It will not generate the constant three percent growth that is the premise for massive tax cuts, nor does it even account for the cost of those cuts ... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Vice-Ranking Member of the House Science Committee, along with Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) today led 58 Representatives in pressing Energy Secretary Rick Perry to immediately release funds currently withheld to previously-approved projects at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). They also asked the Secretary to clarify the Department of Energy’s procedures for approving and funding grants, after Members of Congress from both parties expr... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer, Vice-Ranking Member of the House Science Committee, today led Democratic Members of the Committee in urging President Trump to appoint a reliable Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). They also urged him to avoid inaccurate articles and pseudoscience. Their letter was written following a report that Trump reacted strongly to fake Time magazine articles which he believed to be real, which were shared with him by his Deputy National Security Advisor. The R... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer welcomed Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Executive Directive 11, announced at Alexandria Renew yesterday, which requires Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality to establish new environmental safeguards that would reduce carbon pollution from power plants. “While the Trump Administration and EPA Administrator Pruitt abdicate responsibility to address the global threat from climate change, Governor McAuliffe’s actions at the state level to reduce Virginia’s carbon emissi... Read more

Vice-Ranking Member of the House Science Committee Rep. Don Beyer last week led a bipartisan group of more than 100 Members of the House of Representatives in urging Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke to keep Atlantic and Pacific oceans off-limits to new oil and gas leases. The Representatives wrote: “We do not believe that new oil and gas exploration or production activity in the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf is compatible with the sustainable coastal economies on ... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer made the following statement today on the omnibus bill, which is expected to be signed into law this week: “This omnibus funding bill represents the product of a bipartisan agreement, and as such required compromise from both sides. It does not contain everything I’d like, but the most important thing is that we reached a deal that will keep the government open without the worst budget cuts and most irresponsible policy riders sought by House Republicans and the White House. I’m p... Read more

Vice-Ranking Member of the House Science Committee Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on President Trump’s Executive Order to expand drilling and petroleum exploration in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans: “This decision by President Trump is another gift to the fossil fuel industry from an Administration that has shown unprecedented hostility to environmental protection. His Order is misguided, bad for coastal economies, and represents more destructive apathy on climate change. Th... Read more

Congressman Don Beyer and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) today announced that they have introduced legislation to halt permits for seismic airgun blasting on the Atlantic seaboard. Petroleum companies use seismic blasting in their surveying process, but the practice has significant, adverse effects on marine species. The Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act would halt the practice. “The seismic pulses from airgun blasts threaten the aquatic species many coastal communities depend on,” said Rep. Do... Read more