Strategic Production Response Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer what I hope will be an amendment that every Member of this body can support.

This amendment would simply prevent new planned oil and gas drilling in our national parks or on protected public lands, including national monuments, national recreation areas, or areas of critical environmental concern.

The debate yesterday and today has shown the American people that there are deep divisions between our two parties when it comes to America's energy future. We have starkly different priorities for protecting communities and the climate, securing environmental justice, and safeguarding public health.

I hope the concerns that we have raised might change some minds across the aisle, though I worry it will not. However, one area in which I believe we can all agree is that we should not allow oil and gas extraction in our national parks, our national wildlife refuges, our national recreation areas, or our conservation lands.

Mr. Chair, for those of us who have had the privilege to serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, we hear nearly every day about what parks and public lands mean to the communities in every congressional district across the country. Put simply, Americans love their parks. From the Everglades to the Grand Canyon, Shenandoah to Mesa Verde, these iconic landscapes are some of the most visited and the most loved in the United States.

It is our responsibility as elected officials to ensure future generations, our children and our grandchildren, will have the same opportunities we have enjoyed and experienced in these incredible places.

My amendment would protect these opportunities, ensuring that any new planned oil and gas extraction would not occur in our parks or our protected public lands.

Despite what some may suggest, this amendment is essential, given the repeated extremist efforts we saw under the previous administration to open protected public lands to extraction.

This amendment is necessary. I hope that all of my colleagues can join me in protecting our parks and protected public lands from unnecessary oil and gas extraction.

Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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