The carbon pollution in our atmosphere from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal is waging a direct and unchecked assault on our farming, fishing and forests – the cornerstones of Oregon’s rural economy.
When Jeff was young, his dad worked as a millwright. He spent his childhood in Southern Oregon timber communities, where timber jobs were what put food on the table and kept roofs over folks’ head. Fires and insect infestations are already killing trees at alarming rates across the Northwest, and climate change will only make these threats to our forests worse. Other iconic Oregon industries like our coastal oyster hatcheries are threatened by ocean acidification, and fishing and farming alike are facing threats from declining snowpacks and increased drought.
Congress needs to wake up. Climate change is real, and it’s bad for our economy and jobs, especially in rural Oregon and the places that most depend on our abundant natural resources.
Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Exempt Seasonal Firefighters from Federal Hiring Freeze
Washington D.C.—U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined their Senate colleagues to urge the Trump Administration to exempt seasonal firefighters from the federal hiring freeze that’s reportedly preventing the hiring and onboarding of seasonal firefighters, a workforce that already struggles with recruitment and retention. “We write today following
Trump Illegally Pulling EV Infrastructure Money Means More Pollution, Higher Fuel Costs—Merkley, EPW Colleagues Demand Answers, Funding Reinstatement
By banning the Department of Transportation from releasing previously approved National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funds, Trump is again violating the Constitution while putting his Big Oil donors’ interests above those of the American people Washington, D.C. –Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public
Heinrich, Murray, Merkley, Klobuchar Demand Answers from USDA on Wildfire Mitigation Projects, Firefighting Hiring Halted by Trump’s Funding Freeze
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member
Merkley, Heinrich, Western Senators: Trump’s Illegal Funding Cuts Threatening Wildfire Mitigation Efforts
Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, and New Mexico’s Senator Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led a group
Merkley, Murray, Pingree, and DeLauro: EPA Illegal Funding Cuts Harm Public Health, Environment, and Families
Washington, D.C. – Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) demanded recently confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin answer urgent questions
Merkley and Colleagues to EPA Administrator Zeldin: Provide Valid Legal Basis for EPA Funding Freeze that is Threatening Jobs and Jeopardizing Infrastructure Projects
During his first days on the job, EPA Administrator Zeldin rubber stamps Trump’s disastrous funding freeze and violates federal law Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee—joined all his Democratic colleagues of the Committee in demanding answers from
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