press releases

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) urged their fellow senators to oppose efforts in Congress that would allow the unnecessary waste of natural gas at oil and gas facilities on federal and Indian lands. Calling for fiscal responsibility with...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján denounced the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice that the EPA is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for damages caused by the Gold King Mine Spill. The lawmakers vowed to continue...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that a bipartisan measure to expedite reimbursements to Tribal, local and state governments for costs incurred in responding to the Gold King Mine spill has passed both Houses of Congress as an...

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after the Obama Administration announced that it will not grant the final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline: "President Obama has just risen to the challenge and listened to all of our voices to reject the current route of the Dakota Access...

Regarding Sen. Martin Heinrich’s letter to President Obama requesting that he rescind Monday’s eviction at Standing Rock: This is a very welcome breakthrough. With Heinrich’s leadership, other senators and Congress members will step forward. I also predict that the “arbitrary” date of Dec. 5 will be overturned by the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on the Dakota Access pipeline: "Today is Thanksgiving and I cannot help but reflect on our history in these United States and how often it has not lived up to the rosy picture of Pilgrims and Indians sharing a meal in friendly company that I saw in...

FARMINGTON —  Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., met with residents in San Juan County today to discuss water testing and defense technology and to honor two local veterans. After touring the Simon Canyon restoration site and meeting with the San Juan Water Commission, Heinrich and several Navajo Nation...

FARMINGTON, N.M. -- Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) toured the Raytheon Missile Systems Diné Facility south of Farmington. The facility is nearing completion of a new warehouse that will enable Raytheon to streamline the flow of material and production and hire more employees. During his visit to the 27-year-old plant, Senator...

A U.S. lawmaker says loopholes in federal laws have left authorities with little leverage in seeking the return of tribal religious items that are illegal to trade in the United States but sell for thousands of dollars in foreign markets. The comments Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, came during a field...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) delivered the following opening remarks at a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight field hearing in Albuquerque on the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act, a bill he introduced earlier this month to prohibit the exporting of sacred Native American items and...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that the University of New Mexico (UNM) will receive a $344,325 grant to provide training, licensing and induction services to Native Americans interested in pursuing a career in education. The purpose of the grant is to train more highly qualified Native American...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter to the President of the United States, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed support for Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye’s request for a major disaster declaration in response to August flooding...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will attend the 2016 White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, DC. Senator Heinrich will meet with tribal leaders and government officials to discuss issues of critical importance to Indian Country, including the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act, a bill he...

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that their bipartisan measure to speed up reimbursements to Tribal, local and state governments for the costs they incurred responding to the Gold King Mine spill has passed the Senate as an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The measure will expedite...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) welcomed news from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior that the agencies would halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline to allow for "a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to...

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to add the Bonita Peak Mining District in Colorado's San Juan County - home to the Gold King Mine - to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites. The lawmakers have...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to President Obama calling on the administration to intervene in the recent escalation of violence by private security personnel against Native protestors over the construction of the Dakota...

Earlier this year, when looking through a list of tribal artifacts up for bid at an art auction house in Paris, the Pueblo of Acoma discovered that the Acoma shield, a sacred ceremonial object, had been stolen and was about to be sold to the highest bidder. After Acoma Gov. Kurt Riley notified me, I wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry...

FARMINGTON, N.M. (Aug. 16, 2016) -- U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement expressing his concerns with delays in compensation to the people of the Navajo Nation for costs and damages caused by the Gold King Mine spill: "For far too long, Indian Country has been left to fend for itself in dealing with the legacy of...

FARMINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday it is awarding about $1.2 million in reimbursements to tribal and government agencies in the Four Regions region, including the Navajo Nation, for costs associated with the response to the Gold King Mine spill. The announcement issued by the EPA came on the...