press releases

New Mexico’s congressional delegation gathered virtually Thursday to celebrate the recent passage of landmark legislation that will provide $9.5 billion in funding over the next five years to address deferred maintenance projects on federal public lands. Democratic U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich were joined by Democratic U.S. Reps....

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – At 4:30 p.m. MT/ 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 13, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small will join the conservation community in New Mexico for a virtual celebration of the Great American Outdoors Act being signed into law. The...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led the entire Democratic Caucus in a letter to President Trump opposing Bureau of Land Management Director nominee William Perry Pendley. "We write to express opposition to Mr. Pendley's nomination to the position of Director of the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement upon the Great American Outdoors Act being signed into law. “I was so proud to lead the successful effort to pass the Great American Outdoors Act into law. This historic new law represents the...

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation praised President Donald Trump’s signing of the Great American Outdoors Act as a victory for conservation and a help for an economy crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The president signed the legislation Tuesday. It will provide $1.9 billion a year for five years to help clear a...

For decades, the conservation community has been advocating for the full and permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that uses royalties from offshore oil and gas operations to purchase new public lands and maintain public access. Today President Donald Trump—who has often been criticized by conservation and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is urging Facebook to end its policy of labeling climate change content as “opinion content,” creating a fact-checking exemption for climate denial. "It is deeply disappointing to see Facebook ignoring dangerous lies and articles that spread disinformation about climate change...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after the House-passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. The bill passed the Senate in June and after today's House vote of 310 to 107 now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law. “This historic legislation represents the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 10 Democratic Senate colleagues, have sent a letter to Senate Leadership urging them to include support for outdoor recreation and public land infrastructure jobs in the next COVID-19 relief package. With supply chains stalled, retailers shuttered, parks closed, and trips...

ALBUQUERQUE – Today, Thursday, July 16, at 11 a.m. MT/ 1 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with Director of the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division Axie Navas, will host a virtual panel discussion on the future of the outdoor recreation economy in New Mexico and how the nation stands to gain from increasing access to...

The great western writer Wallace Stegner once wrote that America’s great outdoors represent “the geography of hope.” At this time of grave crisis for our nation, millions of Americans — many of them out of work, worried about their health, and struggling to put food on the table — are seeking hope....

On this week’s episode, the crew is joined by Land Tawney, President/CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, to talk about the Great American Outdoors Act and its potential impact on our public lands and waters. To help in that discussion Ben and MeatEater’s Sam Lungren call Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH),...

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement after President Trump announced his intent to nominate William Perry Pendley as the director of the Bureau of Land Management: "William Perry Pendley has made a career as a zealot, aligning himself with extremists and...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the Bureau of Reclamation within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), has awarded $499,377 to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and New Mexico State University for desalination and...

On June 17th, the U.S. Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act with a vote of 73 yays and 25 nays. This news made headlines across an America that was reeling from protests, amid the profound uncertainty of a pandemic, at a time of polarized politics at a scale and fury not seen since the Civil War. As Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico...

REI President and CEO Eric Artz hosted a virtual fireside chat last Thursday with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), two legislators who have supported outdoor recreation and public lands policy. Artz began by acknowledging how fortunate it was for the co-op “to be joined by two champions for the outdoors … [who]...

If you believe in good government and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars keep an eye on New Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) today. The ISC will vote on whether to continue studying controversial plans for dams and diversions on the Gila River. This is the first major vote on the Gila after the U.S. Department of Interior...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) hailed the Senate passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, bipartisan legislation he introduced to fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and make record investments in our outdoor economy. The bill includes a measure championed by Senator Heinrich to extend...

WASHINGTON – Today, Wednesday, June 17 at 10:30 a.m. MT/ 12:30 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will participate in a bipartisan press teleconference to discuss the Senate passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, legislation to fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and address...

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is poised to receive permanent funding after the U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday. The fund, created by Congress in 1965 to support public land management using offshore oil and gas royalties, will receive $900 million annually under the bill, marking just the second time since its...