Ahead of tomorrow’s House Appropriations Committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 55 environmental organizations sent the below letter to members of the committee urging them to oppose this effort to dismantle environmental agencies and force through anti-environmental policy changes.

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July 21, 2025

Committee on Appropriations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative: 

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the 55 undersigned groups urge you to oppose the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) during the full committee markup this week. This bill would continue to dismantle the agencies that protect our lands, water, air, oceans, wildlife, and public health, which are already reeling from mass layoffs and illegal impoundment, while introducing numerous extreme anti-environmental policies that have no place in the appropriations process. The bill would slash enforcement of bedrock environmental laws, expose communities to toxic pollution, and reverse progress to address the climate and biodiversity crises, and must be rejected.

The bill would cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 23%, erode protections for clean air and safe drinking water, and kneecap the Agency’s capacity to support states and tribal communities. It would drastically cut investments in the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, programs with longstanding bipartisan support that provide critical funding to states to help upgrade their water infrastructure. Extreme cuts to toxic cleanup programs like the Superfund Program would compound exposures to hazardous pollution, and the elimination of environmental justice programs would ensure that the most vulnerable communities are the hardest hit. Poison-pill riders would prohibit the EPA from protecting communities from pollution of our air, water, and climate. These cuts and proposals are unacceptable, prioritizing polluters over our environment and health.

This bill would open iconic public lands and waters to extractive industries, threatening healthy and imperiled wildlife populations alike while exacerbating the climate crisis. It would mandate additional onshore and offshore fossil fuel lease sales on top of those already mandated over the next several years under H.R. 1. It would gut resources for public lands and national parks and drive imperiled species closer to extinction. Poison pill riders and cuts to already underfunded and understaffed public land and wildlife agencies would lead to more severe wildfires and flooding, degradation of wildlife habitat, and loss of recreational opportunities that support rural economies. 

Now is the time to invest more—not less—in the agencies and programs that steward our lands, water, air, oceans, and wildlife and protect our public health. Severe staffing shortages and the extreme cuts to the Department of the Interior, EPA, and other critical agencies would impede their ability to deliver on their missions for the benefit of the American people. Underinvestment in these agencies and the services they provide the public undermines bedrock environmental laws that have had bipartisan support for decades. Furthermore, poison-pill riders, such as those eroding protections for the environment and public health in this bill, have no place in the appropriations process, and must be rejected.

We also want to be clear that we support efforts by Congress to protect and assert its rightful Article I authority through the FY26 appropriations process. Despite our concerns about the substance of this bill, we recognize that this process is iterative and that legislation is painstakingly negotiated on a bipartisan basis. Any administration’s faithful execution of appropriations bills in their entirety is a necessary prerequisite to an end-of-year funding agreement. 

We urge you to reject this harmful proposal that would have long-lasting consequences for communities and the environment they rely on, and we thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

350.org
Alaska Wilderness League Action
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Bird Conservancy
Californians for Western Wilderness
Center for Biological Diversity
Change the Chamber
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Campaign
Climate Justice Alliance
Conservation Lands Foundation
Continental Divide Trail Coalition
Creation Justice Ministries
Defenders of Wildlife
Earthjustice Action
Elevate
Endangered Species Coalition
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Integrity Project
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Environmental Protection Network
Environmental Working Group
Flint Rising
Food & Water Watch
GreenLatinos
Inland Ocean Coalition
It’s Electric!
Jesus People Against Pollution (JPAP)
Kids for Saving Earth
League of Conservation Voters
Memphis A. Phillip Randolph Institute (APRI)
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Moms Clean Air Force
Natural Resources Defense Council
Next 100 Coalition
Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
Ocean Conservation Research
Ocean Defense Initiative
Oceana
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Sierra Club
Silvix Resources
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
The Wilderness Society
Trust for Public Land
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Union of Concerned Scientists
Voices for Progress
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
West End Revitalization Association (WERA)
Wildlife for All
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates

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