Today, the League of Conservation Voters joined 83 environmental organizations in sending the below letter to the House of Representatives urging Members to oppose H.R. 8998, the Fiscal Year 2025 House Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, when it comes up for a vote this week. LCV will strongly consider scoring votes related to H.R. 8998 in the 2024 National Environmental Scorecard.

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U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representatives:

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the 83 undersigned groups urge you to oppose H.R. 8998, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, when it comes up for a vote this week. This bill would hollow out the agencies charged with protecting our environment and our health and would introduce a slew of radical anti-environmental policies that have no place in the appropriations process. This would risk public health, and our lands, wildlife, air, water, and oceans; it is unacceptable and must be rejected.

This bill does not just fail to address the climate and biodiversity crises; it would exacerbate them. As America faces record-breaking heat waves, the bill would defund climate resilience and emissions reduction programs while mandating new fossil fuel lease sales. It would drastically reduce the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 20% while eliminating environmental justice programs entirely, opening the door to more hazardous pollution and cutting impacted communities out of the decision making process. Poison-pill policy riders would doom imperiled species to extinction and strip protections for iconic lands and waters.

This bill is infused with so many outrageous policy attacks on our environment that it is impractical to list them individually. Similarly extreme riders were removed from the final FY24 Interior Appropriations bill just a few months ago; by going down this path again, we fear Congress is wasting valuable time that could be better spent producing bipartisan legislation that has a realistic chance of becoming law. We urge you to reject this proposal, which is equal parts damaging and unrealistic.

A final bill should be clean from any anti-environmental riders and should invest more—not less—in environmental agencies and programs. The harmful spending caps imposed last summer have hit agencies and programs hard, compounding a decade of atrophy wrought under previous budgetary restrictions. This attempt to cut their toplines even further would have long-lasting consequences that would harm communities for decades to come.

We thank you for your consideration and stand ready to assist you in meeting our request.

Sincerely,

Alabama Interfaith Power & Light

Alaska Wilderness League Action

American Bird Conservancy

American Humanist Association

American Rivers

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Animal Welfare Institute (AWI)

Attorneys for Animals

Buffalo Field Campaign

CalWild

CCAN Action Fund

Center for Biological Diversity

Center for Environmental Health

Center For Food Safety

Chispa

Clean Water Action

Climate Action Campaign

Climate Crisis Policy

Climate Justice Alliance

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks

Conservation Lands Foundation

Defenders of Wildlife

Earthjustice

Earthworks

Elevate

Endangered Habitats League

Endangered Species Coalition

Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental Law & Policy Center

Environmental Protection Network

Environmental Working Group

Evergreen Action

Farmworker Association of Florida

Friends of the Earth

Great Old Broads for Wilderness

Green Science Policy Institute

GreenLatinos

Greenpeace USA

Illinois Environmental Council

Inland Ocean Coalition

Interfaith Power & Light

Kettle Range Conservation Group

League of Conservation Voters

Los Padres ForestWatch

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition

Moms Clean Air Force

National Ocean Protection Coalition

National Wildlife Federation

Natural Resources Defense Council

Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness

Ocean Conservancy

Ocean Defense Initiative

Oceana

Partnership for Policy Integrity

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Physicians for Social Responsibility PA

Project Coyote

Rachel Carson Council

Reintegrating Wildness

Rise to Thrive

Sierra Club

Silvix Resources

Southern Environmental Law Center

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Surfrider Foundation

Texas Impact

Texas Interfaith Power and Light

The Conservation Angler

The Earth Bill Network

The People’s Justice Council

The Wilderness Society

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Toxic-Free Future

Trust for Public Land

Union of Concerned Scientists

WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Western Watersheds Project

Wolf Conservation Center

Wyoming Untrapped

Yaak Valley Forest Council

Zero Hour