As a climate champion and a vocal defender of important environmental laws and policies, Earl supports efforts to strengthen the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and more. He has also helped pass new laws that promote clean energy, fight climate change, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and encourage more efficient use of valuable natural resources.

The Climate RESILIENCE Act

Earl is committed to tackling the climate crisis, which means addressing the climate-fueled disasters that are becoming a more frequent and devastating part of our reality. In recent years, heat waves, wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events have wreaked havoc across Oregon and in the United States. Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by climate disasters, yet often do not receive the necessary support before and after disaster strikes. To help ensure everyone in our communities can stay safe in the face of this growing threat, Earl has created a legislative roadmap to help guide a comprehensive federal response. In 2022, Earl introduced the first piece of legislation that fits into that roadmap, the Climate RESILIENCE Act. This legislation would help protect communities around the country by improving the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) preparation for, and response to, climate disasters. This bill is the first of many steps outlined in Earl's legislative roadmap to protect our communities from the devastating and compounding effects of climate change.

Read more about this legislation here.

The National Climate Emergency Act

In February 2019, when Trump declared a national emergency to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexican border, Earl vehemently objected, stating that the real national emergency is climate change. Earl worked with local community members to draft a congressional resolution declaring a climate crisis. He then worked with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders to introduce what became the Climate Emergency Resolution, which declares an emergency to fight climate change.

In February 2021, Earl, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders took the next step by introducing legislation that built on the resolution. The National Climate Emergency Actdirects the president of the United States to declare a national climate emergency and mobilize every resource at the country's disposal to halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for the consequences of this climate crisis.

Click here for more information.

The Green New Deal

A vocal advocate of the Green New Deal, Earl partnered with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to help write the resolution. It puts forward a series of goals to achieve comprehensive, rapid-scale decarbonization of our economy, ensuring a just transition for millions of Americans who are disproportionately affected by climate change.

Decarbonizing our economy and fighting climate change

Earl knows that climate change is man-made, and that an appropriate response from the federal government is long overdue. Fighting climate change, one of the greatest challenges of our generation, is one of his top priorities. He strongly believes we must take bold, comprehensive action immediately to prevent the worst disruption of our climate and our society while mitigating the climate effects that are already underway. He supports state, local, national, and international action that would lead to the decarbonization of our economy from all sectors that contribute to global climate change. He is committed to ensuring economic and environmental justice and equality as we make this transition. He strongly supports and helped craft the decarbonization and just transition goals in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, and is working to create policies to achieve these goals.

Holding polluters accountable

Earl supports ending outdated fossil fuel subsidies for the highly profitable oil and gas industries, which enjoy billions of dollars in taxpayer support every year but do not need it, and which represent the dirty energy of the past. He has also championed efforts to ensure that fossil fuel companies are transporting oil, coal, and gas safely, and that they are mitigating risks associated with transport and extraction. He strongly opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic or anywhere off of the United States' coast, home to treasured ecosystems, and has called upon the Administration to stop leases in the Arctic.

Powering the clean energy revolution

Earl is proud to represent Oregon, a state that is recognized for its cutting-edge approaches to developing and supporting renewable energy industries such as wind, wave, solar, and geothermal, adopting energy conservation and green building techniques, and more. He is committed to increasing the supply of clean and renewable energy to Oregon consumers and utility customers around the country. Earl has vigorously advocated for and championed incentives that have helped the wind, solar, and other renewable energy industries thrive.

Standing up for pollinators

Earl champions legislative efforts to protect and restore our nation's pollinator populations, recognizing their importance to both our food supply and to ecosystems. During recent years, beekeepers have lost significant portions of their bee colonies, strong evidence that America's bee population is struggling. Significant evidence indicates that neonicotinoids, a certain class of nicotine-derived pesticides used widely across the world and particularly in agriculture, play a key role in these die-offs. To help address this, Earl has introduced the Saving America's Pollinators Actto protect pollinators from these threats. This legislation directs the Environmental Protection Agency to suspend the use of the most bee-toxic neonicotinoids, and to review them and make a new determination about their proper application and safe use.

Promoting conservation in agriculture

Earl believes that we must support practices that lead to the long-term sustainability of farmland and protect the environment. Whether it's strengthening the Farm Bill's conservation programs, or curbing emissions and other pollution from industrialized agriculture, Earl has championed policies and funding to ensure that farmers have the tools to protect soil health, eliminate runoff, and promote biodiversity. His Food and Farm Act offered many policies to reform conservation programs to improve outcomes for both farmers and the environment.

Protecting public lands and expanding wilderness

Earl is a champion for protecting public lands, including Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge, two of Oregon's crown jewels. He has also been outspoken in support of protecting the unique Owyhee Canyonlands region in southeast Oregon. In March 2009, Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation based on Earl's proposal to designate 127,000 acres of new wilderness and almost 80 miles of new wild and scenic rivers on and around Mt. Hood. Recognizing that Mt. Hood is a prime recreation destination for many Oregonians, Earl is exploring ways to enhance recreation and protect more special places on the mountain. He strongly believes in preserving key areas important for clean water, cultural significance, carbon sequestration, and fish and wildlife, as well as recreation interests.

Supporting outdoor recreation

Hand in hand with protecting public lands, Earl supports federal policies that ensure that all Americans have access to beautiful places for hiking, biking, fishing, hunting and more. He is supportive of efforts to create and maintain trails and parks, and he works to raise awareness about the importance of equitable access to and enjoyment of public lands as a key part of community livability. Earl fought hard for the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and, as co-Chair of the Congressional Trails Caucus, he works to ensure the federal government has proper funding for trail maintenance and access.

Advocating for salmon and watershed restoration

Salmon are a valuable economic, cultural, and environmental resource for the Pacific Northwest. Earl is a leader in efforts to restore self-sustaining, healthy populations of salmon to the Columbia and Snake rivers. The key to this is ensuring that water quality is prioritized throughout the Basin, through toxics reduction and other measures. Earl introduced the Columbia River Basin Restoration Act, which was signed into law in 2016, that is providing federal funding for toxics reduction in the Columbia River, supporting a collaborative strategy developed by regional stakeholders to reduce levels of harmful pollutants in the river.

Cleaning up Superfund sites

Earl believes that polluters should pay when it comes to cleaning up America's toxic legacies. The Portland Harbor on the Willamette River in Portland was designated a Superfund site in 2000. He is committed to working with EPA, local stakeholders, and the community to ensure that the Portland Harbor is finally cleaned up, for the benefit of the river ecosystem and the community.

Prioritizing water and oceans

Earl is a leading voice in Congress to ensure the supply of safe, clean water to our communities and in our oceans and rivers, to promote sustainable fisheries, and to help our ocean ecosystems adapt to climate change. He is a vocal defender of the Clean Water Act, a bedrock environmental law that's prevented billions of pounds of toxic pollutants from contaminating the nation's waters. He also champions laws, regulations, and initiatives that protect wetlands and other natural water resources and infrastructure, so vital to water quality. A member of the Oceans Caucus, he's strongly supported research and monitoring of ocean acidification and related impacts, to help ocean ecosystems and communities cope with their devastating impacts.

Reforming flood insurance

Earl believes the federal government must be a better partner to local communities in reducing and, where possible, preventing the dangers of flooding to people, property, and ecosystems. He works with state, city, and county governments, citizen groups, and businesses to better coordinate federal assistance and prioritize pre-disaster mitigation efforts. He has advocated for substantial reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program, the federal government's insurance program for development in and around floodplains, to ensure that building – and rebuilding – in floodplains is discouraged, communities are required to plan for floods, and natural infrastructure, like forests, wetlands, and oyster reefs, are enhanced.

Defending wildlife

As co-Chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, Earl has strongly defended native wildlife species in the United States and around the world. He is a champion for the Endangered Species Act, robust funding for habitat restoration, and protecting water and natural habitats for species across the country. He's spoken in vocal opposition to political interference with science that undermines species recovery, introduced legislation to prevent cruel wildlife trapping, prevented rollbacks of critical environmental laws that protect animals and their habitat, and rallied his colleagues to defend native wildlife, such as gray wolves, from legislative and administrative attacks.