Blumenthal Applauds Biden Administration's "America the Beautiful" Initiative

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, issued the following statement after the Biden Administration announced its first report on the newly unveiled “America the Beautiful” initiative to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030:

“Huge swaths of open space, water and wildlife will be reserved forever as a result of local action spurred by this report. This decade-long conservation campaign will rely on the know-how and drive of local communities, farmers, tribes and others. It is an inspiring vision—with sweeping and enduring potential benefits to America’s economy and environment.”

In March, Blumenthal, along with House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) sent a bicameral letter, cosigned by 99 House and 17 Senate Democratic colleagues, to President Biden urging him to adopt a transparent, stakeholder-driven process in deciding how best to preserve American lands and waters as part of the Administration’s “30 by 30” initiative, now named “America the Beautiful.” Choosing which areas to preserve, the lawmakers wrote, should be done in consultation with locally affected communities and should take the economic benefits of conservation into account.

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