House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) offered an amendment to H.R. 2822, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016, which would strike a provision preventing the Department of the Interior from revising regulations to better protect streams from mining waste. Prior to 2008, no surface mining could be permitted within 100 feet of a stream unless it would cause no adverse effect on water quality or quantity. The 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule essentially removed this buffer, allowing mining companies to dump rubble and waste, particularly from mountaintop removal mining, into valleys and streams, jeopardizing the water resources and health of mining communities. On July 8, the House rejected the Grijalva amendment by a vote of 189-239 (House roll call vote 397). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.