Press Releases

Washington, D.C. -- In a letter to President Bush, 169 members of the U.S. House of Representatives today called on the president to recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenian people in 1915 as "genocide" during his annual April 24th c ommemorative statement. To date, no U.S. president has used the term "genocide" to describe the atrocities committed against 1.5 million Armenians.

In the letter, organized by U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr.

"Thank you Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity this morning to examine the Department of Defense's proposed exemptions from long standing environmental laws in the name of military readiness. I am greatly concerned that while the proposed exemptions are presented as being narrow in scope, the actual implications to public health and environmental health would be sweeping.

Marlboro, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and author of legislation that would reinstate a Superfund tax that forces polluters to pay for Superfund cleanups rather than taxpayers, issued the following statement today through a spokesman at a public meeting regarding the clean up of the Imperial Oil Superfund Site in Marlboro.

Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), ranking Democrat on the House Fisheries, Conservation, Wildlife and Ocean Subcommittee, issued the following statement today regarding the release of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy's long-awaited report detailing the state of the oceans and its resources, and recommendations for a new national ocean policy framework.

"The Supreme Court's ruling represents a step in the right direction, and is long overdue. For far too long, the Supreme Court has issued rulings that have severely restricted criminal and civil jurisdiction of tribal governments, thereby weakening inherent tribal sovereignty.

"I am hopeful that the Lara decision marks an end to the anti-sovereignty jurisprudence exhibited by the Court in the past two decades, and that yesterday's ruling represents a turning point in the way the Court views tribal sovereignty."

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, will host a congressional briefing this Thursday, April 22 at 2:00 p.m. with Bhopal survivors and Goldman Environmental Prize winners Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla. Pallone will also show a short documentary film that brings to life the horror of the Bhopal disaster and its aftermath.

Washington, D.C. --- In a letter last week to President Bush, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, voiced strong opposition to the Bush administration's decision to abandon a 2001 agreement to provide parity in military funding to Armenia and Azerbaijan. The letter comes in response to testimony by a U.S. State Department official that the Bush administration would support a greater level of military assistance to Azerbaijan than Armenia.

"If the Bush administration wants to place blame on the condition of our nation's air, it has no better place to look than the mirror. While some of New Jersey's air pollution is created within the state's borders, we all know that much of our state's pollution comes from large power plants outside New Jersey. Over the past three years, the Bush administration has done everything it can to weaken federal emission regulations on coal-burning plants that negatively impact our state's air.