Press Releases

"Legislation is powerful tool to hold EPA accountable"

Costa, Cardoza Applaud Court's Decision

Washington, D.C. – Congressmen Jim Costa (D-Fresno) and Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) today reacted to the news that the United States District Court rejected a 2009 salmon biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and ordered the agency to develop a new opinion. In his ruling, Judge Oliver Wanger criticized the biological opinion as "arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful" while also citing the "equivocal or bad science" used to justify the agency's action.

Calls on department to "stop the insanity"

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) today rebuked the U.S. Department of the Interior in a letter to Secretary Ken Salazar for seeking a stay on Judge Oliver Wanger's Aug. 31 ruling on Interior's Delta smelt plan (fall X2). Judge Wanger found "there is essentially no biological evidence to support" the department's plan and halted its full implementation.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) released a statement following President Barack Obama's address to a Joint Session of Congress. The President laid out the principles of the American Jobs Act, legislation he will transmit to Congress in the coming days.

"I appreciated hearing the President's plan for job creation. We don't lack ideas. We lack jobs. That's why the President, the Congress, and the private sector must work together to put Americans back to work.

Grant will assist homeless and at-risk veterans in the San Joaquin Valley

Costa: Commonsense and good science have won the day

Fresno, Calif. - Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) released a statement following the announcement that President Barack Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw proposed new regulations on air quality standards for ozone. The draft regulations would have rewritten the current ozone standards put in place by the Bush Administration in 2008 and are due to be updated in 2013, pursuant to the Clean Air Act.

Fresno, Calif. - Congressman Jim Costa (D-Calif.) announced that Clinica Sierra Vista of Bakersfield has received a $483,333 federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to open a new community health center in Fresno County known as the West Shaw Community Health Center. Clinica Sierra Vista was one of only 67 organizations across the nation to receive the HRSA grant. Costa supported Clinica Sierra Vista's application for federal funding in a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) released the following statement upon hearing that a leading credit rating agency decided to downgrade the credit rating of the United States.