Protecting Our Environment

Congressman Sherman's efforts in Congress to protect our environment I have earned a nearly 100% lifetime rating from the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters.

Sherman also received the Sierra Club Los Angeles Chapter’s Public Policy Award for helping to secure federal funds to protect open space in the Santa Monica Mountains.

With the growing threat of climate change, Sherman has worked to expand our national commitment to environmentalism. Yet, in the past year the Trump Administration’s policies have been undoing recent environmental victories, undermining the Environmental Protection Agency, slashing funding for clean energy programs, and increasing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Below are some of Sherman's recent efforts to protect our environment.

Combatting Climate Change

Congressman Sherman joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce the most recent version of theGreen New Deal, which establishes a 10-year national mobilization effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels, secure clean air and water, create millions of high-paying jobs, and support infrastructure investments while promoting an equitable and sustainable environment for all.

Sherman has supported the Green New Deal since it was first introduced in the House of Representatives and will continue to do so going forward.

Climate Change harms not only our environment, but also public health, the economy, national security, and the legacy we will leave to our children. To address climate change, the world came together under the Paris Agreement in an effort to limit the increase in global temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius and avoid the most disastrous impacts of climate change. The United States joined the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016, and the agreement went into force less than 6 months later.

One of Donald Trump’s first actions upon returning to the White House in 2025 was to again withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, just as he did in 2017.

Sherman joined Rep. Brad Schneider to quickly introduce a resolution disapproving of Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and called for the United States to maintain partnership in the Paris Agreement and for the Unites States to prioritize global leadership on addressing climate change.

Protecting California's Coast

Southern California is home to some of the world’s best beaches and marine habitats, and Sherman strongly supports protecting them. The 2021 oil spill in Orange County demonstrated the damage that offshore drilling can have on our beaches, coastal ecosystems, and marine wildlife. That one spill covered over 8,000 acres and tar washed up on beaches along the California Coast.

Last year, the Trump Administration formally released a plan to expand oil and gas leasing off the coast of California. Congressman Sherman joined Senators Padilla and Schiff in fighting this proposal, informing the Trump Administration of the strong opposition by the overwhelming majority of Californians to anu plan that would expand offshore drilling and risk our state’s invaluable ecologically unique coast.

To preserve our local beaches and marine habitat, Sherman joined his California colleagues to reintroduce the Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act to stop offshore drilling along the Southern California Coast by prohibiting the Trump Administration from issuing any oil and gas leases.

We need to protect both our local ecosystems and our entire coastline. That is why Sherman also joined Congressman Huffman, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, to introduce the West Coast Ocean Protection Act to protect the entire coastline of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Preserving Open Space

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is one of the world’s largest urban parks. There is a critical need to properly manage and preserve this national treasure.

Last year, Sherman joined Rep. Laura Friedman to introduce the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act. This bill will protect some of the last wild open spaces in the Losa Angeles area, adding 118,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The legislation builds on Sherman's work with then-Representative Adam Schiff, when they successfully passed into law the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act, which required a special resource study to determine how these areas could be better managed and preserved.

Sherman recently secured nearly $1 million for additional public land acquisition and preservation in the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and earlier this year, Congress approved another $1,031,000 million that Sherman requested for habitat restoration, including ecologically necessary brush clearance and the removal of invasive species to reduce wildfire risk and preserve wildlife habitats.

Over the years, Sherman has taken the lead in securing federal funds to complete the Santa Monica Mountains’ 65-mile Backbone Trail and has been a consistent supporter of the National Trail System – which includes 648 miles in Southern California – as well as the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LCWF), to preserve natural resources in California and across the U.S.

As a result of Sherman's fervent advocacy, the National Park Service used LCWF funds to acquire 45 acres of land beside the Backbone Trail to expand recreational opportunities, ensure the continued preservation of the Santa Monica Mountains, and maintain its beautiful scenery.