Rhino, springboks, zebra, elephant and lion in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. ugurhan / E+ / Getty Images
<p>The Department of the Interior (DOI) has disbanded a controversial council that promoted big game hunting after a judge ruled that environmental groups could challenge the legitimacy of the council in court, as <a href="https://apnews.com/8570435359a2cef4c226de114f53377e" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
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Trump Advisory Panel Suggests Bringing More Private Business Into National Parks
16 October 2019
Business
California Yosemite River Scene. Mobilus In Mobili / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
An advisory panel appointed by Trump's first Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, has recommended privatizing National Parks campgrounds, allowing food trucks in and setting up WiFi at campgrounds while also reducing benefits to seniors, according to the panel's memo.
<p>The advisory committee, the Subcommittee on Recreation Enhancement Through Reorganization, passed its recommendations along to Interior Sec. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/David-Bernhardt" target="_self">David Bernhardt</a>. It is part of the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1892/made-in-america-rac.htm" target="_blank">Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee</a>, which Zinke to "advise the Secretary of the Interior on public-private partnerships across all public lands," according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/465416-committee-pushes-national-park-service-to-privatize-camp-grounds" target="_blank">The Hill</a>.</p><p>The draftees suggest that the Senior Pass, which is an $80 lifetime pass to people 62 and over and entitles them to a 50 percent discount on campgrounds, have some blackout dates that would void their discounts. The <a href="https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/sites/default/files/attachments/orac_reorg_sc_letter_9-24-2019.pdf" target="_blank">memo</a> also suggests generating revenue by renting out cabins and having vendors rent out tents and other camping equipment within the national parks.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/sites/default/files/attachments/orac_reorg_sc_letter_9-24-2019.pdf" target="_blank">memo</a> lists food trucks and mobile vendors as part of its innovative management strategy and it suggests offering mobile connectivity throughout parks, not just at campgrounds.</p><p>The Federal government has a long history of not providing adequate funding to the National Parks System, which has created a $12 billion maintenance backlog, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/465416-committee-pushes-national-park-service-to-privatize-camp-grounds" target="_blank">The Hill</a>.</p><p>Drafters of the plan say their suggestions are a roadmap to a much-needed upgrade of deteriorating infrastructure that will attract a younger, more diverse audience.</p><p>Already, several private campgrounds and private businesses exist within the National Parks. Zinke expressed a desire to expand private business in the National Parks, arguing that he did not want his department in the business of running campgrounds, as <a href="https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2019/10/draft-recommendations-call-making-national-park-campgrounds-more-accommodating" target="_blank">National Parks Traveler</a> reported.</p><p>Bernhardt, a former Republican operative and corporate lobbyist and now the Secretary of the Interior, oversees all <a href="https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm" target="_blank">419 national parks</a>. He has argued for an increase in private enterprise in the national parks, since the money for maintenance is easily found outside the federal government, as <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/campgrounds-in-national-parks-set-to-be-privatized-in-new-trump-plan-090019066.html" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Derrick Crandall, president of the American Recreation Coalition wrote the <a href="https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/sites/default/files/attachments/orac_reorg_sc_letter_9-24-2019.pdf" target="_blank">memo</a>. He told <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/campgrounds-in-national-parks-set-to-be-privatized-in-new-trump-plan-090019066.html" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a> that it has been approved by the necessary committees and will be endorsed by Bernhardt soon. </p><p>However, A spokesman for the Department of the Interior, contradicted that assessment. "We have not received formal recommendations from the committee for the department's consideration. We'll review the report once we receive it and respond accordingly," according to <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/campgrounds-in-national-parks-set-to-be-privatized-in-new-trump-plan-090019066.html" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a>.</p><p>Critics were aghast at the suggestions in the memo, seeing it as a cash-grab that threatened the sanctity of America's national parks.</p><p>"Trump's scheme to privatize national parks means one thing: the park-going public's money will go to connected special interests and campaign donors instead of supporting the parks themselves. Selling out our national parks for Trump's own pork barrel political gains is something that Americans simply won't stand for," Jayson O'Neill, deputy director of the Western Values Project, a conservation group, in a release that <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/10/11/plans-privatize-national-parks-outlined-trump-admin-memo-would-enrich-donors" target="_blank">Common Dreams reported</a>.</p><p>Joel Pannell, Associate Director of Sierra Club Outdoors for All, was similarly critical of the recommendations.</p><p>"Now the Trump administration is trying to pass a fee hike under the radar, and pave the way for full privatization of our national parks," he said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/10/trump-administration-plans-privatize-national-park-campgrounds" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Turning our national parks into profit centers for a select few vendors would rob our public lands of just what makes them special. Hiking fees and limiting discounts for seniors will shut out working families and elders on fixed incomes. We will not allow the embattled Trump administration to turn our national parks into playgrounds for the wealthy and privileged, or permit companies that financially support the Trump campaign to profit from privatization of our public lands. Park lovers and outdoor advocates across the nation will rise up in resistance."</p><div id="7ecfa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4UQRYV1576661301"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1182734019173203968" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump plans to privatize #NationalPark campgrounds, hike fees, limit senior discounts. Just another profit grab by… https://t.co/nlrbnsoy8G</div> — Sierra Club (@Sierra Club)<a href="https://twitter.com/SierraClub/statuses/1182734019173203968">1570820738.0</a></blockquote></div>
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On Oct. 4, 2017, the Senate EPW Committee held a hearing on Wehrum's nomination. EPA / YouTube screenshot
So little time, so much damage done. That's the legacy left by Bill Wehrum who spent only one and a half years as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) top air quality official before announcing that he will step down this weekend under the cloud of a federal ethics investigation over possible conflicts of interest. His resignation follows conflicting statement he made to Congress about his industry connections, according to Politico.
<p>Mr. Wehrum worked as a lobbyist and lawyer for the oil, gas and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> industries before joining the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump administration</a>, but did not relinquish ties to his clients. The House Energy and Commerce Committee opened an inquiry into whether he improperly worked to reverse an enforcement action in order to help DTE Energy, a former client. Watchdog groups also said he crossed a line when he gave presentations to former clients and when he worked on policy that affected litigation in which his former firm, Hunton & Williams, was involved, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/climate/bill-wehrum-epa.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.<br></p><p>"William Wehrum was emblematic of the administration's struggles to remain ethical," said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/26/epas-top-air-policy-official-steps-down-amid-scrutiny-over-possible-ethics-violations/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cba7c608f210" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "While it's a good thing that Wehrum's potential ethics problems will no longer affect the agency, the tone is set at the top, and if the EPA is to clean up the mess started by Scott Pruitt, the Trump administration needs to get serious about policing its ethical failures."</p><p>In his short tenure in the EPA, which started in November 2017, Wehrum has proven himself a nimble deregulator. He was instrumental to shrinking the EPA's reach, rolling back Obama-era rules meant to lower greenhouse gas emissions, slowing fuel-efficiency requirements for cars and trucks, and rewriting the way the EPA calculates costs and benefits to favor the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> energy sector — essentially rewriting the way the agency measures the health consequences of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a>, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/26/epas-top-air-policy-official-steps-down-amid-scrutiny-over-possible-ethics-violations/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cba7c608f210" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. He was also the chief architect of the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which eased the path for more coal-fired power plants to open, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/climate/bill-wehrum-epa.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>"Mr. Wehrum oversaw the most relentless rollback of clean air, climate and health safeguards in E.P.A.'s history," said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/climate/bill-wehrum-epa.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "E.P.A. strengthened not a single meaningful air quality or climate safeguard during his tenure."</p><p>Environmental activists are pleased to see him leave.</p><p>"Wehrum did more damage to the Clean Air Act than any other person in the last 40 years," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/26/epa-bill-wehrum-1556621" target="_blank">Politico</a> reported. "His legacy will be more premature deaths, more hospital visits and more asthma attacks to our most vulnerable citizens."</p><p>Wehrum's ethical mishaps follow a pattern of behavior from senior Trump administration officials who have resigned while under investigation, including four Cabinet members — EPA Administrator <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt">Scott Pruitt</a>, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke">Ryan Zinke</a>, and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin — along with other senior staffers such as Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William "Brock" Long.</p><p>Also, the Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General is currently investigating Secretary David Bernhardt and six current or former top appointees for actions similar to Wehrum's — improper dealings with their former employers or clients on department-related business, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/26/epas-top-air-policy-official-steps-down-amid-scrutiny-over-possible-ethics-violations/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cba7c608f210" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>As for Wehrum's life after the EPA, one Senate Democrat who asked for an investigation into Wehrum predicted a profitable future with the fossil fuel industry.</p><p>"I can't wait to see where Bill Wehrum lands once he's out the door," said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in a statement, as reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/26/epas-top-air-policy-official-steps-down-amid-scrutiny-over-possible-ethics-violations/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cba7c608f210" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "What do you bet it's with one of the fossil fuel interests he has served so well as air chief, delivering one big handout after another?"</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Top-Down Contamination of the EPA || By: Jeff Turrentine <a href="https://t.co/hiaJ9raA1V">https://t.co/hiaJ9raA1V</a></p>— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) <a href="https://twitter.com/SafetyPinDaily/status/1136097838616776704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Ethics Investigations Opened into Actions of EPA Head Wheeler, Top DOI Officials
25 April 2019
Politics
Mark Wilson / Getty Images News
Ethics investigations have been opened into the conduct of senior Trump appointees at the nation's top environmental agencies.
The two investigations focus on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler and six high-ranking officials in the Department of Interior (DOI), The Hill reported Tuesday. Both of them involve the officials' former clients or employers.
"This is demonstrative of the failures at the very top of this administration to set an ethical tone," Campaign Legal Center Ethics Counsel Delaney Marsco told The Washington Post of the DOI investigation. "When people come to work for government, they're supposed to work on behalf of the public. It's a betrayal of the public trust when senior political appointees seem to give privileged access to their former employers or former clients."
<p>Here's a run-down of the two investigations.</p><h2>Andrew Wheeler</h2><p>The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating Wheeler for failing to disclose that he lobbied for Darling Ingredients within two years of assuming his post at the EPA, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/24/politics/house-oversight-investigation-epa/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported Wednesday</a>.</p><p>The Ethics in Government Act mandates that all officials must disclose the sources of any money over $5,000 earned in the two years before their appointment, but Wheeler failed to disclose his work on behalf of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" target="_self">chemical</a> company in 2015 and 2016 while working for Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting. The committee cited Faegre's quarterly disclosure forms as proof that Wheeler had not listed the earnings.</p>
<p>"These documents indicate that you may have improperly omitted Darling from your financial disclosure, and they raise concerns that you may have failed to identify other clients who paid for your service as a lobbyist during the period covered by your disclosure report," House Oversight chairman Elijah Cummings wrote in a letter to Wheeler informing him of the investigation.</p><p>Darling supplies ingredients for fertilizers, fuel and pet and livestock food, among other products, according to The Hill.</p><p>Wheeler also met with Darling in June 2018, while he was serving as deputy administrator at the EPA, according to CNN, but an agency lawyer said this did not violate ethics laws. The EPA did not comment on the investigation to the media and instead said it would respond through the "proper channels," according to CNN.</p>
<h2>The DOI Six</h2><p>Six officials at the DOI are being investigated by the department's Office of Inspector General over meetings with former employers or clients on department-related business, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.</p><p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> signed an executive order early in his term saying all appointees must recuse themselves from matters involving former clients for two years. But the Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to the DOI watchdog in February detailing how six officials had violated that pledge. The Office of Inspector General <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/document/letter-office-inspector-general-clc-investigation-interior-ethics-issues" target="_blank">wrote back</a> to the center April 18 to say an investigation was in process.</p><div id="28930" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5ZAB5T1568219117"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1120760303078334464" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Interior's IG has confirmed that it is investigating six Trump political appointees for ethics violations following… https://t.co/QdLxawo6P6</div> — Brendan Fischer (@Brendan Fischer)<a href="https://twitter.com/brendan_fischer/statuses/1120760303078334464">1556045053.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"The department takes ethics issues seriously," Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort told The Washington Post in an email.<br></p><p>The letter was sent three days after the Office of Inspector General announced it was opening an investigation into newly-confirmed Interior Secretary <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/david-bernhardt" target="_self">David Bernhardt</a> after receiving various complaints about his potential conflicts of interest, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/15/interiors-watchdog-opens-an-ethics-probe-into-bernhardt-four-days-after-his-senate-confirmation/?utm_term=.4598f1e137c8" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported April 15</a>. Bernhardt replaced <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self">Ryan Zinke</a>, who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-resigns-2623640472.html" target="_self">resigned</a> as Interior Secretary after an ethics investigation into his conduct was passed on to the Justice Department.</p>
Federal law requires officials to disclose any client over the past two years that paid them more than $5,000 ...Andrew Wheeler apparently failed to disclose a former lobbying client that paid him more than $5,000https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/440299-epa-administrator-failed-to-disclose-former-lobbying-client …
<p>Here is a brief outline of officials implicated in the most recent investigation, as summarized in <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ethics-investigation-interior-department_n_5cbf32e5e4b0f7a84a759984?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbg&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALOPI_bMZEKXLvmbyrkz104m7wafK7jd3E8lhCu6PJbAbUlPhSAd3cC_bdeM8WrHgS_85EAeXA4rG2HS9uO15eVgC6kyRhn-jEAV1GGwR6IdZv2_cv_aJyhzZnHyXhFy3jdOhLLS71UEIdw4hMu2HTEE1HNAt54q_jWoxtvZDBVZ" target="_blank">The Huffington Post</a>.</p><ol><li>White House liaison Lori Mashburn, who attended two private events hosted by her former employer and right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation</li><li>Senior Deputy Director for Intergovernmental and External Affairs. Ben Cassidy, who participated in agency meetings on issues he had lobbied the department about on behalf of the National Rifle Association, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trophy-hunting" target="_self">trophy hunting</a> and the designation of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-monuments" target="_self">national monuments</a></li><li>Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech, who met with his former employers, a Koch-link think tank called the Texas Public Policy Foundation, about issues over which the foundation was suing DOI</li><li>Former Energy Counselor to Zinke Vincent DeVito, who attended a meeting with a former energy client</li><li>Deputy Director of Interior's Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs Timothy Williams, who participated in a video call with his former employer, who is vice president of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity</li><li>Director of Interior's External Affairs Office Todd Wynn, who had a phone call with a committee member of the oil-funded Council of State Governments, of which he had also been a committee member before taking the DOI job</li></ol><p>"An agency's ethical culture depends on ethical leadership. Former Secretary Ryan Zinke and Secretary David Bernhardt, now under investigation himself for ethics violations, have failed to demonstrate adequate ethical behavior at the top of Interior," Matsco said in a statement reported by The Huffington Post. "We hope this investigation will answer whether these officials are working on behalf of the American people or on behalf of the interests that used to pay their salary."</p><div id="c3b31" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UI9LZD1568219117"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1121489365081968642" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Federal law requires officials to disclose any client over the past two years that paid them more than $5,000 ...A… https://t.co/eyGYPLO60e</div> — Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics)<a href="https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/statuses/1121489365081968642">1556218875.0</a></blockquote></div>From Your Site Articles
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Maria Gunnoe Flight, courtesy of southwings.org
By Julia Conley
Green groups on Saturday celebrated the latest federal ruling aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from rolling back environmental regulations that were put in place by his predecessor.
<p>Judge Brian Morris <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/climate/court-trump-coal-mining-setback.html" target="_blank">issued a ruling</a> late Friday stating that the Interior Department broke federal law when it lifted former President Barack Obama's moratorium on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> mining in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a>.</p>
<p>Former Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self">Ryan Zinke</a>, who resigned last December due to multiple ethics scandals, did not order adequate studies of the environmental impact of coal, Morris said. The Trump administration had claimed the plan was "a mere policy shift" in order to avoid having to order such reviews.</p><p>Morris refuted this claim, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/judge-resumption-of-us-coal-sales-by-trump-needs-review/2019/04/19/319ea436-6316-11e9-bf24-db4b9fb62aa2_story.html?utm_term=.62cf330215ce" target="_blank">saying</a> Trump had initiated a "major federal action" without taking the necessary precautions required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970.</p><p>The judge said he would hand down another ruling in the coming months on whether to reinstate Obama's 2016 moratorium.</p><p>"This is a victory for communities whose land, water, and way of life is threatened by new coal mining," said Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice, who argued the case on behalf of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and several climate action groups. "It's time we put their health and safety ahead of coal industry interests."</p>
<div id="023a6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="I8T64H1576663674"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1119654448324857858" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">ICYMI: Major victory last night! This is a win for our climate, our health, and our public lands. https://t.co/53ncy5nQBn</div> — Earthjustice (@Earthjustice)<a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/statuses/1119654448324857858">1555781397.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="36158" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="73GKVG1576663674"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1119620868953518080" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The courts just declared Trump’s coal mining on public lands illegal! Keep up the fight!
https://t.co/y3Cz0JGjUH</div> — Jamie Henn (@Jamie Henn)<a href="https://twitter.com/Agent350/statuses/1119620868953518080">1555773391.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The decision is just the latest defeat of Trump's efforts to roll back his predecessor's attempts to curb emissions from the coal industry and other fossil fuel businesses, ignoring <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/9/14/17853884/utilities-renewable-energy-100-percent-public-opinion" target="_blank">public opinion</a> and scientists who agree that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> extraction is contributing to the rapid <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">warming</a> of the planet.</p><p>About 40 rulings have now denied Trump the authority to follow through on his key energy plans, including his plan to<a href="https://westernlaw.org/landmark-climate-victory-federal-court-rejects-sale-public-lands-fracking/" target="_blank"> sell fracking leases</a> on public lands and his <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/30/huge-victory-our-oceans-trump-effort-open-arctic-oil-and-gas-drilling-ruled-illegal" target="_blank">lifting</a> of Obama's ban on oil and gas extraction in the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic" target="_self">Arctic</a> and Atlantic Oceans.</p><p>"The court held clearly that the Trump administration needs to rationally consider the consequences of its decision," said Harbine in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/judge-resumption-of-us-coal-sales-by-trump-needs-review/2019/04/19/319ea436-6316-11e9-bf24-db4b9fb62aa2_story.html?utm_term=.62cf330215ce" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Those include dire impacts to clean water, public health and our climate."</p>
<div id="d7f06" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="R2FO7L1576663674"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="978666970601095173" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Court Halts Illegal Coal Leasing in Powder River Basin https://t.co/Jl9l0cUuGs @NRDC @UCSUSA @greenpeaceusa… https://t.co/PDMtEdjZjc</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/978666970601095173">1522167363.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/20/ruling-coal-mining-federal-judge-issues-latest-rebuke-trumps-attack-public-lands?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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David Bernhardt arrives before testifying during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing on March 28, 2019 in Washington, DC. Zach Gibson / Getty Images
The Senate voted to confirm former oil-and-gas lobbyist David Bernhardt as Secretary of the Interior Thursday, despite calls from Democrats and government watchdogs to investigate his past conduct, The New York Times reported.
<p>The confirmation vote was 56-to-41, making Bernhardt—who has so many conflicts of interests he has to write them on an index card to make sure he doesn't deal with former clients—the least popular Interior Secretary in 40 years, the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/" target="_blank">Center for American Progress</a> (CAP) told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/11/senate-confirms-former-oil-gas-lobbyist-david-bernhardt-secretary-interior/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.931df4c2cd3d" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. The second least popular was <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self">Ryan Zinke</a>, President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>'s first pick to lead the Department of Interior (DOI), who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-resigns-2623640472.html" target="_self">resigned last year</a> amidst a series of ethics investigations. A CAP analysis showed that Bernhardt bested his former boss in another respect: he has the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/03/15/467373/david-bernhardt-president-trumps-conflicted-cabinet-nominee/" target="_blank">most conflicts of interests</a> of all 31 Trump cabinet-level nominees.</p><p>"It still amazes me," New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said of Bernhardt's nomination, as The New York Times reported. "Donald Trump campaigns on cleaning up the swamp and he does exactly the opposite when in office. An oil and gas lobbyist as head of the Department of Interior? My God. That's an example of the swampiness of Washington if there ever was one. And when are Donald Trump's supporters going to understand this?"</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/who-is-david-bernhardt-2619898630.html" target="_self">Bernhardt worked for the DOI under</a> President George W. Bush, contributing to efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. He then spent seven years as a lobbyist with several <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> clients including Halliburton; another of his clients was the powerful California utility Westlands Water District. Trump nominated him to serve as deputy secretary at DOI in April 2017, he was confirmed in July of that year and he has been acting as interior secretary since Zinke's resignation in December of 2018.</p>
<p>Democratic lawmakers and watchdogs have called for investigations into three of Bernhardt's reported actions, according to The New York Times.<br></p><ol><li>While at Interior, he reportedly acted to weaken <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> protections for a California fish, an act that would benefit Westlands Water District.</li><li>He continued to lobby on behalf of Westlands Water District up through the month of his April 2017 nomination, despite the fact that he had told the federal government he was no longer lobbying at that time, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/climate/david-bernhardt-interior-lobbying.html?module=inline" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</li><li>He <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-interior-pesticides-endangered-species-2632923847.html" target="_self">blocked an about-to-be-released report</a> detailing the risks posed by pesticides to more than 1,000 endangered species.</li></ol><p>Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said he was shocked by that last revelation, reported in March. Shortly before, Bernhardt had come to Wyden's office and promised to abide by ethical standards.</p><p>"Why would you come to my office and lie?" Wyden asked Bernhardt during his confirmation hearing, The Washington Post reported.</p><p>Three Democratic Senators broke ranks with their colleagues to approve Bernhardt's confirmation: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Krysten Sinema of Arizona and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.</p><p>Heinrich said that, since one-third of land in New Mexico is owned by DOI, it was important for the state to have a confirmed head of the agency, The New York Times reported.</p><p>"I need to be able to pick up the phone and talk to the Secretary of Interior on a regular basis. I'm not going to be able to get the Interior Secretary I wanted. We didn't win in 2016," he said, according to The New York Times. "But in New Mexico, I'm going to put my state and protection of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> in my state first."</p><p>Heinrich had been the target of a campaign by the <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/" target="_blank">Western Values Project</a> urging him to change his mind.</p>
<div id="d5032" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="D7SGBE1576663802"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1115643449980534784" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Watch and share new ad urging Sen. @MartinHeinrich to vote against Trump’s Interior Secretary nominee @DOIDepSec Da… https://t.co/chq99zICGB</div> — Western Values Project (@Western Values Project)<a href="https://twitter.com/Western_Values/statuses/1115643449980534784">1554825100.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Rushing to move forward with Bernhardt's nomination without clarification on his numerous ethical lapses and investigative requests is not only a disservice to the American people, but it also means that Interior will again be led by a secretary shrouded in scandal," Western Values Project Executive Director Chris Saeger said in a <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/senate-confirms-trumps-most-conflict-ridden-cabinet-nominee-to-manage-americas-public-lands/" target="_blank">statement</a> on Bernhardt's confirmation. "Make no mistake: a vote to confirm David Bernhardt for Interior Secretary was a vote against our American birthright and the viability of our public lands for future generations."<br></p><p>The group noted that Bernhardt already had a poor record on public lands. He has been instrumental in the push to open millions of acres of public lands to oil and gas development and oversaw the decision to keep <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">national parks</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-parks-conservation-trump-shutdown-2627304417.html" target="_self">open but understaffed</a> during the government shutdown.</p>
<div id="22d97" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XX3FBC1576663803"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1110673148708446208" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Oil Execs Brag About Having ‘Direct Access’ to Trump’s Pick for Interior Secretary https://t.co/5s2wWE7TXr</div> — DeSmogBlog (@DeSmogBlog)<a href="https://twitter.com/DeSmogBlog/statuses/1110673148708446208">1553640088.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Senate Urged to Reject 'Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest' David Bernhardt to Run Interior
28 March 2019
Politics
A demonstrator wears a Creature from the Black Lagoon mask as David Bernhardt, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Interior Secretary, testifies during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing on March 28 in Washington, DC. Zach Gibson / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Environmental activists are calling on senators to reject the nomination of former fossil fuel lobbyist David Bernhardt to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior.
<p>The calls come ahead of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Thursday morning <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=35F3BA18-1860-4227-8C1B-A7C5891D14E1" target="_blank">hearing</a> to consider his nomination.</p>
<p>"David Bernhardt is a walking, <a href="http://www.davidbernhardt.org/" target="_blank">talking conflict of interest</a>," said Alissa Weinman, a senior organizer for the nonprofit Corporate Accountability. "Between his Big Polluter ties and corporate lobbying connections, it's clear Bernhardt will continue to serve the corporate interests to whom he owes his career, not the people or our public lands."</p><p>Bernhardt has been <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/25/walking-conflict-interest-fossil-fuel-industry-lobbyist-now-second-command-interior" target="_blank">under fire</a> for his fossil fuel past since the Senate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/25/walking-conflict-interest-fossil-fuel-industry-lobbyist-now-second-command-interior" target="_blank">confirmed</a> him as the agency's deputy administrator in July of 2017. He currently serves as the department's acting administrator, a position he has held since <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/19/rumors-mount-zinkes-days-are-numbered-warnings-about-man-behind-curtain-who-could" target="_blank">scandal-ridden</a> Ryan Zinke <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/15/facing-17-ethics-investigations-and-subpoena-house-dems-ryan-zinke-set-resign-end" target="_blank">resigned</a> in December. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/04/promoting-another-puppet-corporate-polluters-trump-picks-former-oil-lobbyist-head" target="_blank">nominated</a> Bernhardt to the permanent post last month.</p><p>"David Bernhardt heading the Interior Department would be a dream come true for fossil fuel companies, but a nightmare for the American people," warned Greenpeace USA climate and energy campaign director Janet Redman.</p><p>Noting that "people who care about clean air, safe water, and a healthy climate have been sounding the alarm about Bernhardt's history" for the past two years, Redman charged that "he's done nothing since but prove he's not fit for this job."</p><p>A coalition of more than 160 conservation groups, including Greenpeace USA, <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/david-bernhardt-03-26-2019.php" target="_blank">sent</a> a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/pdfs/Ltr-Oppose-Bernhardt-Int-Secretary-3-26-19.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a> to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), on Tuesday imploring them to oppose Bernhardt's nomination:</p><blockquote>In his 18 months serving as the Interior Department's deputy secretary, Mr. Bernhardt has been at the center of a culture of corruption that has been the Interior Department's hallmark under the Trump administration. He consistently puts private profit above the public interest, crafting policies to benefit past clients and rolling back longstanding rules to protect habitat, imperiled species, and public health. <br><br>These actions come straight from the fossil fuel and mining industry's wishlist, including some corporations for which Bernhardt used to work as a lobbyist and lawyer.</blockquote><p>The letter outlines the ways in which Bernhardt has helped facilitate a siege on science, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/23/leaked-audio-exposes-oil-gas-execs-laughing-joy-over-cozy-access-trump-officials" target="_blank">put fossil fuels first</a>, imperil wildlife, promote development in the Arctic Refuge, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/13/native-leaders-tell-congress-how-trump-trampled-spiritually-occupied-landscape-carve" target="_blank">harm</a> national parks and monuments, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/31/under-cover-shutdown-trump-admin-quietly-moves-deprive-american-people-their-right" target="_blank">block</a> transparency and oversight by Congress and the public.</p><p>Campaigners at various groups that signed on to the letter spoke out about Bernhardt's record and urged senators to reject him.</p>
<p>Nicole Ghio of Friends of the Earth denounced Bernhardt as "a fossil fuel industry hack" while Leda Huta of the Endangered Species Coalition called him "a prime example of the culture of special-interest, big-money, influence peddling surrounding this administration."</p><p>"His sorry record in protecting America's natural resources, wildlife, and waters makes Bernhardt uniquely unfit for the job," said John Bowman, managing director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council.</p><p>Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity, concluded that "Bernhardt has already shown us that he's the most dangerous person to be in charge of our public lands and endangered species."</p><p>Bernhardt has so many potential conflicts of interest due to his history as a lobbyist that, as the Washington Post revealed last year, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/19/rumors-mount-zinkes-days-are-numbered-warnings-about-man-behind-curtain-who-could" target="_blank">he carries around a pocket-sized</a> card listing all of them.</p><p>Public Citizen, another signatory of the letter, printed out a poster-sized version of the card and delivered it to senators voting on his confirmation. As the watchdog group put it, "An oil shill has no business overseeing our natural resources."</p>
<div id="58fc4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="RV4EQG1568219078"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1110947916758298625" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">DOI nominee David Bernhardt has so many conflicts of interest he literally carries a card to keep track of them all… https://t.co/KMalCWc3F4</div> — Public Citizen (@Public Citizen)<a href="https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/statuses/1110947916758298625">1553705598.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/senate-urged-reject-walking-talking-conflict-interest-david-bernhardt-run-interior" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>
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Ryan Zinke at Fort Peck, Montana in June of 2018. U.S. Department of the Interior
The Justice Department is looking into whether former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to investigators at the Department of Interior, The Washington Post reports. Anonymous sources tell the Post that investigators at the Interior's inspector general's office raised the issue with the DOJ after suspecting Zinke may have lied during questioning over his real estate deals in Montana and his review of a Native American casino project in Connecticut.
<p>The Justice Department has not yet decided whether Zinke should face legal action, the Post reports. Zinke, who left the agency Wednesday following a series of high-profile scandals, denied the allegations to the Associated Press, blaming <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> groups for creating a "playbook" designed to use "frivolous allegations, sources, rumors, innuendo and false accusations" to boot him and other Cabinet members from office.</p><p>As reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-investigating-whether-zinke-lied-to-inspector-general/2019/01/03/6c9dea06-0eac-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.30c84ba9ce04" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>:</p><blockquote>"Zinke, who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-resigns-2623640472.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com">submitted his resignation last month</a>, had faced intense pressure to step down because of the probes into his conduct, though President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> had soured on him for other reasons, too, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. In particular, this person said, Trump was upset Zinke would not challenge Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in last year's election and over how Zinke handled the administration's plan to expand <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">offshore drilling</a>.</blockquote><blockquote>Last January, Zinke flew to Florida and, without consulting the White House, announced in a news conference with then-Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that Interior would exempt the state from offshore drilling. The move raised ethics questions, along with an outcry from other governors whose coastal states were affected by the plan."<br></blockquote><p>The <a href="https://apnews.com/88cbce6d7b0a497f951ff2e9624b6c26" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> reported that Zinke blamed conservation groups such as <a href="http://mtvoters.org" target="_blank">Montana Conservation Voters</a> and <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/" target="_blank">Western Values Project</a> for making it "impossible for Zinke and other Trump Cabinet members to serve."</p><blockquote>"A representative of Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Whitney Tawney, noted that the group had endorsed Zinke when he was a state lawmaker but expected more out of him in terms of protecting natural resources.</blockquote><blockquote>'The accusation that groups like Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund made his job impossible proves once again that he's continuing to point fingers at anyone he can instead of accepting responsibility for his own failures,' Tawney said."</blockquote>
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</p><div id="b82ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="L63O1H1576663732"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1080952656510832646" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Zinke Leaves #Interior to His Pro-Polluter, Anti-Environment Deputy https://t.co/KRdLDQausl @Interior @greenpeaceusa @Earthjustice</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1080952656510832646">1546554171.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-investigating-whether-zinke-lied-to-inspector-general/2019/01/03/6c9dea06-0eac-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.30c84ba9ce04" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/88cbce6d7b0a497f951ff2e9624b6c26" target="_blank">AP</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt at a meeting regarding the Colorado River on Sept. 27, 2017. Bureau of Reclamation
By Emilie Karrick Surrusco
As 2019 begins, it's out with the old and in with the same old, same old. Scandal-ridden Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released a brief farewell letter Wednesday in red marker. With Zinke's successor not yet named, David Bernhardt becomes acting secretary. The move swaps out one political insider closely aligned with deep-pocketed special interests for another.
Bernhardt, who became deputy secretary of the Department of Interior in August 2017, is "a walking conflict of interest" who served as the Interior Department's top lawyer under George W. Bush—and went on to a lucrative career as a legal adviser for timber companies, mining companies and oil and gas interests. Since returning to the Interior Department under Trump, he has quietly implemented policy decisions that benefit his former corporate polluter clients.
<p>"As Deputy Secretary and now as acting Secretary, David Bernhardt never intended to adhere to basic standards of ethics and accountability. Instead, he is hell-bent on continuing Zinke's work of dismantling bedrock environmental protections and selling off our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a> to the highest bidder," said <a href="https://earthjustice.org/about/staff/martin-hayden" target="_blank">Martin Hayden</a>, <a href="https://earthjustice.org" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a> VP of policy and legislation. "This is business as usual for the Trump administration and Earthjustice will continue to fight them every step of the way."</p><p>The Interior Department is currently facing litigation from <a href="https://foe.org/" target="_blank">Friends of the Earth</a>, <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org" target="_blank">Western Values Project</a>, and others for failing to release ethics documents under the Freedom of Information Act that could help explain why Bernhardt's former lobbying clients have received regulatory and policy decisions in their favor.<br></p><p>"It is noteworthy that many of the Deputy Secretary's former clients began receiving sudden and dramatic windfalls only months after his swearing in," the complaint reads. "By failing to respond to FOIA requests concerning Deputy Secretary Bernhardt, DOI has violated the law."</p><p>One month after Bernhardt took over as the No. 2 at Interior, the Bureau of the Land Management announced a change that made it easier for Cadiz Inc. to go forward with a controversial <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water">water</a> project. Cadiz, a former client of Bernhardt's at the lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, has been trying for decades to push <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-november/we-re-fighting-a-corporate-scheme-to-sell-the-mojave-desert-s-water" target="_blank">a dubious scheme</a> to sell possibly contaminated water from beneath the Mojave Desert in southern California. The plan would not only imperil the desert's fragile ecosystem, but also would endanger people who drink the water, which is <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-brooks-cadiz-project-water-mojave-desert-20170521-story.html" target="_blank">contaminated</a> with hexavalent chromium, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chromium-water-cancer/" target="_blank">a cancer-causing chemical</a>.</p><p>Now, thanks to the BLM's reversal of an Obama administration decision, Cadiz has cleared one legal hurdle that would allow them to build a pipeline to carry the water through the Mojave Trails National Monument to the Los Angeles area. </p><p>Bernhardt's old lobbying firm has already earned 200,000 shares of Cadiz stock for their involvement with the company, and stands to earn 200,000 more if the project is completed.</p><p>Bernhardt was also a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-trump-bernhardt-20170517-story.html" target="_blank">lobbyist for</a> the Westlands Water District, a politically influential irrigation agency that has long battled the federal government on behalf of big <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agribusiness">agribusinesses</a> in California's arid western Central Valley. Westlands has paid Bernhardt's firm <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000058573&year=2016" target="_blank">$1.27 million in lobbying fees</a> since 2011. Its demands for increased water flows to farms <a href="http://earthjustice.org/features/the-california-drought" target="_blank">jeopardize endangered species</a> in the ecologically compromised San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, particularly in times of drought.</p><p>In October, President Trump signed a memorandum to review water regulations and speed up review of the rules about how water is pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, in order to facilitate more water allotments for Westlands' large commercial farmers.</p><p>"What's happened there is disgraceful," Trump said of California's water situation, <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article220320230.html" target="_blank">according to the Sacramento Bee</a>. "They've taken it away. There's so much water, they don't know what to do with it, they send it out to sea ... They don't let the water come down into the Valley and into the areas where they need the water."</p><p>Westlands also is responsible for <a href="https://elr.info/sites/default/files/articles/15.10386.htm" target="_blank">an environmental disaster</a> in the early 1980s, when a half-finished irrigation canal built by the federal government carried tainted Westlands water directly into a wildlife refuge. Migratory birds were killed or hatched with birth defects caused by naturally occurring selenium and heavy metals in the water. A long-running legal battle over the disaster finally culminated in <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article132508639.html" target="_blank">a proposed settlement</a> between the Interior Department and Westlands in 2015, which put the onus on Westlands to deal with the aftermath of the pollution while forgiving its roughly $375 million debt to the government. Bernhardt represented Westlands in the negotiation of the settlement, which is yet to be finalized. A <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1769?q=%7B%22search%22:%5B%22hr1769%22%5D%7D&r=1" target="_blank">bill introduced</a> in the House of Representatives last year would require the Interior Department to implement the proposed settlement.</p><p>Another former client, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, benefited when Bernhardt oversaw proposed revisions to agreements for the management of sage grouse habitat across 10 Western states. The revisions eliminate protections for the imperiled bird in favor of petroleum development. And while the sage grouse is not listed as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered</a>, it has been protected by the Endangered Species Act, a law that Bernhardt has been dead set against since his time as the Interior Department's solicitor general in the early 2000s. </p><p>Bernhardt has continued his campaign against the Endangered Species Act since returning to the Interior Department, with proposals to allow regulators to consider the economic impacts in decisions about listing particular species, rather than just looking at available science. In a Washington Post op-ed authored by Bernhardt, he calls for "creative, incentive-based conservation" to bring "our government's implementation of the Endangered Species Act into the 21st century."</p><p>In a similar vein, Bernhardt has continued efforts to open the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic">Arctic</a> National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling. During his career as a lobbyist, Bernhardt represented the state of Alaska in controversial litigation that aimed to open the Arctic Refuge to development. Since assuming his position as deputy secretary, Bernhardt has described environmental review of drilling in America's largest wildlife refuge as "just nuts" and has led efforts to rush legally-required analysis of drilling in this pristine area. To this end, Bernhardt introduced a policy aimed at curtailing the National Environmental Policy Act—which dictates that all NEPA work must be completed within one year and be limited to 150 pages.</p><p>With his pro-polluter, anti-environment track record, Bernhardt is the wrong person to lead the federal department charged with natural resource conservation. We will work with our allies to continue to hold the Trump administration accountable in the courts.</p>
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</p><div id="f4fb5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5NFYLL1576661823"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1074660755314597888" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Ryan Zinke, ‘Worst Interior Secretary in History,’ Resigns https://t.co/HpFY6O4qre #Publiclands #Ryanzinke #Politics https://t.co/bHbvDZSI6a</div> — Renewable Search (@Renewable Search)<a href="https://twitter.com/RenewableSearch/statuses/1074660755314597888">1545054064.0</a></blockquote></div>
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U.S. Offshore Wind Auction Breaks Record With $405 Million in New Leases
18 December 2018
Renewable Energy
Turbines being built off of Block Island, Rhode Island in 2016 to make the nation's first offshore wind farm. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The U.S. government just smashed its own records when an auction on Friday to lease thousands of acres off the Massachusetts coast for offshore wind development brought in a whopping $405.1 million, signaling that this particular renewable energy sector is finally taking off at high speeds, Utility Drive reported.
<p>If fully developed, the leased area could generate 4.1 gigawatts of commercial energy, enough to power 1.5 million homes, the Department of Interior (DOI) said in a <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/bidding-bonanza-trump-administration-smashes-record-offshore-wind-auction-405-million" target="_blank">press release</a>. The auction was run by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the DOI. Even former Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self">Ryan Zinke</a>, whose energy policies have generally favored <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>, expressed excitement in one of his last statements <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-resigns-2623640472.html" target="_self">before resigning Saturday</a>.</p><p>"To anyone who doubted that our ambitious vision for energy dominance would not include renewables, today we put that rumor to rest," Zinke said in the press release. "With bold leadership, faster, streamlined environmental reviews, and a lot of hard work with our states and fishermen, we've given the wind industry the confidence to think and bid big."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="f5715" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="GL9B491576663302"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073730034110750720" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BIDDING BONANZA! Trump Administration Smashes Record for #OffshoreWind Auction with $405 Million in Winning Bids -… https://t.co/HVTBtkEEfC</div> — BOEM (@BOEM)<a href="https://twitter.com/BOEM_DOI/statuses/1073730034110750720">1544832163.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>In addition to the final price tag, Friday's auction broke several other records that indicate how far the U.S. offshore wind industry has come in a few years, the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/?_ga=2.30017791.1943015827.1545125212-743300417.1545125212#.XBjFsmj7R6w" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> pointed out in a <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/derrick-jackson/auction-sets-america-on-course-for-offshore-wind" target="_blank">blog post</a>. Each of the three parcels for sale sold for around $135 million, more than three times the previous record-holding $42 million that Equinor paid for 79,350 acres off the coast of Long Island last year. Compared to the Long Island auction, Friday's bidding also nearly doubled the record for the number of companies participating, with 11 vying for the parcels over 32 rounds. Parcels went for more than $1,000 an acre, while Equinor had paid only $535 an acre a year ago.</p><p>The winners were Equinor, Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind, which is part of a collaboration including oil giant Shell. But the message the auction sent to the industry made even the losers feel like winners. At least that was the case for Bill White, North American offshore wind director for the German company EnBW. </p><p>"I remember almost literally begging companies to bid a few years ago," White told the Union of Concerned Scientists. "I don't think anybody would have predicted that this many companies, including oil and gas companies and utilities would be bidding. And none too soon with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a> being far worse than ever."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTAxMTgzNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDI4NDUzMH0.oXNaR9YtIpMsuSmR-a_pZAgtmoBr7XctXx3FKjuk1i0/img.jpg?width=980" id="8b022" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e20a52e4138ac87a7d187d51d738168" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">The parcels leased on Friday to Equinor, in pink, Mayflower, in purple and Vineyard, in green.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">BOEM</small></p><p>Indeed, an attempt to auction off the same 390,000 acres off of Martha's Vineyard in 2015 got no bids. The U.S. has lagged about 20 years behind Europe in developing offshore wind power, but infrastructure investments in Massachusetts and legislative commitments to get more energy from offshore wind power in several Northeast states are turning the region into a hub of offshore wind development.<br></p><p>"I'm so proud to see this market come of age," White said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b8ba4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="V8SATQ1576663302"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="972087227328139264" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Ryan Zinke Blames Wind Turbines for Contributing to Global Warming https://t.co/P8VotMcboJ @ewea @DeepwaterWind</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/972087227328139264">1520598630.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, shown here arriving in Washington, DC for the funeral of former President George H. W. Bush, resigned Saturday. Shawn Thew / Getty Images
Embattled Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke resigned Saturday, a month-and-a-half after an investigation into a potential conflict of interest involving oil-giant Halliburton was referred to the Justice Department, The Washington Post reported.
<p>Zinke has been a controversial figure during his time at the Department of Interior (DOI), both for his ethically questionable use of his office and for his commitment to opening up <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> and waters to oil and gas drilling. </p><p>"Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation," President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> tweeted, announcing the resignation Saturday.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="49b2a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UOZP4S1576664283"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073944491588022272" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served… https://t.co/kyc3gVttUs</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1073944491588022272">1544883294.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>However, officials close to the situation told The Washington Post that Zinke had been given until the end of the year to either resign or be fired. Two officials further said Zinke's fall from grace occurred when the Halliburton investigation was passed on to the Justice Department. Zinke had met with Halliburton Chairman David Lesar while in office to discuss a real estate deal in Zinke's hometown that is owned by Lesar's son and could raise the value of nearby property belonging to a foundation started by Zinke and his wife. As a major energy producer, Halliburton is regulated by the DOI.<br></p><p>"I love working for the President and am incredibly proud of all the good work we've accomplished together. However, after 30 years of public service, I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations," Zinke tweeted.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="6869f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="IQY9SL1576664283"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1074014810830974977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I love working for the President and am incredibly proud of all the good work we’ve accomplished together. However,… https://t.co/xYUPsGOi9Y</div> — Secretary Ryan Zinke (@Secretary Ryan Zinke)<a href="https://twitter.com/SecretaryZinke/statuses/1074014810830974977">1544900059.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>Environmental groups, who have clashed with Zinke over his decisions to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/zinke-shrink-bears-ears-2440855870.html" target="_self">shrink national monuments</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/zinke-offshore-oil-drilling-2522437008.html" target="_self">expand offshore drilling</a>, among other issues, celebrated his departure, while also sounding the alarm about his likely replacement, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/who-is-david-bernhardt-2619898630.html" target="_self">Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt</a>. Bernhardt has worked as a lobbyist for oil and gas companies including Halliburton, and is likely to continue Zinke's agenda with fewer errors and obvious ethical missteps.<br></p><p>In this way he resembles <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" target="_self">Andrew Wheeler</a>, the former <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> lobbyist who was seen as a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wheeler-pruitt-epa-2584262490.html" target="_self">"smarter" threat</a> when he took over at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>) after Trump's first pick for administrator, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" target="_self">Scott Pruitt</a>, was also forced to resign after a buildup of ethics scandals. </p><p>"Zinke will go down as the worst Interior secretary in history," <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> Executive Director Kierán Suckling said in a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/ryan-zinke-12-15-2018.php" target="_blank">press release</a>. "His slash-and-burn approach was absolutely destructive for public lands and wildlife. Allowing David Bernhardt to continue to call the shots will still be just as ugly. Different people, same appetite for greed and profit."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="6a54b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SPIB6B1576664283"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073968169629478912" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Kieran Suckling, executive director at @centerforbiodiv, responds to the news of Zinke's resignation. https://t.co/IOc0mpbD0G</div> — Center for Bio Div (@Center for Bio Div)<a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/statuses/1073968169629478912">1544888939.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>Bernhardt's ascension means the top two environmental agencies in the U.S. will now both be headed by former industry lobbyists, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/16/david-bernhardt-ryan-zinke-lobbyist-interior-department" target="_blank">The Guardian pointed out</a>.<br></p>Bernhardt took an ethics pledge saying he would wait until 2019 to have certain dealings with former clients, but the policies he has worked on—including a push to weaken how the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species-act" target="_self">Endangered Species Act</a> is enforced—have still furthered their overall agendas. "It's not so much who has he helped. It's who hasn't he helped in industry so far," Bobby McEnaney of the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> told The Guardian. "The notion that he could extricate himself from benefiting his former clients is impossible."
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The greater sage grouse is the largest grouse species in North America. Danita Delimont / Gallo Images / Getty Images
The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management published proposals on Thursday designed to roll back critical measures that protect the imperiled greater sage grouse on public lands in order to boost fossil fuel development and mining in the American West.
The spectacular bird once numbered 16 million and roamed across 13 Western U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. But rampant oil and gas development and other factors have cut its habitat in half. Its population has significantly plunged to an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 individuals across 11 western states and southern Alberta.
<p>
In 2015, the charismatic bird saw a glimmer of hope with the
<a href="https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=F5B7455D-0824-997C-47667F8ABBFFBA86" target="_blank">Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan</a>, which then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called a "<a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/historic-conservation-campaign-protects-greater-sage-grouse" target="_blank">truly historic moment</a>—one that represents extraordinary collaboration across the American West." A remarkable coalition of scientists, ranchers, environmental groups, extractive industries, federal agencies and state and local governments worked together to create a management plan for the keystone species.
</p><p>
As the
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/climate/trump-sage-grouse-oil.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a> explained, that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/business/us-to-limit-petroleum-drilling-on-habitat-of-greater-sage-grouse.html?module=inline" target="_blank" title="">Obama-era effort</a> to protect the sage grouse set out to ban or sharply reduce drilling in 10.7 million acres of its habitat.
</p><p>
<span></span>But the Trump administration's plan would effectively limit the grouse's protected habitat to a mere 1.8 million acres, "essentially opening up nine million acres of land to drilling, mining and other development," the paper said.
</p><p>Interior Secretary
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sage-grouse-protection-2493751218.html">Ryan Zinke</a> started the process last year when he signed a secretarial order to overhaul the Obama administration plan.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d83aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0IKP0W1576683780"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="916430456425459713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Much to Grouse About: Interior Department Calls for Changes That Could Threaten Sage Grouse Protection https://t.co/qy31MMPwkb @foe_us</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/916430456425459713">1507329021.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt defended Thursday's move. "I completely believe that these plans are leaning forward on the conservation of sage grouse," Bernhardt told
<a href="https://apnews.com/abaee2a70c394ab5afc449a1489a2fd6" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.
</p><p>
<span></span>"Do they do it in exactly the same way? No. We made some change in the plans and got rid of some things that are simply not necessary," he added.
</p><p>
Conservation groups blasted the Trump administration's proposal.
<a href="https://www.audubon.org/" target="_blank">The Audubon Society</a> pointed out that more than 40 thousand Americans have urged Secretary Zinke to honor the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse conservation agreement.
</p><p>
"Out West we know a deal is a deal. To have plans that took years of work, backed by good science and strong public support, brought into question is disheartening, a waste of tax-payers money and will threaten our public lands," Brian Rutledge, director of Audubon's Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative, said in a
<a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/audubon-warns-interiors-industry-friendly-plans-put-sage-grouse-risk" target="_blank">press release</a>.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="1cc5d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6NIJKP1576683780"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1070759091528704000" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump is about to #frack 9 million more acres out west. This is your public land, it belongs to every American. Tru… https://t.co/w2ww72JGLl</div> — Josh Fox (@Josh Fox)<a href="https://twitter.com/joshfoxfilm/statuses/1070759091528704000">1544123835.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
The <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> said it's not just the sage grouse at risk, but also hundreds of other sagebrush-dependent wildlife species.
</p><p>
"These plans show that Zinke will stop at nothing to make it easier for polluting industries to mine and
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking/">frack</a> every last acre of the West," Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release emailed to EcoWatch. "This is a huge step backward for greater sage grouse and for hundreds of other species that depend on unspoiled public land."
</p><p>
Bobby McEnaney, senior director for the Western Renewable Energy Project at the
<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank"> Natural Resources Defense Council</a> had similar sentiments.
</p><p>
"It's hard to pretend at this point that Zinke is a steward of America's public lands: he acts more like a pillager," McEnaney said in an
<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nrdc/zinke-plans-weaken-landmark-western-sage-grouse-conservation-plan" target="_blank">online statement</a>. "This rolls back a conservation plan that was carefully crafted by states, ranchers, conservationists and public officials to protect this iconic western bird and the unique sagebrush landscape it inhabits. Zinke's move to unravel it is his single largest land use decision to date. It has no basis in science—it's a bald-faced giveaway to the oil and gas industry."
</p>
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A man holds up a sign in protest during a Utah visit by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. George Frey / Getty Images
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke did not draw the reduced boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah to benefit a political ally, The Associated Press reported Monday.
<p>The Department of Interior's (DOI) Office of Inspector General (OIG) was investigating whether or not Zinke had altered the monument's boundaries specifically to benefit Utah Republican Congressman Mike Noel. Noel had petitioned for the monument to be shrunk and also owned property nearby, including 40 acres that fell inside the old monument boundaries and outside the new ones. The OIG, however, ruled there was no evidence that Zinke knew of Noel's interest in the area or redrew the boundaries with him in mind.</p><p>The OIG report "shows exactly what the secretary's office has known all along - that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws," Zinke spokeswoman Heather Swift told The Associated Press.</p><p><a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/" target="_blank">Western Values Project</a> Executive Director Chris Saeger was skeptical that Zinke had done nothing wrong. He told The Associated Press that photos taken of Zinke and Noel together during a tour of the shrunken monument last year "seem to contradict" Zinke's innocence and urged the OIG to release the report "and let the public judge the merits of the findings."</p><p>Environmental groups like the Western Values Project have criticized Zinke for shrinking <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> like Grand Staircase to benefit <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> and mining interests. Even if Grand Staircase was not redrawn with Noel in mind, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-monuments-drilling-mining-2541783065.html">DOI documents obtained by The New York Times in March</a> did show that the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_blank">Trump</a> administration decided to reduce it and fellow Utah National Monument <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bears-ears" target="_self">Bears Ears</a> in order to increase access to deposits of oil, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">natural gas</a>, uranium and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a>. </p><p>Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona, who will chair the House Natural Resources Committee in January now that the Democrats have taken the House, said he would investigate the controversial decision to shrink the two monuments. </p><p>"Secretary Zinke should have known the people he was listening to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest," he told The Associated Press, while saying he accepts the reports findings. </p><p>Zinke is still facing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ryan-zinke-doi-investigation-2616779372.html" target="_self">other investigations</a> into his conduct in office. One involves a real estate development owned by the son of the chairman of oil giant Halliburton, which the DOI regulates. Another concerns claims that Zinke met only with opponents of a Native American casino project in Connecticut and might have given false information to the tribes behind the project. </p><p>A third investigation looks whether Zinke reassigned a former DOI official for criticizing him, The Associated Press reported. </p>
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