STATEMENT on Senate vote confirming David Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior

Apr 11, 2019

Issue: Ethics & Transparency

Subject: Interior

DENVER—Today, the United States Senate confirmed President Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt. In response, the Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Deputy Director Aaron Weiss:

“If this was the Department of Oil and Gas Drilling, David Bernhardt would be the perfect candidate for the job. But as Deputy Interior Secretary, Bernhardt proved over and over again that he will always put his former clients’ wishes ahead of the needs of America’s public lands.
“Bernhardt is already facing the prospect of federal investigations, and he’s on track to be under even more scrutiny than his predecessor, Ryan Zinke. Starting today, it’s vital that Congress carry out its oversight responsibilities to shine a bright light on Bernhardt’s past and future actions at the Interior Department.”

Learn more:

Hidden calendars show Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary met repeatedly with drilling, mining industries [Westwise]
Six reasons why David Bernhardt is not fit to be the next Interior Secretary [Westwise]
Nearly three-quarters of Bernhardt’s 27 former clients have actively lobbied the Interior Department since 2017 [Center for American Progress]
Fifteen times former clients of the acting Interior Secretary got favorable decisions [CNN]
Interior staff routinely deleted Bernhardt calendars from Google doc, drawing scrutiny from Congress [Washington Post]
Trump’s Pick for Interior Dept. Continued Lobbying After Officially Vowing to Stop, New Files Indicate [New York Times]

Read the full blog post

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