Congressional letter raises major questions about corruption and lack of ethics oversight
DENVER—Members of the House Natural Resources Committee and House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Interior department’s Inspector General on Tuesday demanding an investigation into whether Karen Budd-Falen, currently the third-highest ranking official at Interior, engaged in self-dealing during the first Trump administration. Government documents reveal that Budd-Falen failed to disclose a $3.5 million contract her husband signed with the developer of the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada while Budd-Falen was a top official at Interior during the first Trump administration.
The letter was first reported by the New York Times on January 20, following up on an investigation by Public Domain. It contains alarming new details that reveal the Interior solicitor’s office, where Budd-Falen worked during the first Trump administration, had significant involvement in the fast-track process that led to the mine’s initial approval in the final days of President Trump’s first term. That approval was crucial for the Budd-Falen family ranch to receive a final payment of nearly $3 million from the mine’s developers. The letter raises concerns about potential criminal ethics violations that carry up to a five year prison sentence.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Deputy Director Aaron Weiss:
“The internal documents in this letter are incredibly damning. At the very least, Secretary Burgum must suspend Karen Budd-Falen pending the outcome of any investigation. Her lack of candor to ethics officials casts a shadow on anything that crosses her desk today, and on everything that she worked on during the first Trump administration. Because Budd-Falen’s portfolio is so large, the litigation risks posed by her position alone could paralyze the Interior department for years to come.
“The letter also raises the question of where Doug Burgum has been for the last two months. He was warned about Karen Budd-Falen’s ethical lapses back in November but did nothing about it. It looks like he’s been too busy cosplaying on Fox News as the Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum to pay attention to the ethics disaster unfolding under his nose. If he’s not going to take responsibility at the Interior department, he should step aside and make room for someone who wants the job.”
The new evidence released today reveals the extent to which Karen Budd-Falen, who was the senior official overseeing fish and wildlife matters at the Interior Solicitor’s office under the first Trump administration, may have been involved in the mine’s approval process:
- The House letter notes that “[d]espite clear objections by FWS personnel,” “obstacles to the mine’s approval appear to have evaporated.” In particular, senior attorneys who reported within Budd-Falen’s chain of command were deeply involved in the approval process.
- One month after Budd-Falen met with the mine’s developers at Interior headquarters in late 2019, a Notice of Intent related to Thacker Pass was written that required the “signature of the assigned solicitor” to approve the project. The Office of the Solicitor was responsible for reviewing a “camera-ready” Draft Environmental Impact Statement by April 2020.
- In June 2020, a regional attorney with the Solicitor’s office assigned to Fish and Wildlife Service matters asked about the timing of senior-level sign-off and a planned “briefing with DC.” At the time, Budd-Falen worked at Interior headquarters in Washington.
- Comments from the Solicitor’s office sought to remove findings that the Thacker Pass mine would lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, which could have triggered a longer environmental review for the project.
The Thacker Pass project ultimately received its Record of Decision from the Trump administration on January 15, 2021. The House letter reveals that the Budd-Falen family ranch in Nevada received its final payment for the water rights sale in November 2023.
The Interior department has repeatedly refused to release any of Karen Budd-Falen’s ethics agreements from the first or second Trump administrations. Those documents would shine additional light on whether the Interior ethics office was aware of the water rights sale or the ongoing relationship between Thacker Pass and the Budd-Falen family ranch.