Biden’s Interior Nominee Deb Haaland Advances to a Full Senate Vote

March 4, 2021

Today, the Senate Energy Committee voted to advance Joe Biden’s Interior secretary nominee Deb Haaland.

Ranking Member of the Senate Energy Committee Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) was one of many republicans who weighed in on objections to Haaland’s nomination, “If she’s allowed to pursue her Green New Deal-inspired policies at the Department of Interior, she will run Wyoming and other states’ economies into the ditch. Representative Haaland’s extreme policy views and lack of substantive answers during the hearing, to me, disqualify her for this job.”

Bloomberg reports:

As a Democrat in the chamber, Haaland has been an outspoken critic of fracking, the technique that drove U.S. oil and gas development to record levels, and she was an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal resolution outlining a vision for rapidly decarbonizing the U.S. economy. She also delivered food to Standing Rock Sioux protesters camped along the route of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 — a move Haaland said was meant to show support for water protectors who believed they were insufficiently consulted on the project.

It is no secret Haaland has a record of being radical on issues related to climate and energy policy.

Now Haaland’s nomination to lead the Interior Department heads to the Senate floor. While DOI has already been moving swiftly to push ahead with Biden’s green energy agenda, there is no doubt if nominated Haaland would push even further to the eco-left.

We hope the Senate fully weighs the magnitude of Haaland being confirmed to serve as the chief manager of hundreds of millions of acres of federal land, that is prime real estate for oil and gas development.