Biden’s Interior Nominee Co-Sponsored the Green New Deal

December 23, 2020

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden nominated or selected members of his administration’s climate team. As Power The Future feared and predicted in a previous study, this Cabinet will certainly be the most radical in our country’s history. Many of these announcements were met with nothing but applause from the mainstream media, but perhaps none more than Biden’s Interior nominee, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM).

Much of the coverage surrounding Haaland’s nomination has to do with the fact that she will be the first Native American to serve as Secretary of the Interior. This is a historic achievement that deserves the recognition it’s getting, but that recognition is not mutually exclusive to also discussing her radical climate agenda. Fox News reports:

While Haaland’s nomination has been met with applause from Democratic leadership, conservatives have voiced their concerns about the anti-fracking New Mexico lawmaker, who opposes the oil and gas industry prevalent in her home state.

“It’s hard to see a bright spot for our state because of her extreme position on energy,” the Republican Party of New Mexico said in a statement following the announcement. “Biden’s pick confirms that he plans to systematically take apart our important oil and gas industry.”

Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce also expressed concern:

“Oil and gas is New Mexico’s bread and butter, providing billions in revenue, more than 40% of our state’s budget and more than 100,000 jobs,” Pearce said in a statement Thursday.

If Haaland is executing her radical agenda at the expense of jobs and revenue within her own constituency, it warrants concern that her influence has now expanded to the national level. This is particularly worrisome as American families and the economy continue to recover from Covid-19’s economic havoc. She has repeatedly called for an all-out ban on fracking, which also contradicts Biden’s many claims on the campaign trail that he does not intend to completely end the industry.

Following the announcement, Haaland wrote on Twitter that she will “be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.” Hopefully, she also remembers to protect the billions of dollars in revenue and millions of jobs that fracking provides to American families who need them now more than ever.