Micah Baird
Late last week amid a flurry of Executive Orders from Donald Trump threatening the future of the country’s parks, monuments and waters, David Bernhardt was nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Interior. The nomination caps off a series of moves by the Trump administration which further confirms that Trump sees America’s public lands and waters as a source for private gain, not for the public good.
Like many others in Trump’s administration, Bernhardt has close ties to the oil industry and little respect for public lands, even advocating to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of our country’s last untouched wild places. He stands to personally benefit from influencing the Department of the Interior decisions in his favor-- by as much as $3 million according to some estimates.
Bernhardt’s nomination for the second most powerful position within the Department of the Interior further upsets the balance at the agency, tilting the scales dangerously far in favor of drilling and mining public lands at what could be an incredible cost to the American public. Stripping special places of protection and opening them to dirty fuel development, the driving desire behind Trump’s Executive Order on national monuments, would jeopardize an outdoor economy that support almost 8 million jobs and generates $887 billion in consumer spending every year. It also risks exacerbating the immediate health and environmental problems associated with fracking, drilling, and mining, while worsening long-term threats from climate disruption.
Our waters too are at risk. Bernhardt represented the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents the offshore oil and gas industry, in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management and oil and gas interests over the issuance of new offshore leases in the immediate aftermath and vicinity of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Time and again, particularly in our oceans, the oil industry has demonstrated that it can’t be trusted-- drilling still means spilling, even as the industry tries to wiggle out of true reparations for past damages.
Per his latest Executive Order Donald Trump wants to reverse permanent protections for the Arctic Ocean, opening it up to drilling despite waning industry interest following a number of failed attempts to drill. He wants to continue drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, ignoring the fact that the area has repeatedly been treated as a sacrifice zone. He even wants to do away with the blowout preventer rule put in place to help prevent another Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Outside of the oil industry, these ideas are all incredibly unpopular. Secretary Zinke realizes the massive opposition to abolishing parks and monuments and to entrusting our coasts to the oil industry. He has repeatedly tried to sidestep the true intent of the Trump administration, avoiding mentioning plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean in conversations with reporters and stressing the process instead of the outcomes on public land protection rollbacks. He knows how to play the game. But it will take action, not just pretty words, to satisfy the American people. Millions of people from across the country have spoken out in support of protecting special places, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They have called for the dirty fuels industry to be held accountable for its toxic legacy and for oil to be kept off our beaches. They packed the streets of Washington, D.C. just this past weekend to march against Trump and his agenda.
The people have and will continue to be heard. Senators would be wise to keep that in mind as they consider David Bernhardt for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.