Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise today to oppose this rush to confirm David Bernhardt to serve as the 53rd Secretary of the Interior.
The Secretary of the Interior is the chief steward of nearly 500 million acres of public lands and 1.7 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf. The Interior Secretary is charged with managing the public's natural resources and protecting our Nation's most iconic spaces for now and for generations to come, and the Secretary has the duty of making sure that our trust and treaty responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives are met. It is essential to have the right individual serving in this position--someone who has a record of honoring these critical responsibilities and someone who will approach the solemn duties with only the interests of the American people at the top of his or her agenda.
After considering the whole of Mr. Bernhardt's record, especially the open questions about his actions that have benefited his former clients, I cannot vote to confirm this nominee. His policies are too slanted toward private interests, and as a former lobbyist for many of these interests, his conflicts are too many. Any discussion of this nomination must begin there--by addressing the serious conflicts of interest that Mr. Bernhardt brings to this role and by addressing the ethical cloud that is plainly hanging over this nomination.
I am rising today to call on the Republican leadership to put a halt to this nomination until that ethical cloud can be cleared, and if that cloud cannot be cleared, then, Mr. Bernhardt should be withdrawn.
The concerns that have been raised are serious. Let's talk about a few of them.
Much has been made of Mr. Bernhardt's ethics pledge and whether he has complied with the letter of the law, but we all know that he certainly has not complied with the spirit of the law. The Interior Department has begun or completed at least 19 policy actions requested or supported by at least 16 of Mr. Bernhardt's former clients since he came to Interior, according to just 1 analysis.
Mr. Bernhardt's ethics pledge didn't stop him from trying to divert water to his former client, Westlands Water District in California's Central Valley, one of the largest agricultural water users in the county. On their behalf, Mr. Bernhardt sought to weaken protections for endangered fish species so that his client could pump more water. While an Interior official ``verbally'' ruled that he could participate in the matter, outside ethics experts disagreed. Mr. Bernhardt is clearly making a decision that directly benefits one of his former clients.
Last month, I wrote to the DOI inspector general requesting an investigation into this matter. The Senate should know the outcome of such reviews before considering a Cabinet nominee. Otherwise, we are flying blind when it comes to a nominee's fitness for office.
Just last week, it came to light that Mr. Bernhardt continued to work with Westlands after he filed notice that he was no longer lobbying on its behalf. He filed his notice on November 2016, but invoices from Mr. Bernhardt's firm show that he worked with his client all the way up to his nomination for Deputy Secretary.
A spokeswoman claims that the work was not technically ``lobbying,'' but the fact is that Mr. Bernhardt's actions are benefiting his former clients. Westlands is getting the relief from the Endangered Species Act that they have sought for years.
Once again, we need to know the full truth before we can vote on a nominee of such consequence.
Americans deserve to have confidence in the impartiality of public officials, but how can they when the Trump administration has become a revolving door of lobbyists and industry advocates?
As an attorney and lobbyist, Mr. Bernhardt built a profitable career trying to open public lands for development for his clients, and he spent years attacking the foundation of the Endangered Species Act. The problem is that since assuming his role as Deputy Secretary, he has continued to advocate for policies that benefit these same special interests.
He helped to open millions of acres of public lands to oil and gas drilling, while looking to limit public input, and helped to gut protections that would mitigate the environmental harm of such development.
He has tried to manipulate and bury the science of toxic pesticides that threaten endangered species. He has largely ignored the science of climate change. None of this is a personal attack on the Deputy Secretary, but we simply should not install private industry's representatives to run the Department of the Interior, because when we do, the American people pay the price.
Just look at the policy outcomes. Climate change, for instance, is an existential issue--the most pressing issue facing our planet. The Department of the Interior oversees 20 percent of the lands in our Nation. These lands and their ecosystems and wildlife are threatened by a changing climate: drought and wildfires in the Southwest, wildfires and flooding in California, and hurricanes in the Southeast.
Mr. Bernhardt has been clear that climate science will take a backseat to the President's politics. Under Mr. Bernhardt's guidance, the Department is blatantly ignoring the science of climate change. The Department took down its climate change web page, rescinded orders and policies aimed at addressing the impacts of climate change, and gutted the methane emission control rule at the behest of the worst performers in the oil and gas industry.
Mr. Bernhardt now has the audacity to claim that there are no laws on the books that require Interior to act on climate change, all because his administration has attempted to dismantle every rule or regulation that requires the Department to take action.
Very concerning is Mr. Bernhardt's role as the Trump administration's architect of opening public lands for unfettered energy development. In the last 2 years, Interior has auctioned off more than 16.8 million acres of public land for oil and gas drilling. In the first quarter of 2019, nearly 2.3 million more acres were put on the auction block. That includes potential lease sales within striking distance of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a UNESCO world heritage site sacred to the Tribes. That is why I just introduced legislation to permanently establish a 10-mile buffer surrounding Chaco so that we can enjoy this culturally significant area for generations to come without the constant threat of development.
The Department has tried to open up nearly all coastal waters for offshore drilling and is speeding toward selling leases to drill in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--home to Native American Tribes and an area that supports a diversity of wildlife in a wild and untamed setting unlike any other on this planet. There are nearly 250 species, from caribou and grizzly bears to wolves and migratory birds. Yet this administration, under Mr. Bernhardt, is racing toward an outcome that could decimate this unique, grand, and biologically rich place.
The Endangered Species Act stands as the Nation's commitment to protect wildlife from extinction. Protecting biodiversity is more important now than ever, as we see animal and plant species dying off in record numbers due to the loss of habitat and climate change.
Mr. Bernhardt has had the ESA in his sights for a long time. Under his leadership, Interior has now proposed allowing economic considerations to override wildlife protections. Extinction is becoming just another cost of doing business.
As I mentioned, on behalf of his former client Westlands, Mr. Bernhardt sought to weaken protections for endangered fish species, the delta smelt, and the Chinook salmon so that Westlands could pump more water. Mr. Bernhardt has looked to implement the very same policies he lobbied for, from within the walls of the Department. As Deputy Secretary, Mr. Bernhardt also dismantled a landmark agreement among bipartisan western Governors to protect the greater sage-grouse, opening up millions of acres of its habitat to oil and gas drilling without protections.
The Endangered Species Act should be classified as ``endangered'' under Mr. Bernhardt's client-friendly Interior Department.
Let's talk about another extinction risk: chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos is not yet a household name like DDT, but it will be. It is a dangerous neurotoxin used in agriculture throughout the United States. It is linked to brain damage in children and can cause serious harm to human health and wildlife.
In 2016, scientists from the EPA recommended a ban on all uses of this toxic pesticide. One of Scott Pruitt's first actions as EPA Administrator was to rescind that proposed ban. One of Mr. Bernhardt's early actions as Deputy Secretary was to bury a scientific study concluding that chlorpyrifos and another pesticide could ``jeopardize the continued existence'' of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish, and other animals and plants. Let me repeat. More than 1,200 birds, fish, and other species are at risk of extinction from two toxic pesticides. Mr. Bernhardt reportedly ordered the staff to go back to the drawing board to block the release of this report.
I have been working to get chlorpyrifos off the market with legislation, and the Federal courts have ordered EPA to move forward with the ban. There is no good reason chlorpyrifos is still in use except that it is manufactured by a powerful DowDuPont company. Mr. Bernhardt's withdrawal of the scientific study serves Big Chemical's interests, not the public's.
One of the most egregious anti-conservation actions of this administration is the unprecedented attacks on the Antiquities Act, which has stood since President Theodore Roosevelt. The President reduced Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase- Escalante by over 45 percent--the largest rollback of protections for our collective Federal lands in history and an unlawful Presidential action, in my view.
Each of these monuments is home to ruggedly beautiful lands that are at risk. The Bears Ears designation was the result of many years of hard work and collaboration by five Tribes who trace their ancestry to this remarkable area. Now the Department is pushing to open up the land outside their boundaries for coal and mineral mining corporations.
Last month, I led 16 Democratic Senators in a letter to Mr. Bernhardt seeking his commitment to leave existing boundaries of other national monuments intact. So far, we have received no assurance from Mr. Bernhardt that any other monuments won't meet the same fate as Bears Ears and Grand Staircase.
The pattern is clear: From the Arctic Refuge to California's Central Valley, from the Atlantic coast to Bears Ears, Mr. Bernhardt's Interior Department places profits over people.
The American public deserves an Interior Secretary they can trust to look out for their interests--protecting public land, species, the air, and the water--but Mr. Bernhardt has not demonstrated that he has the necessary independence from his former clients. He has made them very happy. He has shut out scientists, Native Americans, conservationists, and the American people. He is tangled with conflicts.
The Senate should stop the rush to confirm Deputy Secretary Bernhardt while these fundamental ethics and conflicts of interest questions are under review. If we move forward, I will vote no on this nomination.
Before I conclude, I would like to offer one final point. I made my concerns with Mr. Bernhardt clear, but if Mr. Bernhardt is confirmed, one of his most important duties will be honoring our trust responsibility to Native Americans. On this count, I hope he will do better than what the Trump Interior Department has shown us so far.
As the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I want to ensure that the Department respects Tribes' sovereignty and self- determination and engages in meaningful consultation with Tribes. The Trump administration's record with Tribes and Native communities is, to put it lightly, lacking. The Tribes in New Mexico do not believe they are being properly consulted as leasing pushes ahead close to Chaco Canyon.
For 3 years running, the administration has proposed budgets that would significantly cut BIA and BIE funding. Those are education budgets and budgets that help Native Americans on their reservations.
Congress has historically worked across party lines on Native issues. Congress rejected the administration's proposed cuts for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, and I fully expect it to do so again for 2020.
If confirmed, I would like to see Mr. Bernhardt follow suit and commit to do better on Tribal issues, commit to meet with Tribal leaders to understand their priorities and demonstrate in action that he respects Tribal sovereignty and that he commits the Agency to consult with Tribes whenever their interests are affected.
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