The President-elect will nominate first-term New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland to become Secretary of the Interior. The Washington Post writes:
A member of Pueblo of Laguna, the 60 year-old Haaland would become the first descendant of the original people to populate North America to run the Interior Department. It marks a turning point for a 171-year-old institution that has often had a fraught relationship with 574 federally recognized tribes.
The first-term House member, who hails from a top oil- and gas-producing state, has pledged to transform the department from a champion of fossil fuel development into a promoter of renewable energy and policies to mitigate climate change.
The Post notes that Interior will play a major role in President-elect Biden’s vow to combat global warming. The Interior Department oversees national parks, forests, wilderness areas, national monuments and wildlife refuges. But the most contentious part of her time in office will most likely be the new administration’s stance on oil and gas production. Biden has pledged to halt all new drilling on public lands and waters.
Politico writes Biden hopes to “restore environmental protections on public lands after President Donald Trump’s drive to expand drilling, mining and logging.”
The AP writes Haaland is “a historic pick that would make her the first Native American to lead the powerful federal agency that has wielded influence over the nation’s tribes for generations.”
