Senators split on Interior nominee
Heinrich says he’ll support Bernhardt; Udall is calling for an investigation into the former lobbyist
I have found that acting Secretary Bernhardt has always kept his word.” Sen. Martin Heinrich We do not need another secretary with a polluters-overpeople agenda.” Sen. Tom Udall
Both of New Mexico’s senators are Democrats, but they appear to be split over President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department.
Sen. Martin Heinrich said he will
vote to confirm David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the agency.
In contrast, Sen. Tom Udall is calling for an investigation of Bernhardt. Udall, though, has not officially taken a position on Bernhardt’s appointment.
With Heinrich and Udall in the minority of the Republican-controlled Senate, Bernhardt is likely to be confirmed anyway.
But the divergent approaches that the two senators are taking to his confirmation point to the concerns raised by environmental groups about his past work as a lobbyist and his familiarity with New Mexico.
The Interior secretary has a significant role in New Mexico, bearing responsibility for swaths of grazing land, oil leases, national parks and many basic government services on Indian reservations.
But when the last secretary, Ryan Zinke, left the department in December, and Trump tapped Bernhardt, then deputy secretary, to take over, it stirred a flurry of opposition from environmental groups.
Born in Colorado, Bernhardt is an attorney who had several roles in the Interior Department under President George W. Bush, including solicitor — the department’s top lawyer.
Bernhardt left the Interior Department at the end of the Bush administration and went to work as a lawyer and lobbyist. His clients included mining and oil companies with interests on federal land. He also represented a California water district in a legal battle to undo protections for endangered salmon. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Bernhardt delisted himself as a lobbyist but appeared to have continued working for the water
district as a consultant while also serving on Trump’s Interior Department transition team.
Environmental groups say this background constitutes conflicts of interest that should disqualify Bernhardt from the post.
When Trump nominated Bernhardt for the job in February, Udall said he had serious concerns about Bernhardt’s past work for energy companies.
“We do not need another secretary with a polluters-over-people agenda,” Udall said.
Last month, he called for an inspector general investigation into allegations that Bernhardt was involved in actions by the Interior Department that directly benefited one of his former clients.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Department declined to respond to Udall’s call for an investigation or elaborate on the acting secretary’s work in New Mexico.
But backers have said that the opposition to Bernhardt smacks of hypocrisy — that his work as a lawyer is not a unique conflict of interest in a Capitol where plenty of appointees rotate between serving as government officials and working for special interests.
“Private and public experience on one side of the aisle seems to be a benefit. Private and public experience on one side of the aisle seems to be a detriment,” Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., told Bernhardt during a confirmation hearing last month. “Instead of being portrayed as a competent lawyer who represents clients zealously and ably, you’re painted as compromised and in the pockets of industry.”
Heinrich said last week that he had met with Bernhardt and will vote to confirm him.
“While we do not — and will not — agree on many issues or policy decisions, I have found that acting Secretary Bernhardt has always kept his word,” Heinrich said.
The senator added that Bernhardt has been supportive of efforts to advance protections for White Sands National Monument and ensure public access to the Sabinoso Wilderness.
Heinrich has also complimented Bernhardt’s commitment to visit New Mexico and meet with tribal leaders pushing to protect the landscape around Chaco Culture National Historic Park, where oil and gas production has raised concerns about the impact on sacred sites.
The explanation echoed Heinrich’s defense of voting for Zinke’s confirmation.
In last year’s election, Heinrich could point to having built a relationship with Zinke and, in turn, progress on expanding public access to the Sabinoso and protecting national monuments that were under review by the Trump administration but have so far been left untouched.
But Bernhardt’s confirmation has drawn much tougher criticism.
In the days after Heinrich joined with Republicans and another Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to advance Bernhardt’s nomination from the Energy Committee, an advocacy group accused New Mexico’s senator of making a tradeoff that cuts against the issues he is trying to advance.
“Senator Heinrich traded a mile of America’s and New Mexico’s outdoor heritage to gain an inch,” said Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project.