The Daily Caller logo
Energy

‘Proxy Fight For The Future Of Fossil Fuels’: Biden Interior Nominee Fields Questions About ‘Radical’ Climate Agenda

Senate Energy And Natural Resources Committee Considers Debra Anne Haaland To Be Secretary Of Interior

(Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images)

Varun Hukeri General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland faced questions from lawmakers on topics including federal drilling permits and pipelines during her confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

If confirmed, Haaland would play a central role in managing more than 500 million acres of federal land and much of the nation’s vast array of natural resources. She would also play a major part in implementing President Joe Biden’s aggressive climate agenda, which calls for $2 trillion in federal spending over four years and an emissions-free power sector by 2035.

“I almost feel like your nomination is this proxy fight for the future of fossil fuels,” Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell told Haaland during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.

Republican lawmakers were notably unenthusiastic about the nomination. The congresswoman has embraced a progressive climate agenda during her time in Congress and publicly endorsed both fracking bans and the Green New Deal.

“I am wholeheartedly against fracking and drilling on public lands,” Haaland said during a May 2019 interview with The Guardian. She also signed on to the People’s Demands for Climate Justice, a petition that calls for an “immediate ban on fracking” and ending fossil fuel subsidies, according to The New York Post.

Haaland, a Democratic representative for New Mexico, was also a co-sponsor of Green New Deal legislation introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The interior nominee tweeted her support for the progressive climate proposal in 2018 and claimed her “ancestral homeland is under attack from the Fossil Fuel Industry.” (RELATED: Biden’s Anti-Drilling Interior Nominee Once Led Company That Profited From Fossil Fuels)

Steve Milloy, a climate policy expert and former transition team member during the Trump administration, warned that Haaland’s nomination could be a sign the Biden administration is willing to adopt a far more progressive climate policy.

“There is no daylight between Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland and the radical [Ocasio-Cortez] on climate, energy, federal lands and the Green New Deal,” Milloy said in a statement to the Daily Caller.

Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the Senate committee’s ranking member, expressed similar concerns about Haaland’s track record during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.

“I am troubled by many of Rep. Haaland’s views that many in my home state of Wyoming would consider as radical,” he said. “Haaland’s positions are squarely at odds with the mission of the Department of Interior; that mission includes managing our nation’s oil, gas, coal resources in a responsible manner.”

Haaland tried to ease Republican lawmakers’ concerns during her opening statement with a commitment to striking “the right balance” between using fossil fuels and efforts to combat climate change and preserve public lands.

“We will absolutely rely on fossil fuel energy,” she told senators. “But at the same time, I think we can move forward with the technology and innovation as well.”

But the congresswoman notably deflected several times when asked about her policy positions, stating that she would be implementing Biden’s agenda and not her own if confirmed. The president has said that he would not ban fracking and opposes the Green New Deal. (RELATED: Experts Say Biden’s Week One Climate Actions Already Killing Jobs)

“Do you support a ban on fracking and no new pipelines?” Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines asked Haaland in reference to both her previous statements on fracking and Biden’s executive order ending the Keystone XL pipeline construction.

“President Biden does not support a ban on fracking is my understanding,” Haaland responded. “If I am confirmed as secretary, I would be serving at the pleasure of the President and it would be his agenda that I would move forward.”

“Do you agree with President Biden’s executive order to stop the Keystone XL pipeline?” Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy asked Haaland, once again pressing her on the administration’s pipeline policy.

“With respect to President Biden’s decision, it is his decision, he’s the President,” Haaland responded.

Haaland did defend the president’s executive order temporarily suspending new fossil fuel leasing permits on federal land, responding to a question from Barrasso over projected job losses in the fossil fuel industry.

“My question is for you, why not just let these workers keep their jobs?” Barrasso asked.

“He didn’t ban new leases. He didn’t put a moratorium on new leases,” Haaland responded. “It’s a pause to review the federal fossil fuel program.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Daily Caller Shows ✔ ✔ ✔
Ad Free Experience ✔ ✔ ✔
Exclusive Articles ✔ ✔ ✔
Custom Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Editor Daily Rundown ✔ ✔ ✔
Behind The Scenes Coverage ✔ ✔
Award Winning Documentaries ✔ ✔
Patriot War Room ✔ ✔
Patriot Live Chat ✔ ✔
Exclusive Events ✔
Gold Membership Card ✔
Tucker Mug ✔

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel