An Interior Department (DOI) official may have been serving her former employer’s interests when carrying out a plan to halt oil and gas leasing in northern Alaska, according to an ethics complaint filed by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a watchdog group.
PPT alleges that the DOI Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary For Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis violated federal ethics pledges when implementing the DOI’s move to halt oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to the complaint. Daniel-Davis’ previous role may present a conflict of interest as she was chief of policy and advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a large environmentalist nonprofit that opposes oil and gas exploration. (RELATED: ‘Sue And Settle’: Biden Admin Agrees To Block Oil And Gas Drilling After Settling With Eco Activists)
“ANWR has been one of the most high-profile issues at the Department, with that profile even heightened in light of the current debate over the role of oil and gas leasing in the nation’s energy policy in general,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Yet, rather than avoiding further controversy on this matter, the Department has taken a ‘damn the torpedoes’ approach by handing the reins to a clearly conflicted official.”
The NWF joined an August 2020 lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to auction ANWR leases while Daniel-Davis was still chief of policy, according to court filings.
“Laura Daniel-Davis is fully committed to the president’s agenda of keeping American energy locked in the ground,” Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming told the DCNF. “If she has also violated ethics guidelines and used her authority to advance the agenda of her former employer, that’s deeply troubling.”
On June 1, 2021, the DOI suspended all federally issued oil and gas leases throughout ANWR to review the leases’ impact on the environment, according to a press release. The order that halted leases in the wildlife refuge gave authority to the assistant secretary for land and minerals management, Daniel-Davis’ current position, to administer the pause.
Daniel-Davis then wrote letters on June 1 ordering oil and gas companies to halt drilling operations on leased properties.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 08: WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 08: U.S. President Joe Biden embraces Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland before announcing the expansion of areas of three national monuments at the White House on October 08, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Davis worked as the NWF’s chief of policy and advocacy from January 2020 to January 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also worked as the NWF’s vice president for conservation strategy for two years before becoming chief of policy and advocacy.
The DOI did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
This story has been updated with comment from Sen. John Barrasso.
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