Big Oil’s Bernhardt is wrong move for the Department of Interior
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing this morning on the nomination of former energy lobbyist David Bernhardt to become the Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Friends of the Earth has compiled a backgrounder on some of Bernhardt’s conflicts of interest.
Ben Schreiber, Friends of the Earth’s Senior Political Strategist, issued the following statement:
By nominating David Bernhardt, Trump has continued his trend of appointing those who seek to destroy the environment to the very agencies that exist to protect it. Bernhardt has built his career by working for Big Oil and Big Agribusiness both inside and outside of the government and has worked to strip key protections of public lands and waters.
Bernhardt is too conflicted to do this job. During his time at the Interior Department under President Bush, Bernhardt repeatedly demonstrated his lack of ethics. Bernhardt’s lobby firm owns a major financial stake in a controversial Cadiz water project in the Mojave Desert.
Once again Trump is showing that he is using the White House to enrich his friends at the expense of the American people.
Expert contact: Ben Schreiber, (202) 222-0752, [email protected]
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]