webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

Huffman, Jared Rep 98% CA

no MERRI

SEE FREEDOM 250

SEE XIAN NATLISM

2025 100%

LIFE 98

Jared Huffman - League of Conservation Voters

---

see wounded knee medals

119th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 3609

To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek

on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 23, 2025

Ms. Tokuda (for herself, Mr. Huffman, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Khanna, Ms.

Davids of Kansas, Mr. Quigley, and Ms. Stansbury) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek

on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled,...

H.R. 3609 | Congressional Chronicle | C-SPAN.org

Actions

May 23, 2025Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
May 23, 2025Introduced in House

Cosponsors

-=-=

-=-=

context cnn an 11 26

House Democrats are demanding that the Interior Department retain documents related to President Donald Trump’s construction projects around Washington after whistleblowers warned that key paperwork has already been destroyed before Democrats take power, congressional sources tell CNN.

The warnings come as the Trump administration is signaling it will accelerate plans for moving ahead with the projects — a key part of what the president sees as his legacy — to lay as much groundwork as possible before the Democrats take over Congress in January.

On Tuesday, the top Democrat in the House Natural Resources committee, which has oversight of the agency that has helped fast-track many of Trump’s projects, plans to issue letters to the Interior Department as well as other federal agencies and private companies, requesting that they “preserve all records and data responsive to oversight” the congressional panel oversees.

[How presidential power has grown far beyond what the nation’s founders envisioned

The targets of the letters from Rep. Jared Huffman, shared first with CNN, give an early indication of what could be in the crosshairs for investigation when the California Democrat becomes chairman of the committee in the new Congress.

Multiple credible whistleblowers have approached Huffman’s committee in recent weeks to voice concern that the Interior Department is getting rid of records in anticipation of forthcoming scrutiny, the sources told CNN. The agency oversees much of the national parkland Trump wants to use for his projects.

The Interior Department called the whistleblower claims “100% false.”

“The Department follows all federal records management obligations as directed by the Department’s ethics officials,” a spokesperson said.

Among the other recipients of the preservation letters are the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which are part of Interior.

Letters are also being sent to the Agriculture Department and companies like Lockheed Martin and John Deere that are known to have donated to Trump’s projects. CNN has asked them for comment. Whistleblowers did not say these entities had destroyed documents.

However, all letter recipients must reply to certify their compliance, which requires efforts to “preserve existing records collections and productions,” as well as “Identify and recover any deleted information” and “suspend any destruction and deletion practices.”

A mandate to investigate

Rep. Jared Huffman speaks at the site of President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch, in Arlington, Virginia, on May 14. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The typically under-the-radar National Resources committee may lack the prominence of the Judiciary or Oversight committees, but in the new Congress it is set to take on the mantle of chief antagonist and auditor of projects that Trump has deeply and personally invested in seeing through.

The committee holds legislative jurisdiction over national parks and federal lands, on which Trump is attempting to build projects like the East Potomac golf course and the triumphal arch.

“Everything is coming; it’s all coming,” Huffman told CNN in an interview, signaling that his committee is readying a large arsenal of tools that come with the gavel in the new majority.

“It’s just going to be an entirely new day,” he said, noting that a win of the magnitude Democrats achieved in the midterms will embolden their investigations, as there is a belief that they have a true mandate from voters who felt the president was focused on the wrong issues.

Committee aides expect to hold a high-profile hearing on one or several projects early in the new Congress. The golf course and triumphal arch are chief among the areas of focus.

In anticipation of possible obstruction from the administration, the committee is prepared to issue subpoenas.

Huffman believes that the committee’s work could stop some of the president’s construction projects from going forward, “especially because we have standing to go to court if we have to,” he said. “We’ll have tools to be able to stop a lot of it.”

The committee has also been coordinating with House Oversight and Judiciary, which have mapped out an aggressive approach to investigate other areas of the administration.

Turbo-speed timelines

President Donald Trump watches as the last steel beam is installed during an event at the site of the White House ballroom on November 4.

President Donald Trump watches as the last steel beam is installed during an event at the site of the White House ballroom on November 4. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

At the same time, multiple sources close to the approval process on Trump’s projects told CNN they are seeing a new urgency on the part of the administration to get as far as it can by the end of the year.

The move to supercharge some of the president’s projects is being met with ire by many in the preservationist community who have been fighting against them.

The triumphal arch; a project to put up fencing at Lafayette Square near the White House; the East Potomac Golf Links; and the Tidal Basin Development Concept plan, which includes the president’s Garden of American Heroes, will all see action pushing them ahead over the next 60 days.

Some will be going in front of key federal agencies for approval, and others are moving forward in the historical preservation evaluation process.

“We’re going to start seeing all of these things happening simultaneously,” said Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. “It is going to be like a storm where it plays out until the new Congress is seated.”

The day after the midterm elections, Trump appeared in front of the White House ballroom construction site, signing the last steel beam before it was raised.

Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, said: “President Trump is moving at lightning speed because we don’t have time to waste in our mission to make America greater than ever before.”

-=-=-

-=-=

Christian nationalism is ‘America’s most dangerous political movement’: Rep. Jared Huffman

8 26 jan 6

Aug 18, 2026 #christiannationalism #politics #democracy

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-CA, joins Morning Joe to discuss his new book: “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism.” Huffman, a former devout Christian, tells Joe he wrote the book to “expose” what he calls the country’s “most dangerous political movement.” From behind the scenes of the Capitol, he explores in the book the strategy Christian nationalists use to push their agenda. Christian nationalism, Huffman says, “erupted for all of us to see,” during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. But in the years since, Huffman says Congress has failed to confront the movement.

-=-=

chair subcomm

https://naturalresources.house.gov/subcommittees/water-oceans-and-wildlife

DEMOCRATS 519

May 22 House committee hearing on the extinction crisis devolved into a spectacle resembling a Fox News segment, thanks to two frequent Fox guests who were invited by Republicans to testify.

The House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife held a hearing on the recent summary report from the United Nations that warned human activity is leading to the possible extinction of up to 1 million plant and animal species. The Democratic majority invited expert scientists as witnesses, including Robert Watson, who led the U.N. team that wrote the biodiversity report, and two of the other scientists who worked on it. The Republican minority invited two of Fox News’ favorite climate deniers, Marc Morano and Patrick Moore, who only downplayed the report's findings and cast doubt on climate science.

Morano and Moore have appeared on Fox multiple times in 2019

Morano, a notorious, polluter-backed climate denier, is a Fox News favorite, regularly invited on-air to discuss environmental topics despite the fact that he has no scientific credentials. So far in 2019, Morano has appeared on Fox News shows at least 10 times. His most recent appearances were on May 6 when he commented on the U.N. biodiversity report on two of Fox's “news”-side shows, Shepard Smith Reporting and Special Report with Bret Baier. Both shows aired footage of Morano trying to undermine the report:

MARC MORANO: This is politics, not science. The U.N. is trying to expand its base to include climate and species. They are looking for more treaties, more regulation. They have identified a problem, they've juiced it up, and they put themselves in charge of solving the problem. That's called a self-interested lobbying organization.

Morano has also appeared three times this year on President Donald Trump's favorite show, Fox & Friends: on April 30, when he claimed that carbon dioxide is not pollution; on February 12,when he called efforts to reduce climate change "medieval witchcraft"; and on February 8, when he lied about what's in the Green New Deal and called it "a big bowl of crazy."

Morano has also repeatedly appeared on Infowars, the far-right outlet run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. And he recently attacked a young climate activist online, which led to trolls threatening her.

Moore is another Fox News favorite who is frequently invited on the network to downplay environmental issues or to deny that climate change is happening, despite also having no background as a climate scientist and raking in money from polluting industries. So far in 2019, he has appeared on Fox News shows at least five times, all in mid-March. One notable appearance came on the March 12 episode of Fox & Friends, during which he claimed that "the whole climate crisis, as they call it, is not only fake news, it's fake science." This appearance caught the eye of another climate denier, Trump, who approvingly tweeted out a quote from Moore. Moore tries to appear credible by claiming that he was a co-founder of Greenpeace, but this is not true.

Morano and Moore made a mockery of the House hearing, and that’s exactly what Republicans wanted

The May 22 House hearing was supposed to be about the U.N.'s new extinction report, but Morano and Moore made a mockery of this occasion by accusing the scientists who wrote the report of having a political agenda and by downplaying the effects of climate change.

In his written testimony, Morano claimed that his political science background is “an ideal background for examining the latest round of UN environmental claims” and argued that the U.N. “twists and hypes and distorts science in order to push a political agenda.” During the hearing, he also wronglyattacked the 97% scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. Subcommittee Chair Jared Huffman (D-CA) called Morano outfor "trolling" climate scientists, saying he came from the "shadowy corners of these junior varsity think tanks."

In Moore’s written testimony, he called the U.N. report's findings “highly exaggerated” and made reference to the “manufactured ‘climate crisis.’” He also falselystated that without rising CO2 levels, plants would be much worse off. Moore often sings the praises of pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere, despite the fact that it is definitely not good.

Morano and Moore also got more time at the hearing than the four scientists invited by the Democrats, according to Public Citizen.

Fox News has helped to put Morano and Moore in the public eye by giving them a platform to sow doubt about climate change and other serious environmental issues, and now the two men’s latest Fox-worthy rants are part of the congressional record. The vicious cycle continues.

==

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/trump-administration-seeks-to-unleash-a-pillage-of-arctic-refuge-but-indigenous-groups-vow-to-fight-it/

no lnx

Trump administration seeks to unleash a pillage of Arctic Refuge — but indigenous groups vow to fight it

Written by Andrea Germanos / Common Dreams September 13, 2019

Indigenous leaders vowed Thursday to protect their Alaskan lands from fossil fuel exploitation after the Trump administration moved closer to allowing drilling along the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—a move the House just tried to block.

“The Gwich’in are protectors,” said Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, “and we will not give up.”

The pledge from the Gwich’in—who call the coastal plain “the sacred place where life begins”—came in response to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for oil and gas leasing, which was released Thursday by the Bureau of Land Management.

The announcement, said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in a press statement, represents “a big step to carry out the clear mandate we received from Congress to develop and implement a leasing program for the Coastal Plain,” referring to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) provision in the “tax scam” of 2017 requiring the sales for drilling rights in the area.  Bernhardt is a former fossil fuel lobbyist.

In the new analysis, the administration, as The Washington Post reported, chose “the most aggressive development option for an area long closed to drilling.”

“The FEIS unlawfully opens the entire coastal plain to leasing,” wrote NRDC staff attorney Garett Rose. “It fails to even consider an approach that minimizes damage to the refuge’s unique environment, violating our bedrock environmental review law.”

But that choice came to “no one’s surprise,” according to Adam Kolton, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, who said the Trump administration was “not even pretending that this is about restraint or meaningful protection.”

“With an eye on developing the entirety of the fragile coastal plain,” Kolton continued, “the administration has been riding roughshod over science, silencing dissent, and shutting out entire indigenous communities.”

Demientieff, whose community has highlighted the potential catastrophe the exploitation could unleash on the calving and nursery grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, also criticized the FEIS for disrespecting “the Gwich’in Nation and all people in the Arctic and world who suffer the impacts of climate change and nonstop exploitation, while formally scratching the backs of those who seek to desecrate land and dishonor human rights to fill their pockets.”

The FEIS, as The Hill noted, is “one of the final steps before leases can be sold,” as bidding may begin after 30 days.

The timing of the release of the environmental impact statement also raised the eyebrows of Kolton, who noted that it came “literally hours” after the Democratic-controlled House voted 225-193 to block the mandate for the ANWR drilling.

Passage of that bill was welcomed by its author, by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who said the measure “reflects a very simple proposition: there are some places too wild, too important, too unique to be spoiled by oil and gas development.”

Huffman praised lawmakers voting in favor of the measure for “protecting not just the beating biological heart of the largest wildlife refuge in the United States, but the Indigenous people who depend on this sacred, natural landscape.”

The vote was also celebrated by Indigenous and environmental groups.

Alex Taurel, head of League of Conservation Voters’ Conservation Program, called the vote “a resounding victory for the Gwich’in people, their sacred traditions, and the invaluable wildlife of the majestic Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

“The majority of people in the U.S. oppose oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge—we will continue to stand up against special interest big polluters as long as it takes,” said Taurel, urging the Senate to follow suit.

Democratic Senators including Ed Markey (Mass.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.)took to social media this week to ramp support for their legislation to block the ANWR drilling—though its fate is likely doomed in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Ed Markey

?

@SenMarkey

We can’t let the Arctic Refuge, one of the last pristine wildernesses in America, be permanently destroyed by oil and gas drilling. That’s why today, we’re intro'ing the Arctic Refuge Protection Act to designate this delicate region as wilderness and prevent all future drilling.

Embedded video

the gift that keeps giving

https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/23/climate-science-deniers-marc-morano-patrick-moore-biodiversity-report

many lnx graf

First, Climate Change, Now the Global Extinction Crisis: Industry-Paid Hacks Deny Science to Congress

Read time: 5 mins

By Justin Mikulka • Thursday, May 23, 2019 - 16:18

Patrick Moore, Marc Morano, Robert Watson]

In this week’s Congressional hearing on the recent (and dire) UN Global Assessment of Biodiversity, conservation scientist Dr. Jacob Malcom did not mince words as he explained the report's startling findings that one million species are at risk of extinction.

“We are, as you have heard, losing species faster than ever in human history, tens to hundreds of times faster than the background rate of extinction,” the Defenders of Wildlife scientist told the Congressional House Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee. “We are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, where the last time this happened it was because an asteroid hit the planet. Today we are that asteroid.”

Such a massive loss of plants, animals, and other species would also, quite naturally, affect human life on earth. But just as they have with hearings on the climate crisis, Congressional Republicans and their witnesses used this opportunity to attack the well-documented scientific evidence of a far-reaching global threat to life. And they even used some of the same climate science deniers and tired arguments to do it.

The comprehensive report they attacked gathers even more evidence that human activities are having a significant effect on global biodiversity, just as the scientific consensus shows humans are driving rapid changes in the climate.

“The evidence is crystal clear: Nature is in trouble. Therefore we are in trouble,” Sandra Díaz, one of the co-chairs of the UN Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, told National Geographic.

Business as Usual With Republican Science Denial

Marc Morano isn’t a scientist but does make his money attacking scientists. From 2006 to 2009, Morano was the communications director for Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who will be remembered for his stunt of throwing a snowball in Congress as he tried to discredit climate science.

Morano moved on from politics to working for organizations funded by oil companies, and he currently runs the website ClimateDepot.com, a project funded by the climate science-denying Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a conservative think tank which has received funding from ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the Koch brothers.

This week, Morano wasted no time in attacking some of the actual scientists on the hearing's panel, specifically Sir Robert T. Watson, who heads the UN agency that produced the biodiversity report. These attacks on fellow witnesses resulted in hearing Chairman Jared Huffman (D-CA) twice reprimanding Morano.

Rep. Huffman had to ask that Morano “show respect for your fellow panelists.”

[vid]

However, oil industry-funded attacks on climate science, and even Robert Watson, are nothing new. In 2001 a memo to the Bush administration from Exxon lobbyist Randy Randol specifically requests that Watson be removed as head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a position he held at the time.

And Morano, a notorious climate science denier, is continuing this long tradition of groups funded by Exxon attacking Watson. Exxon has donated heavily to CFACT and was also involved in the infamous “Victory Will Be Achieved” memo. This memo, assembled by Randol and the American Petroleum Institute, declared in 1998 that “Victory will be achieved when average citizens 'understand' (recognize) uncertainties in climate science.”

The other climate science denier on the witness panel this week was Dr. Patrick Moore, current head of the CO2 Coalition, an organization that grew out of a now-defunct group heavily funded by Exxon.

What did the leader of an organization called “the CO2 Coalition” have to say about carbon dioxide?

“There is no hard evidence that CO2 has anything to do with the change in temperature of the earth’s climate,” Moore told the committee.

In fact, Exxon’s own research accurately predicted the rise in CO2 and temperature which the world has been experiencing.

However, Moore not only made the claim that CO2 doesn’t contribute to atmospheric warming — a concept first demonstrated by Eunice Foote in 1856 — but also said that because humans have been increasing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, they were actually the “salvation of life on earth.” And while plants do use carbon dioxide, more CO2 is not necessarily good for plants.

Not everyone in the hearing seemed interested in the blatantly false statements coming from these industry-backed science deniers. Chairman Huffman noted that the efforts came from the “shadowy corners of these junior varsity think tanks.”

Solutions Amid the Attacks and Noise

Due to the format of Congressional hearings and the general GOP policy of climate science denial, these hearings typically offer very little in the way of solutions or actual debate. However, two of the panelists did speak about the threats to biodiversity and comment on solutions.

Malcom, the scientist from Defenders of Wildlife, called out the success of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.“We have forty some odd years showing that the Endangered Species Act has worked incredibly well and as we all know the American economy has continued to grow throughout that entire time,” he said.

Notably, the Trump administration currently is attempting to weaken the scope and effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act.

Perhaps the most concrete recommendation of the day came from Watson, who recommended that governments stop subsidizing industries that are causing harm to the climate and global species.

“One should get rid of many of these environmentally harmful subsidies in agriculture, energy, and transportation,” Watson told the committee.

With suggestions like these, Watson was an obvious target for industry-funded science deniers like Morano and Moore.

==

==

919

:{:{

}:}:

Eric Hananoki reports that Dale Mensing, a congressional candidate who’s backed by the California Republican Party, wrote that the chemtrails conspiracy theory "is one of the three primary issues” of his campaign and used a video from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as evidence.

===

There is a new coalition in Congress; a bunch of nut job Democrats calling themselves the Safe Climate Coalition. The group held a press conference last week to call for addressing global warming. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-MD, said if Congress doesn't address climate change it will destroy her state possibly sinking the coast. Rep. Jared Huffman D-CA said that the ancient forests and vineyards in his district would disappear along with ruining the infrastructure of his communities and destroying the health of our oceans and coastal fisheries. Rep. Earl Blumenauer D-OR said there would not be any skiing in Vermont and the maple trees in that state would disappear. - See more at: http://mikerowse.com/?cat=4&paged=18#sthash.41LTEtDB.dpuf

==

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article147372484.html

WASHINGTON 

His name is David Longly Bernhardt, and he’s worked as the top lobbyist for California’s Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural entity of its kind in the nation. He’s sued the Interior Department and helped write legislation on behalf of his client. Largely because of his services, Westlands has paid Bernhardt and the law firm where he works $1.27 million since 2011.

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it was nominating Bernhardt to serve as deputy to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. If confirmed by the Senate, Bernhardt will be in a position to influence decisions that could benefit his former client.

Under a executive order signed by President Donald Trump, appointees such as Bernhardt are required to recuse themselves from matters involving former clients, although in the past, waivers have been granted for people in his situation. Zinke on Friday praised the nomination, saying in a statement that Bernhardt’s extensive experience “is exactly what is needed to help streamline government and make the Interior and our public lands work for the American economy.”

Bernhardt’s nomination, however, is already drawing fire from critics, who note that Trump, as a candidate, promised to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists’ influence over the White House and Congress. As president, Trump has placed lobbyists in key positions on his transition team and in his administration, and has adopted ethics rules looser than those of the Obama administration for appointees.

“Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who’s a fierce critic of Westlands. “He should absolutely have to recuse himself from anything having to do with Westlands Water District. That is the most obvious of ethical fault lines here.”

Interior officials said Friday that Bernhardt would have to comply with all federal ethics statutes as well as the administration’s earlier ethics pledge. An Interior spokeswoman said he had undergone “an extensive preclearance examination with the department’s senior ethics officials and the Office of Government Ethics.”

Over the last five years, Bernhardt has sued the Interior Department and lobbied the Justice Department and Congress to finalize a settlement that could be worth more than $375 million to Westlands. The settlement, approved by the Obama administration, involves a decades-old dispute over the toxic irrigation drainage that flows from Westlands’ 600,000 acres. Federal courts have ruled that the federal government is responsible for constructing drainage, but for a variety of reasons – costs and potential environmental damage – the Interior Department has not done so.

Under legislation that Westlands is seeking, the federal government would relieve the water district of its roughly $375 million debt to the federal government and provide it with new water contracts. In exchange, Westlands would retire one-sixth of its acreage and free the federal government of its obligation to build a drainage system that could cost an estimated $3.5 billion.

Westlands officials say the settlement is fair to both farmers and taxpayers. Environmentalists and some in Congress have labeled it a “giveaway.” They complain that the deal includes no clear provisions on how Westlands would manage its tainted wastewater and no clear assurances the federal government will intervene if problems occur.

Bernhardt stepped down as Westlands’ lobbyist in November, when hejoined the Trump transition. Yet before that, he was involved with the drainage settlement and other legislation benefiting his former client. Documents obtained by environmental advocate Patricia Schifferle show he helped write amendments to a $558 million water bill, approved by Congress in December, that steers more water to Westlands and other water districts and eases construction of new dams.

Schifferle and others say that, as the number two official in Interior, Bernhardt could give Westlands preferential treatment in how Interior implements the 2016 water legislation and a future settlement on drainage. He will also be in a position to influence permitting for the $17.1 billion twin tunnels project in California, which could ease deliveries of water to the Westlands and Southern California water districts.

When President Barack Obama was in office, lobbyists were barred from taking jobs at federal agencies they had previously lobbied. When Trump took office, his administration removed such restrictions, with the proviso that former lobbyists had to sign an recusal oath. That oath says they cannot “participate in any particular matter of which I lobbied . . . or participate in the specific issue area in which that particular matter falls.”

Bernhardt’s appointment echoes a similar one from the administration of George W. Bush. His Interior Department hired Jason Peltier, director of the Central Valley Project Users Association, to serve as deputy assistant secretary for water and science. Upon joining Interior in 2001, Peltier recused himself from some decisions involving the water districts he previously represented, including Westlands. Then his superiors granted him an exemption, he said, because of his expertise in California water issues. “I was given dispensation early on because of my knowledge of these issues,” Peltier told The New York Times in 2006.

Made up of roughly 700 farms west of Fresno, Westlands grows about $1 billion in crops yearly, and it includes some of the most lucrative farming operations in the United States.

While Westlands does well during big water years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has reduced its water deliveries during drier years, in favor of environmental requirements and water districts with senior water rights. Westlands has fought those reductions for decades, and last year’s water legislation, crafted at the end by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was a partial victory.

Over the last five years, Westlands has spent more than $3 million lobbying the federal government, with more than a third of that going to Bernhardt’s employer, the Denver law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. After Obama came to office, the water district also hired numerous Bush-era Interior officials, including Peltier, Susan Ramos, Craig Manson and Julie McDonald.

Prior to joining the Brownstein firm, Bernhardt worked at Interior, rising to the department’s number three job, as solicitor, from 2006 to 2008.

Colleagues who worked with Bernhardt – even those critical of the Trump administration – praise Bernhardt’s knowledge of resource law and his skills as a manager. One of those is Eric Nagle, who in February sent out an emailblast urging his fellow Interior lawyers to “stand your ground” and resist indefensible edicts from the new administration.

“I think he (Bernhardt) would be a good pick,” said Nagle, who retired last month from the Interior Department’s Pacific Northwest region. “He’s a principled guy and good manager. He understands the need to follow the law.”

Others, however, say Bernhardt has so many conflicts that many of his decisions will be second-guessed. Not only has he represented agricultural interests and industries that hope to influence Interior decisions, his law firm – Brownstein – represents hundreds of such clients. As McClatchy reported in February, Brownstein also has a financialstake in a California water venture, Cadiz, that was recently successful in overturning a unfavorable permit ruling from the Bureau of Land Management, an Interior agency.

Matt Lee-Ashley, an Interior deputy chief of staff during the Obama administration, said Bernhardt’s appointment was the inevitable result of Trump’s looser restrictions on lobbyist hiring. If Bernhardt is confirmed by the Senate, “It will be difficult for ethnics officials to unpack what kind of conflicts there are, and what kind of recusals are going to be in place,” said Ashley, who works at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Bernhardt, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is hardly the only lobbyist hired by the Trump administration to serve in a department he previously lobbied.

Geoff Burr, formerly a chief lobbyist for a construction industry trade group, now has a job at the Department of Labor, where he reportedly is in line to be chief of staff. As a lobbyist, Burr opposed wage standards for federal construction contracts and standards to limit workers’ exposure to silica dust, according to a reportin ProPublica.

Huffman, who sits on the House Natural Resources Committee, said he didn’t expect that Bernhardt would completely recuse himself from matters involving Westlands and other former clients.

“This is the poster child of the swamp that people thought would be drained by this president,” said Huffman. “Instead it is being restocked by more swamp people.”

Stuart Leavenworth:

===

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/11/keep-it-in-ground-act/

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael)and 16 other members of Congress introduced today the Keep it in the Ground Act. If passed, the bill would reduce carbon emissions by permanently barring new fossil fuel leases on all federal public lands and in federal waters.

Thank you @RepHuffman for introducing a bill to #keepitintheground & end fossil fuel extraction on our public lands pic.twitter.com/xGUChhzaSZ

— Environment America (@EnvAm) February 11, 2016

“Our nation’s capacity to transition towards clean energy sources is expanding at a record pace,” said Rep. Huffman. “However, there is still much to be done to break our unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels. Our oceans and our public lands—including the fossil fuel deposits beneath them—belong to the American people, not to the oil and gas industry, and it’s time that the law reflects that fact.”

Specifically, this legislation would:

“Anyone who does the math of climate change knows we need to keep most fossil fuel underground,” co-founder of 350.org Bill McKibben said. “Public lands—as multiple presidential candidates have pointed out—are the logical place to start, and this is even more obvious in the wake of the Supreme Court stay on the president’s Clean Power Plan. In a record hot world, let’s hope Congress acts on this at record speed; we will do all we can to make it happen.”

This new legislation adds momentum to the Senate Bill introduced in November by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

“Thanks to Representative Huffman’s leadership, we have a concrete plan to help meet the climate goals set in Paris and accelerate our transition onto clean, renewable energy,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said.

In January, the Obama administration announced it was putting an immediate suspension on all future and modified coal leases on public lands, however, this new legislation is much stronger as it includes permanently banning extraction of all fossil fuels.

This bill signifies a strong push by Democrats who are intent on supporting President Obama’s climate agenda, even though passage of this bill is extremely unlikely in the Republican dominated Congress.

The 17 House co-sponsors of the Keep It In The Ground Act include: Jared Huffman (CA-2), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Mike Honda (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Bill Keating (MA-09), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Donna Edwards (MD-04), Alan Grayson (FL-09), Jim McDermott (WA-07), Alcee Hastings (FL-20), Chris Van Hollen (MD-08), Luis Gutierrez (IL-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) and Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03).

“The Keep It in the Ground Act sets the bar for what the U.S. can and should achieve in the global fight to prevent climate catastrophe and to protect our public lands and waters,” Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Marissa Knodel said. “It also serves notice to fossil fuel empires that climate, justice and health advocates will end their reign of destruction.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

How Money in Politics Is Killing Rooftop Solar in Nevada

California Farmers Irrigate Crops With Chevron’s Oil Wastewater in Drought-Stricken Central Valley

Gov. Brown’s Cozy Ties to Oil & Gas Is a Threat to California’s Coast and Democracy

--

Feb 11, 2016

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael)  today introduced the ‘Keep it in the Ground Act’,  legislation that would reduce carbon emissions and our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels by permanently barring new fossil fuel leases on all federal public lands and in federal waters.

“Our nation’s capacity to transition towards clean energy sources is expanding at a record pace,” said Huffman. “However, there is still much to be done to break our unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels. Our oceans and our public lands-including the fossil fuel deposits beneath them- belong to the American people, not to the oil and gas industry, and it’s time that the law reflects that fact. There is an urgent need to keep fossil fuels in the ground if we want to protect the planet for future generations. The ‘Keep It in the Ground Act’ represents a crucial step that the federal government can take to protect the public, prevent carbon emissions, and fight climate change.”

"Anyone who does the math of climate change knows we need to keep most fossil fuel underground. Public lands--as the Democratic presidential candidates have pointed out--are the logical place to start, and this is even more obvious in the wake of the Supreme Court stay on the president's Clean Power Plan,” said 350.org co-founder, Bill McKibben. “In a record hot world, let's hope Congress acts on this at record speed; we will do all we can to make it happen."

"Thanks to Representative Huffman’s leadership, we have a concrete plan to help meet the climate goals set in Paris and accelerate our transition onto clean, renewable energy," said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. "We should seize this opportunity, and lead the world in the fight against climate disruption by keeping dirty fuels where they belong -- in the ground."

“Dependence on fossil fuels is as dated as the technology itself -- we have the ability to move past dirty energy sources that are destroying our planet. The ‘Keep it in the Ground Act’ recognizes it is imperative we combat climate change and protect the lands and waters that belong to us all. Federal lands are adjacent to numerous indigenous communities,’ said Tara Houska, National Campaigns Director, Honor the Earth. “From the Arctic to the Gulf, America's original peoples are already disparately affected by extractive industries -- loss of homelands under rising seas, at-risk cultural practices, contaminated drinking water, skyrocketing rates of cancer -- we must end the era of fossil fuel dependence and fight for the seventh generation.”

Specifically, this legislation would:

The legislation is cosponsored by Ted Lieu (CA-33),  Mike Honda (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Bill Keating (MA-09),  Hank Johnson (GA-04),  Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC),  Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Donna Edwards (MD-04), Alan Grayson (FL-09),  Jim McDermott (WA-07),  Alcee Hastings (FL-20), Chris Van Hollen (MD-08), Luis Gutierrez (IL-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11),  Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03)

The Senate version of the “Keep it in the Ground Act” was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) on November 4, 2015.

:{:{===

}:}: