MacDonald, Julie

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</div><div>no color on node?</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">=</div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">
</div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://moneytrails.org/issue/independent-petroleum-association-of-america-ipaa/">https://moneytrails.org/issue/independent-petroleum-association-of-america-ipaa/</a></div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">
</div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">follow the money trails ipaa:</div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 40px; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Other Interior Officials Have Also Met With IPAA</h3>FWS Director Nominee And Former Monsanto Employee Aurelia Skipwith Has Been Involved In Sage Grouse Protection Rollbacks And Spoke At The IPAA.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Skipwith’s Calendars Show She Has Been Involved In The Rollback of Sage Grouse Protections And Spoke At The Independent Petroleum Association Of America (IPAA). “According to her publically released calendars, Skipwith has been deeply involved in the Trump administration’s rollback of habitat protections for the imperiled sage grouse and spoke at the oil and gas association Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) regulators’ forum.” [DailyKos, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/11/1884850/-Trump-Nominates-Former-Monsanto-Employee-as-Director-of-U-S-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">09/11/19</a>]<ul style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 30px 25px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><li style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">The IPAA Is A Former Client Of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.  “The IPAA is a former client of Secretary Bernhardt’s whose political director was caught on tape laughing about the connections and access they have within the Trump administration,” stated O’Neill.” [DailyKos, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/11/1884850/-Trump-Nominates-Former-Monsanto-Employee-as-Director-of-U-S-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;">09/11/19</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Skipwith Sent Memos To FWS And The National Park Service Requesting Rules Regarding Bear And Wolf Killings Be Reviewed. “In July 2017, Skipwith sent memos to the National Park Service and FWS requesting they review rules that prevented hunters from killing bears and wolves using extreme techniques, like  baiting the animals with greasy doughnuts, ambushing mothers with pups in dens and shooting animals from boats while the bears are swimming,’ said O’Neill.” [DailyKos, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/11/1884850/-Trump-Nominates-Former-Monsanto-Employee-as-Director-of-U-S-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service" style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;">09/11/19</a>]</li></ul><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder;">Current Deputy Solicitor for Parks and Wildlife Solicitor <span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder; background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Karen Budd-Falen Met With The Oil Industry Lobbyists Who Helped “Rewrite” Obama-Era Sage Grouse Management Plans<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">On June 13, 2019, Karen Budd-Falen had a meeting with representatives from the Independent Petroleum Association Of America (IPAA). In a calendar event titled simply, “Meeting,” Karen Budd-Falen met with people with the email addresses mmiller@ipaa.org and dnaatz@ipaa.org. [Karen Budd-Falen Calendar,<a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Karen_Budd-Falen_printable_calendar_foia_SOL_2019.64_Nov_1_to_Jan_30_1_Redacted-1.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;"> <span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">06/13/19</a>]<ul style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 30px 25px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><li style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Mark Miller Is A Past Chairman Of IPAA And President Of Merlin Oil & Gas. [IPAA.org,<a href="https://www.ipaa.org/mark-miller/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"> accessed 09/26/19</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Dan Naatz Is A Lobbyist For IPAA. [Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database,<a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=B83784B4-68A4-4BAF-97E2-A8B052CA4669&filingTypeID=60" style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"> accessed 09/26/19</a>]</li></ul><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder;">IPAA’s Lobbyists Were “Integrally Involved In Rewriting Sage-Grouse Conservation Plans.” “During the Trump administration, IPAA has been integrally involved in rewriting sage-grouse conservation plans. Documents obtained by the Western Values Project indicate that IPAA lobbyists secured numerous meetings with key Interior Department officials, providing an entré for specific companies to give input into sage-grouse plans. In one instance, IPAA arranged phone calls for Chesapeake Energy, ConocoPhillips, and EOG Resources to ask BLM for specific revisions to sage-grouse maps. During the process of amending the sage-grouse conservation plans, IPAA submitted formal comments recommending specific policy changes. It appears that certain IPAA recommendations — such as cutting requirements to offset habitat damage from development with conservation gains elsewhere — were accepted by the BLM, either partially or in full, as a part of the agency’s draft plans.” [Center For Western Priorities,<a href="https://medium.com/westwise/analysis-bernhardt-linked-oil-and-gas-companies-own-more-than-20-percent-of-all-oil-and-gas-47f5c3b5ba90" style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;"> <span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">03/14/19</a>]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Current Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior James Cason Met With IPAA After Rumors Of Bernhardt’s Nomination To Be Secretary Began To Circulate<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Cason Served as Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior until Bernhardt’s Nomination was Confirmed. Rumors of Bernhardt’s nomination to Deputy Secretary began circulating in January 2017. Cason joined the Trump Administration as Associate Deputy Secretary on January 20, 2017, and served as Acting Deputy Secretary until David Bernhardt was confirmed in July 2017. [ProPublica, <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/beachhead" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">03/08/17</a>; Washington Post, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/senate-confirms-interior-deputy-despite-conflict-of-interest-claims/?utm_term=.275ab2ebd549" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">07/24/17</a>]<ul style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 30px 25px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Cason’s “Task List” Included Meeting With IPAA. February 17: “Asked to rescind the 113 Financial Assurance orders from small energy companies.” [<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4389567-DOI-Deputy-Secretary-Task-List-3-17-17.html#document/p19/a406782" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;">Cason Task List</a>;<a href="https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rL2bONoceiOY/v0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"> Bernhardt Recusal Letter</a>;<a href="https://www.ipaa.org/about/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"> About IPAA</a>]</li></ul><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Interior Chief Of Staff Todd Willens Met With IPAA<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder;">On April 26, 2018, Todd Willens had an external meeting with IPAA. They topics discussed at this meeting were MBTA, Mitigation, and the proposed removal of blanket 4(d). In addition to IPAA staff, this meeting included an employee of Noble Energy, which is also on Bernhardt’s recusal list. [Todd Willens Department Of Influence Profile, <a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/todd-willens/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s;"><span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">accessed <span class="te" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px -0.225em; padding: 0px 0.15em; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; position: relative; display: inline-block; z-index: 9;">10/16/19</a>, Todd Willens Calendar, 04/26/18]<h3 style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 40px; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">IPAA And Its Members Spend Millions On Campaign Contributions</h3></div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">
</div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"></div></div><div>==</div>see Endangered by Tobin 2010

heavy handed intimidation

30. Julie MacDonald — A top Interior Department appointee, MacDonald “<a href="http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2009/jan/02/endangered_species_process_abused_wildlife_service/">interjected herself personally and profoundly</a>” and “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/16/bushs-interior-department_n_151307.html">tainted nearly every decision</a> made on the protection of endangered species” over a five-year period, intimidating the staff with “<a href="http://www.doioig.gov/uploadPDF/Kendall_073107.pdf">abrupt and abrasive, if not abusive</a>”

tactics. MacDonald also leaked government documents to a young

acquaintance whom she met while playing “internet role-playing games.” ALSO LARGE EPA FILE TO CHEVRON

Julie

dem udgd<div>
Julie MacDonald - MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary at the

Interior Department resigned “about a week before a House committee was

set to hold hearings on political interference with biologists,” and “a

month after the department's inspector general issued a stinging report

that said she violated federal rules by giving industry lobbyists

internal agency documents and rode roughshod over agency scientists.”
<div>=</div><div><div>=</div><div>desmog bernhardt</div><div>
</div><div>In his<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3766823-Bernhardt-David-L.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> public financial disclosure reports</a>, Bernhardt listed himself as a former board member and volunteer to the <a href="http://polluterwatch.org/center-environmental-science-accuracy-reliability-cesar" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Environmental Science Accuracy and Reliability (CESAR)</a>. According to Greenpeace's PolluterWatch project, CESAR produced regular reports outlining regional threats to different species in order to support and file lawsuits against the Endangered Species Act. </div><div>
</div><div>In 2012, the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pacific_Legal_Foundation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Pacific Legal Foundation </a>filed a<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121222064749/http://www.pacificlegal.org/document.doc?id=651" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> petition on behalf of CESAR </a>to delist a population of killer whales. CESAR's other targets have included the<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181219025342/http://www.bestscience.org/hookless-cactus.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> hookless cactus</a> and the<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170116062041/http://www.bestscience.org/sage-grouse.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> sage grouse</a>. The group's<a href="https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/petition-seeks-delisting-of-pacific-northwest-orcas/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> consultants have included</a> Julie MacDonald, a former Interior Department deputy assistant secretary who was found by the department’s inspector general to have meddled in scientific decisions on endangered species listings during the George W. Bush administration. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2866551-DonorsTrust-2014.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">In 2014</a>, CESAR received a $10,000 donation from the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/who-donors-trust" style="text-decoration-line: none;">“dark money” group DonorsTrust.</a> It received <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3224937-Charles-G-Koch-Charitable-Foundation-2015.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$25,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation in 2015</a>.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/david-bernhardt#s14" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> [14],</a> <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/david-bernhardt#s15" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[15]</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/david-bernhardt#s16" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[16]</a></div><div></div></div><div>=</div><div>dept of influence</div><div>
</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">David Bernhardt, in 2008, wrote a memorandum defending the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that “wolves within the western region of the Great Lakes…were not an endangered or threatened species.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">David Bernhardt, in 2008, wrote a memorandum defending the 2007 decision by FWS revising “the listing of the gray wolf under” ESA after determining that “the wolves within the western region of the Great Lakes were a ‘distinct population segment’ (DPS) of gray wolves generally and that they were not an endangered or threatened species.” Bernhardt wrote that FWS “had clear authority to make these determinations.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[“<a href="https://solicitor.doi.gov/opinions/M-37018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Memorandum on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Authority under Section 4(c)(1) of the Endangered Species Act to Revise Lists of Endangered and Threatened Species to ‘Reflect Recent Determinations</a>,'” Department of the Interior, 12/12/08]The Office of Solicitor at the Department of the Interior oversees the Interior Department’s Ethics Office. During Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt’s tenure the Interior Department was beset by ethical issues. In one example, Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald was forced to resign “after Interior’s inspector general issued a scathing report exposing her bullying of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists, doctoring scientific reports and passing [nonpublic] sensitive information to industry lawyers and lobbyists.” David Bernhardt, as solicitor, could have stopped her doctoring of scientific reports, but he did not do so. Instead he was “part of Interior’s Executive Resources Board, which gave Julie MacDonald…a cash award of $9,628,” even though “the award lacked the required documentation of what MacDonald did to deserve it.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">The Office of Solicitor at the Department of the Interior “performs the legal work for the United States Department of the Interior,” which includes overseeing “the Ethics Office.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[<a href="http://www.doi.gov/solicitor-dev/about" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">http://www.doi.gov/solicitor-dev/about</a>]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">As Solicitor at the Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt “handle(d) legal work and manage(d) its ethics office.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[Mark Matthews, “<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2016/04/09/colorado-lobbying-firm-brings-clout-to-dc/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Colorado Lobbying Firm Brings Clout to DC</a>,” Denver Post, 04/21/16]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">David Bernhardt said, “I view the role of the Solicitor as being the chief legal officer of the Department. In that capacity, the Solicitor serves as the principal legal advisor to the Secretary and is responsible for all legal work in the Department, except that delegated to the Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Inspector General, the Legislative Counsel, and the Justices of the American Samoa.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[<a href="https://www.congress.gov/109/chrg/shrg28197/CHRG-109shrg28197.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Orbach, Karsner, Spurgeon, and Bernhardt Nominations</a>, Hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 03/09/06]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald resigned “after Interior’s inspector general issued a scathing report exposing her bullying of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists, doctoring scientific reports and passing sensitive information to industry lawyers and lobbyists.”[Gale Courey Toensing, “<a href="https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/interior-solicitor-david-bernhardt-in-the-spotlight/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight</a>,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">More specifically, in May 2007 she resigned from the department after being “criticized” in an inspector general’s investigative report that found she “repeatedly” asked Fish and Wildlife scientists to change their research recommendations on endangered species and criticized “her conduct severely.” The report noted that MacDonald operated under the principle “does the science fit the policy?” rather than taking the research at face value.She was accused of, and admitted to, sending “nonpublic” information to “public sources” on several occasions during her tenure at the department. She sent at least two emails to addresses ending in chevrontexaco.com, including one “large EPA file,” and one about a proposed EPA watershed rule that she admitted “probably wasn’t releasable.” She also sent a document about the Delta smelt to an “on-line game friend” she was acquainted with through “internet role-playing games.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">As solicitor, David Bernhardt had the final legal say on MacDonald’s work classifying endangered species through a review process that escalated up through the various solicitors’ offices. Her work often reached the deputy solicitor’s desk, and if they disagreed on an issue, the decision would have been escalated to Bernhardt. Bernhardt told the inspector general that he viewed MacDonald as a “legal client” to whom he gave advice.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[Department of Interior Office of the Inspector General “<a href="https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/Macdonald.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Report of Investigation – Julie MacDonald</a>,” 12/01/06, Elizabeth Williamson, “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101920.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Interior Dept. Official Facing Scrutiny Resigns</a>,” Washington Post, 05/02/07, and Charlie Savage, “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/washington/16interior.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=D68D719FDD8E00115C732E735ACB923F&gwt=pay" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Report Finds Meddling in Interior Dept. Actions</a>,” New York Times, 12/15/08]<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">David Bernhardt was “part of Interior’s Executive Resources Board, which gave Julie MacDonald, the ‘disgraced… Deputy Secretary of Interior,’ a cash award of $9,628 in 2005 for her work in 2004.” She resigned “after Interior’s inspector general issued a scathing report exposing her bullying of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists, doctoring scientific reports and passing sensitive information to industry lawyers and lobbyists. The award lacked the required documentation of what MacDonald did to deserve it.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[Gale Courey Toensing, “<a href="https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/interior-solicitor-david-bernhardt-in-the-spotlight/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight</a>,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]In another example, according to “a report by the Interior Department’s inspector general,” employees in the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) “‘frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives,'” while allowing oil companies to “avoid paying royalties for offshore-drilling rights,” at a cost to taxpayers of “as much as $10.5 billion over about 25 years.”From 2002 to 2006, according to “a report by the Interior Department’s inspector general,” MMS employees “‘frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives.'” Inspector General Earl Devaney said MMS made “mistakes” allowing oil companies to “avoid paying royalties for offshore-drilling rights,” which would “cost taxpayers as much as $10.5 billion over about 25 years.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 29.45px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[Stephen Power, “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122107135333120223" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Federal Oil Officials Accused In Sex and Drugs Scandal</a>,” Wall Street Journal, 09/11/08]</div></div>