palich
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/coal-proponent-attacked-federal-regulator-being-run-radical-environmentalists-now-hes"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/coal-proponent-attacked-federal-regulator-being-run-radical-environmentalists-now-hes</font></a></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">In a familiar “fox guarding the henhouse” move, the Trump administration has dispatched former coal association president and conservative commentator Christian Palich to a federal coal mine regulator he previously claimed was “unaccountable” and filled with “unelected” and “radical environmentalist bureaucrats.”</span></div><div><div class="page-gutter layout-content layout-content--main" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 6rem 0px; min-width: 0px; position: relative; grid-column: 3 / span 7;"><div id="block-mmfa-theme-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article role="article" about="/donald-trump/coal-proponent-attacked-federal-regulator-being-run-radical-environmentalists-now-hes" typeof="schema:Article" class="editorial-full" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palich, the former president of the Ohio Coal Association, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">has described</a> himself as a “leading, national voice” on energy issues. He has appeared in the media to praise President Donald Trump for rolling back environmental regulations and has also tweeted anti-environmental propaganda, including that climate change is “junk science” and the Sierra Club wants to “kill jobs & destroy families for a phony cause.” From 2017 to early 2019, he worked as an official at the Environmental Protection Agency. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 30, Media Matters first <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that Palich had recently begun working as a senior adviser for the Department of the Interior. E&E News subsequently <a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2019/07/31/stories/1060818857" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that Palich is specifically working at the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE or OSM), which is under Interior’s jurisdiction. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">OSMRE’s stated <a href="https://www.osmre.gov/about.shtm" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">mission</a> is to clean up “millions of acres of pre- Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) abandoned mine lands and the return of post-SMCRA mined lands to productive and beneficial use.” Palich <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/bernhardt-july_1-20_2019_redacted.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">has</a> <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/bernhardt-june_2019_redacted.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">participated</a> in weekly meetings with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and other senior Interior Department officials since June, according to publicly released secretarial calendars. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to his record of climate denialism, Palich has previously fought directly against the agency where he’s now working. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Palich frequently attacked OSMRE </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">during the debate and drafting of the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44150" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Stream Protection Rule</a></span>, which the agency worked on for much of the Obama administration. The administration <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-finalizes-stream-protection-rule-safeguard-communities-coal-mining" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">finalized</a> the rule in late 2016, which was intended “to prevent or minimize impacts to surface water and groundwater from coal mining.” Congress and the Trump administration then <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/2/2/14488448/stream-protection-rule" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reversed</a> the regulation, giving coal companies “a freer hand in dumping mining debris in streams.” </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2015, Palich <a href="http://www.ohiocoal.com/coal-news/news-2015/07/news-072715-statement.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">complained</a> that it’s “unfortunate the unelected bureaucrats at OSM have ignored the concerns of state regulators and Congress in order to promote a continued radical anti-coal agenda."</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a January 2016 <a href="https://americaswebradio.com/americas-voice-for-energy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">interview</a>, he <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3825036" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a> that all Ohio miners “are at risk because of what the Office of Surface Mining is doing” and claimed that the rule was being pushed “against the will of the people.”</span> </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a February 2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/696715699235000320" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweet</a>, he shared a FoxNews.com op-ed by right-wing commentators <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/the-torture-memos-10-years-later/252439/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">John Yoo</a> and <a href="https://fedsoc.org/staff/dean-reuter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Dean Reuter</a> and commented: “All great points & being in the #coal industry we see everyday just how unaccountable</span> @EPA, @OSMRE, & @Interior are.” </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palich wrote a July 21, 2016, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Columbus Dispatch</em> <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/article/20160721/OPINION/307219833" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">op-ed</a> claiming that the Stream Protection Rule “is a rule in search of a purpose - one that is more about politics than environmental protection - and from a federal agency that has clearly lost its way.” </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also claimed that OSMRE wrote the stream rule to create more jobs for itself. In the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dispatch</em> op-ed, he wrote that it “will do more to pad a bureaucratic agency’s budget than protect streams.” And after the rule was revoked in February 2017, Palich <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/830611561941176324" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> that it “would have made 64% of coal reserves uneconomic & destroyed 280,000 jobs in mining sector. Only creating more bureaucrat oversight jobs.” </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2017/02/its_a_great_day_for_fossil_fue.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">added</a> in February 2017 that the rule was “devised by radical environmentalist bureaucrats” and “was never about the environment and was always about carrying out the Obama Administration's nonsensical war on coal." </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2017, the administration <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060064777" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">nominated</a> coal consultant and climate denier Steven Gardner to head OSMRE, prompting criticism from environmental groups. Like Palich, Gardner has also been a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-mining-regulator-nominee-was-once-dropped-by-the-agency-for-doing-junk-work" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">vocal critic</a> of OSMRE. He <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060096085" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">withdrew</a> his nomination in September 2018, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/09/07/the-energy-202-kavanaugh-says-he-sometimes-sides-with-environmentalists-they-disagree/5b91a18d1b326b32de918b11/?noredirect=on" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">citing</a> a long “back and forth with the Office of Government Ethics over the conditions for an ethics agreement.”</span> </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department also recently appointed William Perry Pendley as the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management. As a right-wing commentator, Pendley <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/new-bureau-land-management-head-complained-federal-employees-arent-held-personally" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacked</a> his current agency and has argued that the federal government should sell its public lands.</font></p></div></div></div></div></article></div></div><div class="layout-content layout-content--main layout-content--main-lower" style="box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; position: relative; grid-column: 3 / span 7;"><div class="views-element-container" id="block-editorial-post-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="js-view-dom-id-dcbb1fd8baded28ea6f4584e47bc2ad440145a280c4090e6e0a87e6ddeaa4987" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="views-row" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="editorial-fullpost" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8.7rem;"><aside class="editorial-fullrelated field field--name-field-related field--label-above spotted-cap" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; padding-bottom: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 3rem;"><h2 class="section-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related</font></span></h2><div class="aside-block aside-block--tint aside-block--wide l--gutter-pull" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 1; background-color: rgb(247, 249, 251); padding: 58.625px; margin-left: -58.625px; margin-right: -58.625px;"><ol class="editorial-list editorial-list--inline fielditems" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; display: grid; gap: 60px 60px; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);"><li class="fielditem editorial-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><article role="article" about="/legacy/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group" typeof="schema:Article" class="teaser-compact--major article article--compact editorial-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 class="editorial-compacttitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">New Interior Department senior adviser Christian Palich is a climate denier and former coal group president</font></a></h3><p class="dateline-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.3rem 0px 0px; align-items: center; display: flex; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="dateline-compacttype" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink"><svg id="article" viewbox="0 0 24 24" /></use></svg><font size="4"><path d="M0 1h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h18v4H0z" fill="inherit" fill-rule="evenodd" /></font></span><time datetime="2019-07-30T15:17:04-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/30/19 3:17 PM EDT</font></time></p></article></li><li class="fielditem editorial-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><article role="article" about="/legacy/bureau-land-management-senior-official-william-perry-pendley-feds-should-sell-public-land" typeof="schema:Article" class="teaser-compact--major article article--compact editorial-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 class="editorial-compacttitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/bureau-land-management-senior-official-william-perry-pendley-feds-should-sell-public-land" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Bureau of Land Management senior official William Perry Pendley: Feds should sell public land, environmentalists want to “destroy” civilization</font></a></h3><p class="dateline-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.3rem 0px 0px; align-items: center; display: flex; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="dateline-compacttype" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink"><svg id="article" viewbox="0 0 24 24" /></use></svg><font size="4"><path d="M0 1h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h18v4H0z" fill="inherit" fill-rule="evenodd" /></font></span><time datetime="2019-07-22T12:04:31-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/22/19 12:04 PM EDT</font></time></p></article></li><li class="fielditem editorial-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><article role="article" about="/legacy/new-bureau-land-management-head-complained-federal-employees-arent-held-personally" typeof="schema:Article" class="teaser-compact--major article article--compact editorial-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 class="editorial-compacttitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/new-bureau-land-management-head-complained-federal-employees-arent-held-personally" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">New Bureau of Land Management head complained that federal employees aren’t held “personally responsible for the harm that they do”</font></a></h3><p class="dateline-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.3rem 0px 0px; align-items: center; display: flex; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="dateline-compacttype" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink"><svg id="article" viewbox="0 0 24 24" /></use></svg><font size="4"><path d="M0 1h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h24v4H0zm0 6h18v4H0z" fill="inherit" fill-rule="evenodd" /></font></span></p></article></li><li class="fielditem editorial-list__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/30/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group/224357"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/30/new-interior-department-senior-adviser-christian-palich-climate-denier-and-former-coal-group/224357</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The Department of the Interior has hired former coal association president and right-wing energy commentator Christian Palich as a senior adviser.</b> Palich previously appeared in the media to praise President Donald Trump for rolling back environmental protections and has tweeted that climate change is “junk science” and the Sierra Club wants to “kill jobs & destroy families for a phony cause.” </font></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the Trump administration, the Department of the Interior has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">rolling back</a> environmental protections and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/the-damage-done-by-trumps-department-of-the-interior" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">pursuing actions</a> to benefit the oil and gas industry. A <a href="https://medium.com/westwise/the-drilling-and-mining-industry-wish-list-5e748641765e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">recent analysis </a>by the Center for Western Priorities found that the department “has completed or taken action on at least 53 policy changes requested or supported by energy companies and associations as of June 2019.” </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2018, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/science-under-siege-department-interior-2018" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">report</a> documenting that senior political officials at Interior “have unleashed constant—and ongoing—attacks on science, from sidelining the work of the agency's own scientists to systematically refusing to acknowledge or act on climate change.” The House recently held a hearing in which former Interior employees <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/43jkdg/scientists-say-the-trump-administration-is-censoring-their-climate-research" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">said</a> that the department had suppressed its work on climate change. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palich’s hiring continues the department’s anti-environmental trend. Palich, who states on his <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-palich-19450827/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">LinkedIn page</a> that he started <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/bernhardt-june_2019_redacted.pdf#page=15" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">working</a> at Interior last month, was previously the president of the <a href="https://www.morningjournal.com/news/ohio/ohio-coal-sales-dropped-in-trump-gives-industry-hope/article_91207d05-771c-58a2-a35e-3c62c0b64100.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">pro</a>-<a href="https://www.facebook.com/OhioCoalAssn/photos/a.408487392510586/1582296915129622/?type=1&theater" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Trump</a> Ohio Coal Association from 2013 to 2017. From April 2017 to February 2019, he worked as the deputy associate administrator for congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency -- an appointment that <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/article/20170917/NEWS/170918690" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">drew</a> <a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/05/10/conflicts-interest-taint-trumps-environmental-picks-top-7-examples" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">criticism</a> from environmentalists because of his coal industry connections. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the first half of 2019, he <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-palich-19450827/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">briefly</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190410025735/http://www.siekmanandsiekman.com/meet-the-team/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">worked</a> as the vice president of government and public affairs at the lobbying firm <a href="http://www.siekmanandsiekman.com/clients-partnerships/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Siekman, Siekman & Associates</a>. In his now-removed biography for the firm, Palich touted his role as a commentator in the media, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190410025735/http://www.siekmanandsiekman.com/meet-the-team/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">describing</a> himself as a “leading, national voice” on energy issues and noting that he has <b>“appeared multiple times on Fox & Friends, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Fox Business, and NBC” and been “published in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and across Ohio media.” </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Palich praised Trump in the media for undoing environmental protections. He <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/embed/clips/2019/07/29/67313/fnc-ff-20170329-christianpalich" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">appeared</a> on the March 29, 2017, edition of one of the president’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">favorite programs</a>, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Fox & Friends</em>, and <b>hailed Trump for <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/trump-to-roll-back-obama-climate-actions-power-plant-emissions-rule.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">signing</a> an order rolling back President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, calling it a “great day” </b>and saying that “we have a president of the United States that stands with” the coal industry. He also praised Trump in a November 25, 2016, <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/article/20161125/OPINION/311259818" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">op-ed</a>in <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">The Columbus Dispatch</em>, writing: “Just as he recognized an untapped potential in the American electorate, Trump recognizes similar potential in American coal. Making America Great Again will create a huge demand for energy -- and coal, with all of its technological advancements, will be there to meet it.” </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Palich has frequently attacked climate science and environmentalists </b>on his Twitter account. Here are some examples: </font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to President Barack Obama’s 2014 State of the Union <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/january-28-2014-2014-state-union-address" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">speech</a>, he <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/428356448519585792" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">wrote</a>: “I walked to work in -7 temps this morning same day #POTUS says the debate on global warming is settled. Seems legit... #SOTU.” </font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/637270808797184001" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">wrote</a> of the Clean Power Plan in August 2015: “Even if you buy #EPA's bad science (which I don't), #CPP is still bad policy for America.” </font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In November 2015, he <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/664269013699039232" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">wrote</a> that the Sierra Club wants to “kill jobs & destroy families for a phony cause.” </font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February 2016, he <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/699725298447704064" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">tweeted</a> in response to Obama’s criticism of Republicans for not wanting to act on climate change: “Not destroying our economy over junk science & a radical enviro agenda. Sign me up. #GOP #CoalCountry.” </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After Trump’s election, he </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/796331095801348096" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">tweeted</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Time to push fight back on all the radical enviro regs that have been illegally been brought on America over last 8 yrs.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> @realDonaldTrump.” He also </span><a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/796427153680297985" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">tweeted</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: “Really enjoying the radical enviro panic right now. Americans flat out rejected this agenda yesterday by a large margin. #CoalCountry.” </span></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January 2017, he <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/822535807533772801" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">celebrated</a> the news that the new Trump White House had deleted references to climate change from its website, tweeting: “Looks like there is a new sheriff in town. #MAGA.” </font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He also attacked his future employers and colleagues while working for the Ohio Coal Association. In a February 2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/CRPalich/status/696715699235000320" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">tweet</a>, he promoted a FoxNews.com <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/our-next-presidents-challenge-the-unaccountable-bureaucracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">op-ed</a> by <b>right-wing lawyers <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/the-torture-memos-10-years-later/252439/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">John Yoo</a> and <a href="https://fedsoc.org/staff/dean-reuter" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Dean Reuter</a>, who claimed that the federal government bureaucracy is unaccountable</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>. </b>Palich wrote: “All great points & being in the #coal industry we see everyday just how unaccountable @EPA, @OSMRE, & @Interior are.” </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Media Matters</em> previously documented that <b>William Perry Pendley, who has just been <a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2019/07/29/stories/1060807233" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">made</a> acting chief of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management</b>, is also a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/17/senior-bureau-land-management-official-right-wing-pundit-who-has-said-climate-change-isn-t-real-and/224235" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">climate denier</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Pendley has additionally </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/22/bureau-land-management-senior-official-feds-should-sell-public-land-environmentalists-want-destroy/224290" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">argued</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that the federal government should sell its public lands, that environmentalists want to “destroy” civilization, and that diversity is killing people. Pendley’s appointment comes as two former directors of the bureau “say plans to move the agency’s headquarters to Colorado are an early step toward abolishing the entire agency and transferring millions of acres of federal land to the states,” as Bloomberg </span><a href="https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/ex-blm-chiefs-say-interior-is-moving-to-transfer-land-to-states" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">reported</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div>