Bernhardt,d esq

DOI

see BERHARDT 2 DOI

pendley #2

mofo promote primary 12/18 sage grouse frack

poster boy for? just another asshole lawyer?

see dereg 4 (--> derg tag)

U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva and committee member Rep. Katie Porter are investigating an alleged bribery scheme in which they believe a real estate developer donated to a super PAC aligned in support of former President Donald Trump in exchange for pardons for two other men.

The two Democrats wroteto Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Friday, calling on her department to release all documents related to the pardons of Dwight and Steven Hammond, who had been convicted in 2012 of setting fires on public lands they had leased after illegally killing deer on the land.The two men were sentenced to five years in prison with time served in 2015, sparking right-wing protests including a 40-day armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Grijalva (Ariz.) and Porter (Calif.) believe real estate developer Mike Ingram—who was the subject of the Natural Resources Committee's first-ever criminal referral regarding another potential bribery case involving a clean water permit for one of his developments—secured the Hammonds' pardons in 2018 with a $10,000 donation to the America First Action, Inc. Super PAC.

According to the letter, Ingram's assistant emailed a Trump Interior Department official on May 25, 2018, attaching two articles arguing for the Hammonds to be pardoned. On July 1, a Republican lawmaker who supported the Hammonds tweeted that Trump was "seriously considering" pardoning them.

One day later, Ingram made his donation, and just over a week after that Trump announced he was pardoning the Hammonds.

"Mr. Ingram made only one other $10,000 donation during the 2017-2018 nonpresidential election cycle," wrote Grijalva and Porter. "That donation was the subject of the committee's criminal referral regarding the Villages at Vigneto development [in Arizona]. In that case, Ingram and 12 other individuals, many of whom maintained personal or professional relationships with Ingram, donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Trump Victory Fund and the Republican National Committeeon the same day or within just a few days that a major federal action regarding Vigneto was made in Ingram's favor."

"The parallels between the Vigneto case and the Hammonds' pardons raise significant concerns about another potential case of bribery under the Trump administration and warrant further investigation," they added.

On social media, Porter noted that she and Grijalva uncovered the evidence of Ingram's alleged bribe "while investigating a possible $240,000 quid pro quo scheme between the Trump administration and a developer."

"We're requesting documents to help us get to the bottom of [the Ingram case]," Porter said. "I have zero tolerance for corruption."

ref 1 ltr

december 2, 2022 The Honorable Deb Haaland Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Secretary Haaland: On May 11, 2022, the House Committee on Natural Resources (Committee) presented evidence of likely bribery involving former U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary David Bernhardt and Villages at Vigneto developer Mike Ingram, in the Committee’s first-ever criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 1 The Committee has now uncovered another potential incident of bribery involving Ingram and senior Trump administration officials through its review of documents obtained in that investigation. In 2012, ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted of arson on federal lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 2

According to DOJ, the Hammonds informed BLM that a fire they had started on Hammond's private property to burn off invasive species had inadvertently spread to public lands. However, witnesses, including a relative, later came forward and testified that Steven Hammond had instructed companions to drop lit matches on the ground, with the effect of destroying evidence that a Hammond hunting party had illegally slaughtered deer on the BLM lands. By law, arson on federal lands carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.3 The district court in the Hammonds’ case ordered sentences far below this requirement, citing Eighth Amendment concerns, but a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the illegal sentences and ordered the district court to resentence the Hammonds in compliance with the law.4 The U.S. Supreme Court denied cert, 5 and on October 7, 2015, the district court imposed five-year prison terms on each of the Hammonds,...

credit for time already served.6

On July 10, 2018, President Trump signed Executive Grants of Clemency

(Full Pardons) for both Hammonds.7

Documents obtained in the Committee’s Vigneto investigation indicate that Mike Ingram used his unique

access to high-ranking Trump administration officials to advocate for these pardons. In an email dated

May 25, 2018, Mr. Ingram’s executive assistant sentBen Cassidy, DOI’s Senior Deputy Director for

External and Intergovernmental Affairs, two articles on the topic, including an op-ed arguing for pardons

for the Hammonds (see Attachment 1).

On Sunday, July 1, 2018, a vocal proponent for pardoning the Hammonds shared in a tweet that

“President Trump called me to say he is 'seriously considering' pardoning Dwight and Steven

Hammond.”9

This was the first public acknowledgement that a pardon was under consideration.10

On Monday, July 2, 2018, the next business day, the Federal Election Commission database shows that

Mr. Ingram made a $10,000 out-of-cycle donation to the America First Action, Inc. Super PAC.11 The

America First Action, Inc. Super PAC describes itself as “dedicated to supporting President Trump | We

are the only Official Pro-Trump Super PAC.”12 On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, President Trump signed

Executive Grants of Clemency (Full Pardons) for both Hammonds.13

Mr. Ingram made only one other $10,000 donation during the 2017–2018 non-presidential election

cycle.14 That donation was the subject of the Committee’s criminal referral regarding the Villages at

Vigneto development. In that case, Ingram and 12 other individuals, many of whom maintained personal

or professional relationships with Ingram, donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Trump

Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee on the same day or within just a few days that a

major federal action regarding Vigneto was made in Ingram’s favor.All other donations from Ingram

during this election cycle were $5,400 or less.

House Rule X(1)(m) provides the Committee with jurisdiction over the subject matters within DOI’s

authority. The parallels between the Vigneto case and the Hammonds’ pardons raise significant concerns

about another potential case of bribery under the Trump administration and warrant further investigation.

notes

6 Department of Justice. (2015, October 7). Eastern Oregon Ranchers Convicted of Arson Resentenced to Five Years in Prison

[Press Release]. https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/eastern-oregon-ranchers-convicted-arson-resentenced-five-years-prison

“Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Clemency for Dwight and Steven Hammond” Trump White House

Archives. July 10, 2018. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regardingexecutive-clemency-dwight-steven-hammond/

8 Attachment 1 is also included as Attachment 59 in the Committee's referral to the Department of Justice regarding the Villages

at Vigneto incident, available here: https://naturalresources house.gov/media/press-releases/chair-grijalva-rep-porter-referformer-interior-secretary-bernhardt-villages-at-vigneto-developer-to-justice-department-alleging-criminal-bribery

9 Walden, G. [repgregwalden]. (2018, July 1) Late Saturday afternoon, President Trump called me to say he is ‘seriously

considering’ pardoning Dwight and Steven Hammond. [Tweet]. Retrieved from

https://twitter.com/repgregwalden/status/1013455435502964738.

10 The Congressional Research Service (CRS) completed a search on November 9, 2022 for news reports that indicated the White

House was seriously considering a pardon for the Hammonds before July 2, 2018. They found none.

11 United States. (2018) U.S. Federal Election Commission FEC. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individualcontributions/?contributor name=Ingram%2C+Michael&contributor name=Mike+ingram&two year transaction period=2018

12 America First [AmericaFirstPAC]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Twitter. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from

https://twitter.com/AmericaFirstPAC

13 “Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Clemency for Dwight and Steven Hammond” Trump White House

Archives. July 10, 2018. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regardingexecutive-clemency-dwight-steven-hammond/

14 United States. (2018) U.S. Federal Election Commission FEC. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individualcontributions/?contributor name=Ingram%2C+Michael&contributor name=Mike+ingram&two year transaction period=2018

To assist the Committee’s investigation of this issue, please provide the following documents and

information as soon as possible, but no later than December 15, 2022:

All documents and communications relating to Dwight or Steven Hammond between all

presidential appointees requiring the advice and consent of the Senate (PAS), presidential

appointees not requiring appointments (PA), noncareer Senior Executive Service (SES), or

Schedule C appointees at DOI or the Bureau of Land Management for any part of 2017 or 2018

and

a. Mike Ingram or Michael Ingram;

b. Any representative ofEl Dorado Holdings,including but not limited to ,

Michael (Mike) Reinbold, Jim Kenny, Dennis Krahn, Eric Hollensbe, Deb Bricker, Chris

Grogan, Linda Cheney, and June Prinz.

c. Any person representing the America First Action Inc. and America First Policies, Inc.

PACs, including but not limited to:

i. Brian O Walsh;

ii. Thomas O Hicks, Jr.;

iii. Roy W Bailey;

iv. Harold Hamm;

v. Jonathan T Proch;

vi. Joseph Ahearn;

vii. Erin Montgomery;

viii. Sean Spicer;

d. Any White House Office personnel;

e. Dwight Hammond;

f. Steven Hammond;

g. Anyone from Lawrence Matasar PC;

h. Anyone from Ransom & Blackman LLP; and

All documents relating to a pardon for Dwight or Steven Hammond.

Please contact the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee staff at (202) 225-6065 with any questions

about this request. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Raúl M. Grijalva Katie Porter

Chair Chair

Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and

Investigations

Committee on Natural Resources

ref 2

12.02.22

Chair Grijalva, Rep. Porter Seek Documents on Another Incident of Potential Bribery under the Trump Administration

Washington, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Katie Porter (D-Calif.) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland requesting documents regarding a second incident of potential bribery between senior officials in the Trump administration and real estate developer Mike Ingram. Previously, the lawmakers sent the Committee’s first-ever criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleging potential bribery regarding a Trump administration decision about Ingram’s proposed real estate development, the Villages at Vigneto in Benson, Arizona.

The full letter to DOI is available :{here:(style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:700"):}:.

In their letter, Chair Grijalva and Rep. Porter describe evidence that Ingram, a businessman with unique access to high-ranking Trump administration officials, may have unduly influenced former President Trump’s decision to pardon convicted public lands arsonists Dwight and Steven Hammond in exchange for a sizeable donation to a pro-Trump Super PAC.

The letter lays out the following timeline of events:

May 25, 2018 – Ingram’s executive assistant sends an email to Ben Cassidy, DOI’s Senior Deputy Director for External and Intergovernmental Affairs, with two articles arguing for pardons for the Hammonds, including anop-ed by Trump-era Bureau of Land Management Director William Perry Pendley.
July 1, 2018 – A proponent for pardoning the Hammonds tweets that President Trump is “seriously considering a pardon.
July 2, 2018 – Ingram makes a $10,000 out-of-cycle donation to the America First Action, Inc. Super PAC.
July 10, 2018 – President Trump pardons the Hammonds.

Ingram’s only other $10,000 donation during the 2017–2018 non-presidential election cycle was the donation that triggered the Committee’s investigation into—and subsequent criminal referral about—the Villages at Vigneto development. As the letter points out, “The parallels between the Vigneto case and the Hammonds’ pardons raise significant concerns about another potential case of bribery under the Trump administration and warrant further investigation.”

Background on the Villages at Vigneto Criminal Referral

On May 11, 2022, after a years-long investigation, Chair Grijalva and Rep. Porter sent the Committee’s first-ever criminal referral to DOJ outlining evidence of potential bribery between Trump administration officials, including then-DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, and Ingram regarding the Villages at Vigneto (Vigneto) real estate development.

The Committee’s investigation began in April 2019 when the Arizona Daily Star reported that Steve Spangle, a now-retired Field Supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Arizona office, claimed he was directed by a “high level politico” to reverse the agency’s decision about Vigneto in late 2017. Later reporting revealed that then–DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt was the “politico.”

The investigation found that—shortly after holding asecret breakfast meeting with Dep. Secretary Bernhardt—Ingram and 12 other individuals, many of whom maintained personal or professional relationships with him, donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Trump Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee. All of the donations occurred on or near Oct. 6, 2017, the same day that a major federal action regarding Vigneto was made in Ingram’s favor.

Weeks later, on Oct. 26, 2017, Spangle officially reversed FWS’ decision on Vigneto, marking the final greenlight for the development.

Concurrent with standard practice, DOJ has not yet commented on whether they have pursued the investigation.

Press Contact

Media Contact: Lindsay Gressard

202-225-6065 | cell: 202-740-4715

40 pp emails

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/open_government/pdfs/Center-Letter-to-Inspector-General-to-Reopen-Bernhardt-Investigation-19-0434.pdf

12/20

no cites

Honorable Mark Lee Greenblatt Inspector General U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240

Re: Request to Reopen Investigative Report of Alleged Improper Influence by the Secretary of the Interior in the FWS Scientific Process (Report Number: 19-0434) Dear Inspector General Greenblatt:

We write to you today to request that you consider reopening investigation 19-0434 regarding Secretary Bernhardt’s role in the review and delay of three biological opinions that evaluated the impacts of pesticides on endangered species. We have obtained significant new information that suggests Secretary Bernhardt omitted or deliberately misled investigators from the Office of the Inspector General regarding several material facts and key events in the timeline of this issue. These documents were obtained recently through the Freedom of Information Act, but should have been available to your inspectors, and at the outset raise concerns about the thoroughness of your investigation.

If Secretary Bernhardt did in fact willfully omit material information, that may constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which makes it is unlawful for anyone in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, to knowingly and willfully “falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact.” First, your report states that Secretary Bernhardt claimed: “he did not remember why he made this request, but someone at the EPA or the Council on Environmental Quality might have told him” about the biological opinions.1 This is extremely implausible. On October 5th, 2017 from 12:00-12:35pm eastern time, Secretary Bernhardt held a teleconference with Nancy Beck and Erik Baptist (then general counsel at EPA) entitled “Introductions.”2 Just minutes after that call ended, at approximate 12:49 eastern time on October 5th, 2017, Secretary Bernhardt wrote to Assistant Director for Ecological Services Gary Frazer, “Acting” Director Greg Sheehan, and Todd Willens the following email: “All: I apologize for the request, but I need to be updated on the status of consultations related to pesticides.” We are unclear why the Inspector General could not find this email.3

More importantly, your report states that: “Bernhardt told us he was ‘extremely troubled’ when he reviewed the draft biological opinion for malathion.”4 This begs a critical question not apparently reviewed by the Inspector General: Who provided Secretary Bernhardt a copy of the biological opinion and when did he review it? By the Fish and Wildlife Service’s own admission, the biological opinion is nearly 3000 pages long. Was Bernhardt given a complete copy? Was he provided a link to the shared drive that housed the biological opinion?

Documents previously obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Secretary Bernhardt received a summary PowerPoint and briefing document from Assistant Director Frazer on October 8th, 2017, but not a copy of the biological opinion itself.5 Thus, under the narrative set forth in your report, Secretary Bernhardt would like the public to believe that some point between October 5th 2017 and November 2nd 2017, he reviewed the biological opinions (each 3000 pages long), assessed their legal correctness and decided that the Fish and Wildlife Service should redo its draft based on his conclusions and the agreement of the Department of Interior Solicitors, and there is nothing more to the story. However, newly uncovered documents suggest that this was not the case. On October 20th, 2017 Secretary Bernhardt has a “Call with EPA” with Nancy Beck and Erik Baptist.6

On October 24th, 2017 Secretary Bernhardt has a “3rd Call” with Nancy Beck and Erik Baptist.The very next day, career staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially briefed Secretary Bernhardt on the contents of the biological opinions. Right after this meeting, Secretary Bernhardt had another “follow up call” with Nancy Beck, Erik Baptist, andMicahel Dourson, who was then the Senior Advisor to Administrator Pruitt. Whether or not Secretary Bernhardt reviewed the draft opinions prior to that day or only after the briefing is not clear, nor does the Inspector General report suggest that its investigators inquired into this vitally important fact.

Critically, on October 30th, 2017, a physical meeting occurred at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, that is described in the subject line of Secretary Bernhardt’s calendar as: “NEC PCC: ESA Section 7 (Read Ahead Attached).” Invited to this meeting by Mr. Bernhardt were the following political appointees: Ray Starling from the Executive Office of the President,Michael Catanzaro from the Executive Office of the President, Jordan Bonfitto from the Executive Office of the President, John Moran from the Executive Office of the President, Francis Brooke from the Executive Office of the Vice President, Mary Neumayr from the Council on Environmental Quality, Alexander Domesle from the Council on Environmental Quality, Christopher Prandoni from the Council on Environmental Quality,Nancy Beck from the Environmental Protection Agency, Erik Baptist from the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen Vaden from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rebeckah Adcock from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Todd Willensfrom the Department of Interior, James Uthmeier from the Department of Commerce, and finally Michael Dourson from the Environmental Protection Agency. What occurred during this meeting was unknown until recently, when a partially-redacted email sent by Michael Dourson to Secretary Bernhardt was released to the Center for Biological

Diversity under the Freedom of Information Act, and only after two years of litigation. On or about November 2nd, 2017, Michael Dourson wrote an email to Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt which says the following:

Dear David We very much appreciate your hospitality yesterday and the opportunity to view the draft Biological Opinions. I got a much better sense of our options and will be working with senior leaders here to formulate a set of limited options for Administrator Pruitt to consider. Obviously, we look forward to working with you on this complex issue. Any insights would be very welcome. I list a larger set of options below, one of which may be your preferred approach. Your thoughts on these would be extremely valuable, as well as any new ideas. Cheers! Michael…

The day after this meeting, Secretary Bernhardt met again with Assistant Director Gary Frazer. Within a day, Assistant Director Frazer and the FWS Solicitor’s Office drafted a letter to EPA requesting more information on usage data for Chlorpyrifos, based on directions provided by Secretary Bernhardt to alter course on the biological opinions. Under the law, all biological opinions completed under Section 7(a)(2) must be based on “the best scientific and commercial data.” We understand that in your report, career officials stated to you that Secretary Bernhardt’s intervention “influenced the legal interpretation of the ESA” that was used in the biological opinion, and that “it was not the norm but not unusual,” and that it was “not unprecedented.”7

However, we are deeply concerned that your investigation failed to uncover the possible influence of numerous political appointees far beyond Secretary Bernhardt, including the Executive Office of the President, the Executive Office of the Vice President, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (which has no formal role in this consultation) and potentially other political appointees. If Secretary Bernhardt employed a clever pretext for his actions that is legally defensible, but in fact only obscured the political motivations and improper influence on the process, then that is not acceptable or in accordance with the law. Accordingly, we ask the Inspector General to answer the following key questions: 1) On what day, by what manner, and by whom was the draft biological opinion on malathion conveyed to Secretary Bernhardt? Was he given the entire opinion in full, or an abridged summary? 2) What information was transmitted to political officials within the White House’s Office of the President, Office of the Vice President, Council on Environmental Quality, U.S

...

820

i get bernhaRDT and wheeler confused, but both key in suicidal dereg; both savvy enough to use levers of power and not get busted for corruption like zinke and pruitt? pendejo? jorjani perjury seems like a long shot? motive? trump likes any dereg because it makes him seem ideologically aligned with GOP, fits into is story that he alone will cut red tape to bring back mfg jobs? dereg talk even boost stock mkt. will please corp donors aND bring in more $

https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/david-bernhardt

made mojo villain list:

David Bernhardt, United States Secretary of the Interior

Since joining Trump’s Department of the Interior, Bernhardt has shown complete deference to the wishes of the extractive industries that he long served as a fossil-fuel-industry lobbyist (clients included Halliburton and the U.S. Oil and Gas Association). In 2018, he led an effort to strip protections from 9 million acres of the imperiled sage-grouse habitat, opening up the land to oil drilling. More recently, his department has worked to lease portions of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for, you guessed it, more drilling — a decision so destructive that even a number of major banks have vowed not to fund oil-and-gas operations there. Executives with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, one of Bernhardt’s former clients, were recorded in 2017 bragging of their “direct access” to Bernhardt and of having “conversations with him about issues ranging from federal land access to endangered species.”

desmog 2x?

https://www.desmogblog.com/david-bernhardt

Affiliations

United States Department of the Interior (DOI) — Deputy Secretary (Since August 2017). Solicitor (2006 – 2009), Deputy Solicitor (2005 – 2006), Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior (2004 – 2005), Counselor to the Secretary and Director of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (2001 – 2004), Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior (March – April 2001). [1], [21]
:{Center for Environmental Science Accuracy and Reliability (CESAR) :(style="font-weight:700"):}:— Board member and volunteer, resigned subsequent to his 2017 disclosure report submission. [14]
Bernhardt Brothers Land and Cattle LLC — Board Member,since 2012. [14]
Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries — Board member/gubernatorial term appointment (2012–2016). [14]
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck — Former shareholder and department chair, natural resources. Associate (August 1998 – March 2001). [4]
The Honorable Scott McInnis, U.S. House of Representatives — Various legislative aide positions (1993-1998). [21]
Stuver & George, P.C. — Law Clerk (May - August 1992). [21]

https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/liz-cheney-panned-for-bemoaning-grizzly-bear-protections-championed-by-indigenous-groups-because-theyre-destroying-our-western-way-of-life/

no lnx

Liz Cheney panned for bemoaning grizzly bear protections championed by indigenous groups because they’re ‘destroying our western way of life’

Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams August 4, 2019

Native tribes and their supporters on Friday defended their push for the continued inclusion of the grizzly bear of Yellowstone National Park on the endangered species list, after Rep. Liz Cheney claimed the protection of the bear violates the “Western way of life.”

The bear was officially returned to the list created by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Tuesday, nearly a year after a federal judge found that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority when it attempted to remove the species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) sought to allow trophy hunters to shoot the Yellowstone bears, whose population in the park is just over 700, and to open up the public lands for fossil fuel industries. Native tribes including the Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribes joined with the Humane Society and Wildearth Guardians to fight the administration.

When the bear was officially returned to the list this week, Wyoming Republican Cheney claimed that the so-called “radical” groups were “intent on destroying our Western way of life” and had pushed for a rule that was “needless and harmful to the ecosystem.”

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (RMTLC), which testified at a congressional hearing in May on the Tribal Heritage and Grizzly Bear Protection Act, took issue with Cheney’s suggestion that hunters and oil companies’ desire to profit off the demise of the grizzly bear trumps the heritage of native tribes and the need for biodiversity.

“So, in striving to protect our culture, our religious and spiritual freedoms, our sovereignty, and our treaty rights—all of which are encapsulated in the grizzly issue—we are ‘destroying’ Cheney’s idea of the ‘Western way of life’?” Tom Rodgers, senior adviser to the RMTLC, told Native News Online.

“I would remind the congresswoman that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition an estimated 100,000 grizzly bears roamed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast,” he added. “That was all Indian Country. Now there are fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears and our people live in Third World conditions on meager reservations in the poorest counties in the U.S. Does she really want to talk about ‘destroying’ a ‘way of life’?” asked Rodgers.

Progressive congressional candidate Mckayla Wilkes was among the critics who took to social media to slam Cheney’s comments, calling them “absolutely surreal” considering the centuries-long and continued destruction of Native tribes’ “way of life” by numerous government policies.

colorado dark fossil fuel $

brownstein https://maplight.org/story/interior-nominee-and-his-lobbying-firm-have-donated-almost-1-million-to-senators/

SITE:

Department of Influence

The Department of Influence was created by the Western Values Project to document the revolving door between special interest lobbyists and political appointees at the Department of the Interior.

https://departmentofinfluence.org/

https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/david-bernhardt/

3/19

Trump administration is moving to permit a handful of private companies to start using seismic surveys in the Atlantic. This destructive tool in the oil exploration industry can cause marine creatures — including dolphins, whales, fish and zooplankton — catastrophic harm, including death.

"I will tell you we wouldn't work really really hard to get the [Atlantic] seismic permits out, if it was an area that wasn't going to be available," said Joe Balash, who oversees the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency responsible for permitting the Atlantic seismic permits and crafting the five-year drilling plan. When Balash says that area is going to be "available," he means they intend to make the Atlantic coast available to oil companies to drill.

The League of Conservation Voters has led efforts to halt drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic and other areas where drilling has been off-limits. We've organized and put pressure on members of Congress and we're currently suing the Trump administration to block its Arctic drilling plans.We can stop the Trump administration again, but we need your help.

The League of Conservation Voters is fighting on many fronts — climate action, clean water, healthier air. Your support is needed more than ever. Please donate to LCV right now — even $5 can help. Every gift will be triple matched »

There's more to this fight — the Senate also just announced that oil lobbyist David Bernhardt'sconfirmation hearing to be Interior Secretary has been scheduled for next Thursday. Believe me — if confirmed, Bernhardt, who currently oversees the Interior Department as the Acting Secretary, will ram through Trump's plan for drilling in the Atlantic and in other oceans off our beaches.

Murkowski anxious to get Interior, DOE picks moving

By Geof Koss in E&E Daily Friday, March 15, 2019

:{:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}:

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski is looking to schedule a confirmation hearing for Interior secretary nominee David Bernhardt before the end of the month.

https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/01/29/fracking-industry-gas-flaring-problem

In 2018, the oil and gas industry operating in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale burned off record amounts of natural gas, largely obtained via hydraulic fracturing (fracking). This process, known as flaring, costs the industry money — it literally burns one of the products being pumped out of the ground — but more importantly, the resulting release of globe-warming emissions of carbon dioxide and methane spells disaster for the climate.

And a new analysis of satellite evidence indicates the industry is likely underreporting how much gas it is actually flaring in the Permian Shale, with implications for other oil fields.

According to the Bismarck Tribune, the amount of gas flared in North Dakota in October was enough to heat 4.25 million homes in America. And while the fracking industry in North Dakota is flaring the most gas in the nation, it's not the only place this is a growing issue. Flaring reportedly also doubled in 2018 in the booming Permian Shale in Texas and New Mexico, with an estimated $1 million a day of gas burned off.

In addition, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) recently analyzed satellite data and concluded that the industry is likely underreporting the actual volumes of gas flared in the Permian. EDF says that the real numbers are closer to double what the industry reports.

Differences in reported versus unreported gas flaring in the Permian Basin in Texas. Credit: Environmental Defense Fund

This increase in flaring is just one more example of how the oil and gas industry has recklessly pushed forward with the so-called “shale revolution,” producing record amounts of oil while losing money and showing blatant disregard for the environment and climate along the way. It is also an excellent example of how federal and state regulators are allowing this to happen.

Fracking Oil in America Means Flaring Gas

Flaring has alway been a part of oil production, conventional or otherwise. Natural gas often is found with oil reservoirs and when adequate infrastructure doesn't exist to capture both the oil and gas, the gas is flared, or burned, while the oil is captured and sold. (Natural gas is primarily methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, and burning it transforms the methane to water and carbon dioxide, which is perhaps the best-known greenhouse gas.)

Flaring did not begin with fracking's modern introduction to oil and gas fields, but the rush to develop shale fields via fracking seems to have encouraged the practice in recent years. For comparison, let's look at Iraq.

In Iraq, where the oil industry has been rebuilding after the damages of the Iraq War, production currently falls between 4 and 5 million barrels of oil per day, using conventional drilling methods. Compare that with the approximately 4 million barrels per day of oil producedvia fracking in the Permian Basin.

Iraq's industry has been flaring billions of dollarsof gas because there is no infrastructure to capture it, a situation companies there are moving to remedy but one which will require large investments in gas processing facilities. Iraq is working with several foreign corporations to construct the infrastructure and aims to end flaring by 2021, a move projected to save over $5 billion in the next four years.

Original image: Gas flaring in southern Iraq in 2014. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory, public domain wow]

However, the companies fracking for oil in America’s major shale plays appear less interested in building adequate capacity, which hasn't been built in the first place, to capture the gas they currently flare. This isn't a technological problem.

A new report from the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota suggests that North Dakota should capture the gas and store it underground, a common method of storing gas. But as the Aliso Canyon disastermade clear when an uncontrolled leak spewed methane from a gas storage facility in southern California for several months, the approach is not without its risks. However, it is the cheapest option.

John Harju, vice president for strategic partnerships at the EERC, told the Associated Press that capturing the gas and using pipelines to move it to processing facilities is always the ideal way to handle it. However, the best option is often the most expensive option.

“The economics aren't great, but it is economic under the right circumstance,” Lynn Helms, the director of North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources, said of the proposed underground gas storage plan, according to the trade publication Natural Gas Intel.

If the industry can make money capturing the gas, it will. If not, it will continue flaring.

North Dakota's Flaring Guidelines Do Little to Reduce Flaring

In April 2018, North Dakota updated its flaring regulations based on changes “submitted by an industry group” that were supposed to result in reduced flaring. The state's main oil and gas industry lobbying group is the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC), which is supported by the American Petroleum Institute.

According to The Associated Press, Kari Cutting, NDPC vice president, reportedly told the newspaper that the “oil industry is committed to meeting the flaring targets, even if it means cutting back on crude production.”

“We’ll do what we have to do,” Cutting said.

However, the language in the new guidelines actually gave the oil companies more options to flare. For example, according to the guidelines: “The initial horizontal well drilled … should be allowed to produce at its maximum efficient rate, regardless if the well is connected to a gas gathering system.” [Emphasis added.]

Predictably, North Dakota set records for oil production and flaringin 2018, after the new flaring guidelines were announced. So much for the oil industry's commitment to reducing flaring even if it requires reducing oil production.

North Dakota oil production may decline in 2019 but that would be tied more to the drop in oil prices in late 2018.

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And with an estimated $10 billionmore in infrastructure needed to address the North Dakota flaring issues, the fracking industry, which continues to lose money, especially with current low oil prices, appears unlikely to address flaring on a significant scale any time soon.

Ron Ness, president of the NDPC, confirmed this in remarks to the Bismarck Tribune, saying the necessary investment wasn’t going to come “right away” because “[o]ur productivity has just outpaced the expectations on gas so much.”

And so flaring will continue on the Great Plains.

Federal Regulations on Flaring and Venting Natural Gas Repealed

At the end of the Obama administration in 2016, the Bureau of Land Management released new regulations “to reduce waste of natural gas from venting, flaring, and leaks during oil and natural gas production activities on onshore Federal and Indian leases.”

After Trump took over, however, the agency decided to review this new rule and in October 2018 released a revised, relaxed form of those regulations.

At the time of the release, David Bernhardt, now the acting Secretary of the Interior, explained the purpose of the changes: “We’re fulfilling a commitment to a policy vision the president established to promote clean development of our resources without regulation that encumbers business, restrains growth, and prevents job creation.”

Satellite image of U.S. flaring in 2018. Credit: SkyTruth wow]

The Midland Reporter-Telegram, a newspaper in the heart of the Permian, summarized the gutting of the Obama-era regulations, which included the removal of “requirements pertaining to waste minimization plans, gas-capture percentages, well drilling, well completion and related operations, pneumatic controllers, pneumatic diaphragm pumps, storage vessels, and leak detection and repair.”

Or as Matt Watson of the Environmental Defense Fund explained to The New York Times: “This is a complete dismantling of federal methane regulation in the United States.”

One of the main arguments for weakening these natural gas and methane regulations was that implementing them would have been cost prohibitive for some small oil and gas producers and would have caused them to stop operations.

Fracking's Many Climate Impacts

“Drilling Towards Disaster,” a new report by Oil Change International, outlines how fracking is driving oil and gas production in America (and being exported to the rest of the world) and the dangers this poses by driving future climate impacts at a time when rapid decarbonization of the global economy is required.

By essentially providing no real limitations on flaring, state and federal regulators are allowing the oil and gas industry to produce record amounts of oil, which accelerates climate change when the oil is burned. However, the situation also releases additional carbon dioxide when the gas is flared, without providing any economic benefit, such as powering millions of American homes.

Additionally, the methane that is leaked in the supply chain, and in some cases intentionally vented into the atmosphere, adds to global warming. Methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide in the short term.

And even with the Trump administration rolling back a number of environmental regulations like the rules for methane flaring and venting, the oil and gas industry is looking for still more deregulation from the federal government.

With the federal government now open after a 35-day-long shutdown, it's back to business as usual.

omg

swamp thing 2/19

Trump has announced he will nominate David Bernhardt as secretary of the Interior Department. Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist, has been the agency’s acting secretary since Ryan Zinke stepped down in December amid multiple scandals and ethics investigations. Bernhardt was confirmed as deputy secretary of the interior in 2017, where he helped roll back regulations overseen by the department.He worked to make the approval for land and offshore drilling projects easier, and proposed limiting protections for endangered species. Bernhardt also ordered some furloughed workers back to work during the government shutdown to push through on oil and natural gas drilling permits, offshore drilling and drilling in the Alaska refuge.

// pruitt ding dong gulp!

https://earther.gizmodo.com/ryan-zinkes-replacement-is-a-fresh-nightmare-for-public-1831147375

Noted oil and gas lover Ryan Zinke is on his way out the door at the Department of Interior. And like fellow grifter Scott Pruitt who also left us too soon, Zinke’s temporary (for now) replacement is much less scandal-plagued and much more laser-focused on gutting the agency.

David Bernhardtis currently the Department of Interior’s second in command, but he’ll ascend to acting secretary once Zinke leaves at the end of the year (and could remain there since he’s already been confirmed by the Senate and the administration has recently struggled finding qualified people to fill key roles). Like Andrew Wheeler who took over for Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency, Bernhardt worked as a lobbyist for the exact industries that will now try to curry favor with him as acting secretary. He’s been called a “walking conflict of interest,” and if his past record is any indication, he’ll be more than happy to let the industries whose bidding he’s done get their way to the detriment of public lands.

Bernhardt worked for the George W. Bush administration, then became a lobbyist for companies with business before the department, and then came back to Interior last year. During his stint with Interior under Bush, Bernhardt rose to solicitor general. Along the way, he helped push for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) while ignoring scientific guidance suggesting that might not be a good idea. But it’s his most recent efforts lobbying are the biggest red flags because they bring with them a host of entanglements.

After the Bush administration, Bernhardt joined Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, and Schreck as a lawyer and lobbyist for all the bigs: Big Oil, Big Gas, Big Mining and Big Agriculture. His work for these groups has left him with a laundry list on his ethics forms of recusals whenever they have an issue come before the Department of the Interior. Halliburton, the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, Rosemont Copper Company, and Statoil are on that list. All have business on Department of Interior lands or proposals before the agency.

Along the way, he filed suits against the Department of Interior for a number of these groups. Among his greatest hits are suing on behalf of the Westland Water District—home to some of California’s biggest farmers—over a $375 million drainage dispute, or the state of Alaska to get oil exploration rights within ANWR. As a lobbyist, Bernhardt also pushed bills that would make offshore drilling easier. The Trump administration has pursued these issues with gusto and reports indicate that Bernhardt has been a driving force, showing that even though he has recused himself from dealing with firms he’s represented, he’s still helped create policies that benefit them. Not all those policies have been successful or even remotely close to popular, but the business-friendly turn of the department has been one of the Trump administration’s hallmarks.

“Bernhardt was behind most of that work already and will continue to ignore science and the input of career professionals to try to jam through his objectives,” Joel Clement, a former Department of Interior whistleblower and fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, told Earther. “The difference now is that the courts are no longer the only institutions in his way. The House will finally hold him and his team accountable so it’s unlikely they can play as fast and loose with rules and norms as they did the previous two years.”

With Democrats taking over the house next month, oversight promises to become more stringent. Before leaving, Zinke was set to enter what would likely have been a world of pain. He had at least 17 ethics investigations inside the department and more scrutiny was almost surely on the way, particularly after he personally attacked Representative Raul Grijalva, the likely incoming chair of the House Natural Resources Committee that oversees the department. Bernhardt doesn’t come with the personal baggage of Zinke, but his convoluted past is already on Grijalva’s radar.

“His years of lobbying on behalf of clients who stand to profit from Interior policy decisions are cause for serious concern,” the Arizona Democrat said in a statement to Earther. “We intend to continue conducting vigorous oversight of how Interior political appointees arrive at major policy decisions, who they consult, who they ignore, and who stands to benefit financially. Deputy Secretary Bernhardt should be prepared to answer those questions early in the new Congress, and so should Secretary Zinke’s successor.”

12/18 predictably

https://www.ecowatch.com/greater-sage-grouse-2622600663.html

no lnx

Feds Move to Slash Sage Grouse Protections For More Oil & Gas Development

The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management published proposals on Thursday designed to roll back critical measures that protect the imperiled greater sage grouse on public lands in order to boost fossil fuel development and mining in the American West.

The spectacular bird once numbered 16 million and roamed across 13 Western U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. But rampant oil and gas development and other factors have cut its habitat in half. Its population has significantly plunged to an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 individuals across 11 western states and southern Alberta.

In 2015, the charismatic bird saw a glimmer of hope with the Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan, which then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called a "truly historic moment—one that represents extraordinary collaboration across the American West." A remarkable coalition of scientists, ranchers, environmental groups, extractive industries, federal agencies and state and local governments worked together to create a management plan for the keystone species.

As the New York Times explained, that Obama-era effort to protect the sage grouse set out to ban or sharply reduce drilling in 10.7 million acres of its habitat.

But the Trump administration's plan would effectively limit the grouse's protected habitat to a mere 1.8 million acres, "essentially opening up nine million acres of land to drilling, mining and other development," the paper said.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke started the process last year when he signed a secretarial order to overhaul the Obama administration plan.

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt defended Thursday's move."I completely believe that these plans are leaning forward on the conservation of sage grouse," Bernhardt told The Associated Press.

"Do they do it in exactly the same way? No. We made some change in the plans and got rid of some things that are simply not necessary," he added.

Conservation groups blasted the Trump administration's proposal. The Audubon Society pointed out that more than 40 thousand Americans have urged Secretary Zinke to honor the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse conservation agreement.

"Out West we know a deal is a deal. To have plans that took years of work, backed by good science and strong public support, brought into question is disheartening, a waste of tax-payers money and will threaten our public lands," Brian Rutledge, director of Audubon's Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative, said in a press release.

The Center for Biological Diversity said it's not just the sage grouse at risk, but also hundreds of other sagebrush-dependent wildlife species.

"These plans show that Zinke will stop at nothing to make it easier for polluting industries to mine and frack every last acre of the West," Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release emailed to EcoWatch. "This is a huge step backward for greater sage grouse and for hundreds of other species that depend on unspoiled public land."

Bobby McEnaney, senior director for the Western Renewable Energy Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council had similar sentiments.

"It's hard to pretend at this point that Zinke is a steward of America's public lands: he acts more like a pillager," McEnaney said in an online statement. "This rolls back a conservation plan that was carefully crafted by states, ranchers, conservationists and public officials to protect this iconic western bird and the unique sagebrush landscape it inhabits. Zinke's move to unravel it is his single largest land use decision to date. It has no basis in science—it's a bald-faced giveaway to the oil and gas industry."

===

https://www.ecowatch.com/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-ok-of-corporations-plan-to-drain-california-desert-aquifier-2513542263.html

Lawsuit Challenges Trump's Approval of Corporation's Plan to Drain California Desert Aquifer

Conservation and health-safety groups filed suit on Tuesday in federal court challenging the Trump administration's approval of an enormous groundwater-mining and pipeline project in Southern California. The Cadiz water project, approved without environmental review, includes the construction of a pipeline through the Mojave Trails National Monument and other public lands in the area.

Tuesday's lawsuit notes that the Trump administration reversed two Obama administration decisions and wrongly concluded that the Cadiz project's 43-mile pipeline did not require any federal Bureau of Land Management permits or approvals. The BLM is allowing the developer to build the pipeline within an existing railroad right-of-way, paving the way for Cadiz to pump 16 billion gallons of water a year from the fragile desert aquifer to sprawling new developments in Southern California.

"The Cadiz project will suck the desert dry while developers count their money," said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's an unsustainable water-privatization scheme. Pumping ancient groundwater from the Mojave Desert to water suburban lawns in Orange County will devastate desert wildlife and the entire ecosystem relying on that water for survival."

If allowed to move forward, the Cadiz water-mining project would drain life-giving springs in the Mojave Trails National Monument and surrounding public lands, killing vegetation and destroying key habitat for a host of desert wildlife, including the threatened desert tortoises, bighorn sheep, Mojave fringe-toed lizards and kit foxes. Hydrologists from the U.S. Geological Survey determined that the Cadiz project is unsustainable and that the company's privately funded study vastly overstates the aquifer's recharge rate.

"The Trump administration's approval of the Cadiz project is crony capitalism at its worst," said Adam Keats, senior attorney with the Center for Food Safety. "So much life relies on this precious desert groundwater, yet under Trump apparently the only thing that matters is how much money you have and who your friends are in government."

The project's approval followed the appointment of David Bernhardt, a deputy Interior Department secretary and former lobbyist for Cadiz. Bernhardt's former employer, the Washington-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, continues to represent Cadiz.

"Cadiz, Inc. is just another corporation looking to profit by selling off an irreplaceable public resource," said Greg Loarie, an attorney at Earthjustice who is representing the groups filing suit. "The Trump administration would love to give Cadiz a free pass around our environmental laws, but we're not going to let that happen."

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety have also filed public records requests for documents that could shed light on the Trump administration's abrupt decision to allow the Cadiz project to move forward. In addition to Earthjustice, the groups are represented by Adam Keats at the Center for Food Safety and Aruna Prabhala and Lisa Belenky at the Center for Biological Diversity.

https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/david-bernhardt/

The Deputy Secretary of the Interior Department “serves as a Chief Operating Officer for the Department, managing everyday operations throughout the nine bureaus and various offices” and also “serves as a key leader for the implementation of several important departmental initiatives, including the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, the land consolidation component for the Cobell Settlement, and water policy and relations throughout the Western drought season.”

David Bernhardt, an oil and gas lobbyist and former George W. Bush administration official,has passed back and forth through the revolving door between government and industry. Bernhardt began his career in the 1990s working for Scott McInnis (R-CO) before taking a position in the “Washington lobbying” operation of Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber, where he lobbied on behalf of oil and chemical companies. In 2001, Bernhardt went to work for the Interior Department, where he served in high-level positions including Deputy Chief of Staff, Counselor to the Secretary, and Solicitor.

While at Interior, Bernhardt worked on “some of the most contentious environmental issues of President Bush’s tenure, including snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” His time at Interior was marred by scandal, including when he replaced independent government analysis in congressional testimony with reports funded by oil companies, oversaw the forced resignation of a whistleblower, and served as Counselor to the Secretary when J. Steven Griles, the “second-ranking official of the Interior Department,” was involved in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.

In 2009, Bernhardt returned to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, and became the head of its newly created “Washington, D.C.-based department focusing on energy and the environment.” His Brownstein Hyatt clients included oil, gas, and “mining companies seeking to use resources on federal lands and Indian reservations.”

Previous Employers

Background Information on Employers of Note:

David Bernhardt, from 1998 to 2001, worked in the “Washington lobbying” operation of Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber.

David Bernhardt, from 1998 to 2001, worked in the “Washington lobbying” operation of Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber. While working there during this period he “lobbied Congress and federal administrative agencies on behalf” of companies in the oil and chemical industries, including Delta Petroleum Corp. and a maker of lead paint. Delta Petroleum Corp. “was lobbying for offshore drilling.”

Bill McAllister, “Colo. Native gets key Interior post,” *Denver Post*, 05/25/01, “[The Ungreening of America: Behind the Curtain,” Mother Jones, 09-10/03, and Gale Courey Toensing, “Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]

David Bernhardt, in 2001, also lobbied for Precision Castparts Corporation, a subsidiary of Timet-Titanium Metals Corp which is a company that manufactures “complex metal components and products” and is the “leading producer of airfoil castings for the industrial gas turbine market.”

“[Precision Castparts Corp,” Legistorm, accessed 03/07/17, and Legistorm Bio for David Longly Bernhardt, accessed 03/07/17]

David Bernhardt, in 2009, returned to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, and became the head of its newly created “Washington, D.C.-based department focusing on energy and the environment” in 2013.

Since 2009 he has been a shareholder at this firm, where he represents companies in “rulemakings, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and environmental and permitting reviews,” including oil, gas, and “mining companies seeking to use resources on federal lands and Indian reservations,” and his clients include “mining companies who intend to develop potash or copper resources on private, state, and Federal lands.”

“[David Longly Bernhardt,” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, accessed 01/18/17, and Kalayaan Teodoro, “Law firm opens office focusing on energy, environment in Washington, DC,” SNL Daily Gas, 04/17/13]

David Bernhardt now leads a division at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP.

David Bernhardt now leads a division at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP that “seeks to help companies navigate the administrative, political and legal challenges of developing energy…on public lands.”

“[David Longly Bernhardt,” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, accessed 01/18/17 and Phil Taylor, “Former Interior solicitor to head firm’s new energy practice,” Energy and Environment, 04/10/13]

David Bernhardt lobbied for an energy company formed and operated by a Russian oligarch on legislation to “delay two new sets of air pollution limits facing coal-fired power plants.”

Access Industries is a multinational conglomerate with a subsidiary that is “one of North America’s leading domestic oil and natural gas producers.” The subsidiary has “a large footprint in emerging shale plays across the United States.” Russian oligarch Len Blavatnik, the chairman of Access Industries, founded the company in 1986.

Access Industries, “[EP Energy,” accessed 03/13/17, and “BP retreats from Russia,” The Economist, 06/09/12]

David Bernhardt lobbied for Access Industries in 2011 and 2012 on H.R. 2401, the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act (TRAIN Act). This was a bill to “create a new Cabinet-level committee to study the cumulative effects of new EPA rules facing the power sector” and “delay two new sets of air pollution limits facing coal-fired power plants.” Environmental groups criticized this legislation, saying it would “pollute the air we breathe” and “expose our children, families, and communities to toxic air pollutants that cause illness and developmental disorders.”

“[Access Industries 2011 Third Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “Access Industries 2011 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “Access Industries 2012 First Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “Access Industries 2012 Second Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, Gabriel Nelson, “EPA: Republican TRAIN amendments try putting brakes on more rules,” Energy and Environment, 09/20/11, and John Walke, “Oppose the TRAIN Act, the Worst Air Pollution Bill Ever to Reach the House Floor,” Natural Resources Defense Council, 09/20/11]

David Bernhardt lobbied for Cobalt International Energy on multiple bills to expand offshore oil and gas drilling, including drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Environmental groups said the bills would “set the stage for environmental disaster” and would “‘leave oversight of offshore drilling weaker” than it was before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

David Bernhardt lobbied for Cobalt International Energy in 2011 on H.R. 1229, the “Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act,” which was a bill to “require the Interior Secretary to issue decisions on permit application for offshore energy production in the Gulf of Mexico within 60 days” and automatically approve permits after 60 days “regardless of whether they met safety and cleanup standards.”

“[Cobalt International Energy 2011 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “How They Voted,” The Huntsville Times, 05/15/11, and “GOP Reaffirms Its Energy Plan: Oil Above All,” Center for American Progress Action Fund, 05/11]

David Bernhardt lobbied for Cobalt International Energy in 2011 and 2012 on H.R. 1230, the “Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act,” which would have “reverse[d] the Obama administration’s decision” to postpone oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and cancel oil and natural gas lease sales off the Virginia Coast.

“[Cobalt International Energy 2011 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “Cobalt International Energy 2012 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, and Mark Passwaters, “House passes bill requiring lease sales in Gulf of Mexico, off Va. Coast,” SNL Daily Gas Report, 05/11/11]

David Bernhardt lobbied for Cobalt International Energy in 2011 and 2012 on H.R. 1231, the “Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act,” which was a bill to “require the federal government to lease at least 50 percent of available unleased acreage off the West Coast, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and much of the East Coast, every five years.” Environmental groups called the legislation the “‘Law of Eventually Drilling Everything.'”

“[Cobalt International Energy 2011 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, “Cobalt International Energy 2012 Fourth Quarter Report,” United States Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, accessed 03/08/17, and Susanne Rust, “California Oil Drilling: Congress Considers Offshore Drilling,” Huffington Post, 05/04/11]

Environmental groups said that H.R. 1229, H.R. 1230, and H.R. 1231 would “set the stage for environmental disaster” and would “‘leave oversight of offshore drilling weaker than it was before the [2010] oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.'”

Susanne Rust, “[California Oil Drilling: Congress Considers Offshore Drilling,” Huffington Post, 05/04/11]

David Bernhardt represented a water district “in its legal efforts to force” the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) “not to block water pumping…despite abundant evidence that the pumping threatened legally protected species such as the Delta smelt, the winter-run Sacramento River Chinook salmon, and the southern resident orca population.”

David Bernhardt was a lawyer and lobbyist for the Westlands Water District. He terminated his role as a lobbyist in November 2016.

[Michael Doyle, “California water bills are starting to trickle out on Capitol Hill,” McClatchy News Service, 02/28/17, and Catherine Ho, “Several fall in line with Trump’s ban on lobbyists,” The Washington Post, 12/01/16]

David “Bernhardt represented Westlands in its legal efforts to force USFWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service not to block water pumping from the [San Francisco Bay] Delta, despite abundant evidence that the pumping threatened legally protected species such as the Delta smelt, the winter-run Sacramento River Chinook salmon, and the southern resident orca population.”

Chris Clarke, “[From the Delta to the Desert: Trump’s Interior Pick Bad News for California Water,” Link TV, 11/16/16]

David Bernhardt, in 2011, wrote a proposal for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP to act as government relations counsel on behalf of Prospect Global Resources. Prospect Global Resources is a Denver potash company that “explores and mines Potash in Holbrook Basin in eastern Arizona.” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP represented Prospect Global Resources “in its initial public offering and follow-on public offerings.”

In 2011 David Bernhardt wrote a “proposal and fee agreement for representation” for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP to act as government relations counsel for Prospect Global Resources. Prospect Global Resources is a Denver potash company that “explores and mines Potash in the Holbrook Basin in eastern Arizona.”

Bernhardt wrote that the firm was “uniquely” qualified to meet Prospect Global Resource’s “needs in Arizona and in Washington, D.C.” As part of the agreement the firm would be “entitled to up to 300,000 shares of Prospect common stock.” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP represented Prospect Global Resources “in its initial public offering and follow-on public offerings.”

“[Proposal and Fee Agreement for Representation,” Securities and Exchange Commission, 07/05/11, “Prospect Global Resources,” Bloomberg, accessed 03/08/17 and “Representative Matters,” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, accessed 03/08/17]

Political Connections

David Bernhardt, since 1999, has given more than $80,000 in federal campaign contributions to Republican candidates and committees, including the campaigns of Donald Trump, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ryan Zinke, Mitch McConnell, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, Kelly Ayotte, Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner, Pat Roberts, George Allen, Pat Toomey, Roy Blunt, Scott Tipton, Cynthia Lummis, Jason Chaffetz, and Liz Cheney.

Since 1999, David Bernhardt has given at least $81,700 to Republican candidates and committees, including Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney, the Senate campaigns of Mitch McConnell, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, Kelly Ayotte, Tom Cotton, Dean Heller, Cory Gardner, Pat Roberts, George Allen, Pat Toomey, Roy Blunt, and Tim Scott, and the congressional campaigns of Ryan Zinke, Scott Tipton, Pat Meehan, Cynthia Lummis, Jason Chaffetz, and Liz Cheney.

[Based on Data from CQ Political Moneyline, accessed 01/18/17]

In 2014, David Bernhardt donated $250 to Safari Club International.

In 2014, David Bernhardt donated $250 to Safari Club International, an organization that is “behind the killings of tens of thousands of animals, ‘including those on the brink of extinction,'” and has entered into “strategic partnerships” with the oil and gas industry.

David Bernhardt, in 2014, donated $250 to Safari Club International’s Political Action Committee.

CQ Political Moneyline Search for [David Bernhardt, accessed 03/08/17]

Safari Club International (SCI) claims it is “the leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting wildlife conservation worldwide.” However, animal protection advocates have said that SCI is “behind the killings of tens of thousands of animals, ‘including those on the brink of extinction.'”

Competitions run by SCI “contribute to the killing of lions, African elephants and other endangered species.” SCI has also had “strategic partnerships” with the oil and gas industry and has supported a variety of anti-environmental legislation.

“[SCI Foundation: In Major Setback for Anti-Hunting Efforts; FWS Rejects Attempts to Stop Lion Hunting,” PR Newswire, 10/27/14, Kate Gibson, “Safari Club attacked for incentives to kill rare animals,” CBS, 09/30/15, Matt Lee-Ashley, “Oil and Gas Industry Investments in the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International: Reshaping American Energy, Land, and Wildlife Policy,” Center for American Progress, 04/14, Ben Long, “Beware of Wolves,” Tucson Weekly, 09/29/11, Dale Sunderlin, “Young hunters score big,” Star Beacon, 11/28/11, Elizabeth Miller, “Hunting for conservation: Legislation aims for hunting access, but would destroy wildlife populations,” Boulder Weekly, 10/11/12, and Talasi Brooks and Kevin Proescholdt, “Safari Club and the NRA aim to gut wilderness,” High Country News, 06/21/12]

Current Activity

David Bernhardt is the chair of the Natural Resources Department at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP. His co-chair is Scott Slater, who is also the CEO of Cadiz, which wants to tap “into an aquifer the size of Rhode Island” to “provide an extra supply of water for…Southern California,” even though “scientific analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey” shows that severe environmental damage to the Mojave National Preserve is likely if the project moves forward. “Until Donald Trump won the presidency, prospects looked bleak for Cadiz,” but in December 2016 “the National Governors Association circulated a preliminary list of infrastructure projects provided by the Trump transition team, and Cadiz’s was on the list.”

David Bernhardt “served as the head of President-elect Donald Trump’s Interior Department transition team” in November 2016. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP “stands to earn 200,000 shares of Cadiz stock if the company meets milestones for completing the project and selling water. Brownstein has already earned 200,000 shares for its involvement with the company – a stock portfolio that is sure to appreciate in value if Cadiz can overcome permitting obstacles.”

“[David Longly Bernhardt and Scott S. Slater,” Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, accessed 01/18/17, Stuart Leavenworth, “California water venture tied to Trump sees prospects rise after years of setbacks,” McClatchy, 02/08/17, Chris Clarke, “From the Delta to the Desert: Trump’s Interior Pick Bad News for California Water,” Link TV, 11/16/16, and Tony Davis, “Ex-Rosemont lobbyist ousted from Trump transition team,” Arizona Daily Star, 11/25/16]

Other Information

David Bernhardt, in the 1990s, “served nearly six years on Rep. Scott McInnis’ (R-Colo.) staff,” where he was the “point person” for the $300 million Animas-La Plata “water rights settlement with Colorado’s Ute Indian Tribe.”

David Bernhardt, in the 1990s, “served nearly six years on Rep. Scott McInnis’ (R-Colo.) staff.”

[“David L. Bernhardt of Colorado to Head Congressional and Legislative Affairs Office at the Interior Department,” U.S. Newswire, 05/24/01]

While he worked for Rep. Scott McInnis he was the “point person” for the $300 million Animas-La Plata “water rights settlement with Colorado’s Ute Indian Tribe” to “supply water to the Ute Indian tribes in southwestern Colorado as well as Durango, Farmington, N.M., and several other communities.” Congressman McInnis argued that the Animas-La Plata project was “essential to fulfill the U.S.’s agreement with Native American tribes in the region.”

Critics said the true purpose of the settlement “was not to appease tribal nations, but to benefit developers.” They said that although the Animas-La Plata project was “advertised as an Indian project, the reality is that non-Indians [would] get much of the water – without paying much of the cost.” Project opponents also described the project as “economically infeasible” and an “environmental nightmare.”

Mark Obmascik, “In these lean times, $710 million still buys a lot of pork,” *Denver Post*, 07/15/95, “Owens blasts Babbitt’s Animas-La Plata plan,” *Associated Press*, 03/16/99, John Biers, “Senate Votes to Keep Animas-La Plata Funding,” *States News Service*, 07/30/96, and Gale Courey Toensing, “[Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]

David Bernhardt was one of the “political appointees brought into Interior during [Secretary Gale] Norton’s tenure” who was an advocate or lobbyist “for big oil, gas…and mining corporations that operate on public lands.”

David Bernhardt was one of the “political appointees brought into Interior during [Secretary Gale] Norton’s tenure who all shared the common experience of having been advocates or lobbyists for big oil, gas, coal and mining corporations that operate on public lands.”

Gale Courey Toensing, “[Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]

David Bernhardt, when George W. Bush was president, “helped craft rules that exempted carbon emissions from regulatory authority.”

David Bernhardt, during the George W. Bush presidency, “helped craft rules that exempted carbon emissions from regulatory authority.”

Jimmy Tobias, “[The Big Oil Allies and Beltway Insiders Leading Trump’s Department of the Interior – and How to Resist Them,” Pacific Standard, 11/28/16]

David Bernhardt was “one of the [Bush] administration’s point people in the push to promote oil drilling from the Arctic to Wyoming.”

“[The Ungreening of America: Behind the Curtain,” Mother Jones, 09-10/03]

David Bernhardt was “a Bush administration point man for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2001, he prepared congressional testimony on Arctic drilling that dismissed warnings from the government’s own scientists and relied on reports funded by BP.”

Gale Courey Toensing, “[Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]

More specifically, in 2001, David Bernhardt “helped prepare congressional testimony on Arctic drilling for Interior Secretary Gale Norton that dismissed warnings from the government’s own scientists. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that runs the wildlife refuge, had reported that drilling could have a negative impact on the region’s caribou herds. According to published reports, Bernhardt rewrote the FWS findings, and Norton, in answering questions before a Senate panel, misrepresented the research, relying instead on information from a report funded by BP Exploration.”

“[The Ungreening of America: Behind the Curtain,” Mother Jones, 09-10/03]

When David Bernhardt was the Interior Department Solicitor he “issued guidance that recommended agencies” narrowly interpret the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and he has litigated against the federal government over the federal government’s enforcement of ESA. David Bernhardt has been critical of stronger ESA regulations. He thinks “ESA should be reformed to empower local conservation efforts.”

When David Bernhardt was the Interior Department Solicitor he “issued guidance that recommended agencies focus on plants and animals most at risk in their current locations, rather than throughout their historic range or in other locations where species may be healthy.”

[Noelle Straub, “Endangered Species: Scientists Call For Ending Bush-Era Listing Policy,” Greenwire, 12/10/09]

He proposed a “new reading” of ESA which “would enable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect animals and plants only where they are battling for survival.” As such, “the agency wouldn’t have to protect them where they’re in good shape.” A group of wildlife biologists said that the proposed changes would “‘have real and profoundly detrimental impacts on the conservation of many species and the habitat upon which they depend.'” In fact, “more than three dozen scientists…signed a letter to protest…[this] interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, saying it jeopardizes animals such as wolves and grizzly bears.”

[John Flesher, “38 scientists sign onto letter to protest new interpretation of Endangered Species Act,” Associated Press, 05/02/07, and “Digest,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 05/03/07]

David Bernhardt has “litigated against…federal agencies when failing to administer the act to protect species, as well as when administering the law in an arbitrary and capricious way.”

[114th Congress Disclosure form for David Bernhardt, House Natural Resources Committee, 04/19/16]

David Bernhardt “contended that that the present-tense language of the Endangered Species Act serves as a guide for the interpretation and concluded that the term ‘range’ refers only to a species’ current range: ‘The phrase ‘is in danger’ denotes a present-tense condition of being at risk…[h]ence, to say a species ‘is in danger’ in an area where it no longer exists – i.e., in its historical range – would be inconsistent with common usage.'” Bernhardt “also argued that the Department of the Interior should not be held to any one standard in how it interprets the term ‘significant,’ but rather should be able to apply the term differently on a case-by-case basis.”

[Press Release, “Ohio State Study: 2007 Legal Opinion Is A Threat To Imperiled Species,” US Fed News, 09/15/09]

A team of scientists from Ohio State University’s School of Environment and Natural Resources found that Bernhardt’s interpretation would set the stage “for the creation of sporadically located ‘wilderness zoos’ that would reduce protections for endangered species and the habitat on which they depend” and that this interpretation was “inconsistent with the way federal officials have historically defined threatened and endangered species, as most past listings took into account the loss of a species’ historical range – the land it had occupied in the past.”

Emily Caldwell, “[Ohio State study: 2007 legal opinion is a threat to imperiled species,” The Ohio State University News, 08/04/09]

David Bernhardt said in congressional testimony on April 19, 2016, “in most instances under ESA, any time a federal agency wants to fund, carry out or authorize someone else to conduct activities that may affect a listed species designated critical habitat, the agency must ensure that it is not likely to destroy or adversely modify the habitat,” but with “new regulations, the services modify the definition of the term destruction and adverse… modification. In doing so, they’ve placed a new duty on federal agencies. This duty is not to just refrain from making the present condition of habitat worse, but to refrain from doing anything that would significantly preclude or delay the habitat from developing conservation features in the future even where those future…features do not now and may never exist.”

[David Bernhardt, House Committee on Natural Resources, Hearing On Endangered Species Critical Habitat Designation, 04/19/16]

David Bernhardt, in 2015, “argued that the ESA should be reformed to empower local conservation efforts.”

[Corbin Hiar, “Endangered Species: To Block Gop Reform Bills, Boxer Threatens ‘Hand-To-Hand Combat,'” Environment And Energy Daily, 05/07/15]

Legal analysis by Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt concluded that ESA cannot be used to protect animals, including polar bears, from climate change.

A 2008 memo by Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt “concluded that emissions of greenhouse gases from any proposed project can’t be proved to have an impact on species or habitat, so it isn’t necessary for federal agencies to consult with government wildlife experts about the impact of such gases on species as stipulated under the Endangered Species Act.” His memo “concluded that indirect effects on wildlife can’t be traced to emissions from any specific source and that cumulative effects ‘are of no relevance’ under the Endangered Species Act.”

Renee Schoof, “[Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact,” McClatchy News Service, 10/14/08]

A “2008 legal analysis of planet-warming emissions and effects on polar bears done by Bush-administration Interior Department Solicitor David Longly Bernhardt…concluded there was insufficient data to draw a connection between U.S. emissions and effects on the species in its habitat.”

[“Endangered Species: Obama Admin Disputes Republican Calls For ESA Assessment,” Greenwire, 08/04/15]

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.”

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.”

“[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,'” 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.”

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.”

[http://www.doi.gov/solicitor-dev/about]

As Solicitor at the Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt “handle(d) legal work and manage(d) its ethics office.”

Mark Matthews, “[Colorado Lobbying Firm Brings Clout to DC,” Denver Post, 04/21/16]

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.”

[Orbach, Karsner, Spurgeon, and Bernhardt Nominations, Hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 03/09/06]

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, “[Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” Indian Country Today, 06/04/07]

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.”

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.

Department of Interior Office of the Inspector General “[Report of Investigation – Julie MacDonald,” 12/01/06, Elizabeth Williamson, “Interior Dept. Official Facing Scrutiny Resigns,” Washington Post, 05/02/07, and Charlie Savage, “Report Finds Meddling in Interior Dept. Actions,” New York Times, 12/15/08]

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.”

Gale Courey Toensing, “[Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt in the spotlight,” 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.”

Stephen Power, “[Federal Oil Officials Accused In Sex and Drugs Scandal,” Wall Street Journal, 09/11/08]

When David Bernhardt was a Counselor to the Interior Secretary, J. Steven Griles, who was the “second-ranking official of the Interior Department,” was involved in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.

David Bernhardt, from 2001 to 2009, worked in the Department of the Interior. More specifically, from:

2001 to 2004 he was Counselor to the Secretary and Director of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs;
2004 to 2005 he was Counselor to the Secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff;
2005 to 2006 he was Deputy Solicitor; and
2006 to 2009 he was Solicitor. “David L. Bernhardt of Colorado to Head Congressional and Legislative Affairs Office at the Interior Department,” *U.S. Newswire*, 05/24/01, Brittany Patterson, “[Meet the man deciding the Department of the Interior’s future,” ClimateWire, 11/17/16, and LinkedIn profile for David Bernhardt, accessed 01/18/17]

J. Steven Griles, who was the “second-ranking official of the Interior Department,” was the eleventh person who pled guilty or was convicted for “aiding Mr. [Jack] Abramoff in his lobbying on behalf of Indian tribes and others.” When Griles was sentenced Abramoff was “serving a six-year prison term after pleading guilty to fraud charges in Florida. He…also pleaded guilty in Washington to charges of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. Among those officials is former Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, who pleaded guilty…to taking bribes from Mr. Abramoff” and was “serving a 30-month prison sentence.”

John Broder, “[Ex-Interior Aide Is Sentenced in Lobbying Case,” The New York Times, 06/27/07]

“The government said that Griles had asked for $100,000 for” the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) and “Abramoff solicited the funds from his tribal clients. Griles said that while he helped raise money earlier, he was unaware of…contributions [in 2001] to CREA on [the] eve of his joining the Interior Department.”

A judge “sentenced him to 10 months in prison for a felony conviction of obstructing a Senate investigation into corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.”

James V. Grimaldi, “[Judge Orders Prison Time for Ex-Interior Deputy,” The Washington Post, 06/27/07]

Solicitor David Bernhardt oversaw the forced resignation of whistleblower Robert McCarthy, who helped expose the mismanagement of Indian Trust funds. McCarthy’s whistleblowing led to a “major victory” for the plaintiff tribal members in a case in which David Bernhardt was the “lead attorney” for the Department of the Interior.

The Office of the Solicitor, led by David Bernhardt, played “‘hot potato with Robert McCarthy’s career for…two years.'”

Kristen Stade, “[Agency Audit Verifies Whistleblower Mismanagement Charges,” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, 09/24/07]

Robert McCarthy, a “former Department of Interior attorney who spoke out about mismanagement of Indian trust funds was allowed to resign, ending a controversy in which the government threatened to fire him for leaking ‘trade secrets.'” A federal judge had previously “ratified McCarthy’s assessment about the trust system, giving the Indian plaintiffs a major victory.”

Chris Casteel, “[Whistle-blower Allowed to Resign,” The Okhlahoman, 02/27/08]

“McCarthy has since 2005 been trying to bring to light problems in the management of thousands of leases and contracts related to the Aqua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ lands and resources in Palm Springs and vicinity.” McCarthy had also been “named as a witness for plaintiffs in the continuing class-action lawsuit, Cobell v. Kempthorne, in which tribal members” claimed the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of the Interior “failed in their trust duties.”

After Robert McCarthy’s dismissal was proposed on August 9, 2007, responsibility for the decision was “elevated” to Solicitor David Bernhardt, who “also served as lead attorney” in the case McCarthy’s evidence impacted. Bernhardt “transferred” the decision to the Regional Solicitor in Alaska.

Kristen Stade, “[Agency Audit Verifies Whistleblower Mismanagement Charges,” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, 9/24/07, and Arthur O’Donnell, “Agency Attorney Faces Dismissal over Indian Trust Disclosures,” Energy and Environment, 09/27/07]

David Bernhardt represented the State of Alaska in a lawsuit against the federal government to allow the state to move closer to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

“Though the U.S. Interior Department has already suggested that a mammoth oil field lies beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain, the Parnell administration” sued “for the right to run its own $50 million oil-scouting program there.” The state’s lawsuit contested “an Interior Department ruling that the state is 27 years too late to conduct three-dimensional seismic exploration of ANWR’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain. Bill Barron, director of Alaska’s oil and gas division, said that the new program could more accurately map likely drilling hotspots, allowing other parts of the plain to be set aside as wilderness with little controversy.”

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell said “the state would offer $50 million toward a government program to explore ANWR with the U.S. Geological Survey” using modern three-dimensional oil-scouting techniques to accurately estimate “the oil and gas resource potential” and the “‘value of the (coastal plain) to the nation.'”

“The lead attorney for the state…[was] David Bernhardt of Washington, D.C.” [Richard Mauer, “State sues to access ANWR; Legal action contests Interior’s denial of plan to conduct new seismic exploration,” Anchorage Daily News, 03/26/14]

David Bernhardt, in 2010, suggested he is open to drilling for oil and gas in the oceans beyond the Outer Continental Shelf.

David Bernhardt, in 2010, said, “I completely agree that we need to decrease our dependence on foreign sources of energy.” He continued, “they drilled on the Outer Continental Shelf because that’s – areas that were available for leasing, and there can be discussions about other places and other processes.”

[Energy and Climate Legislation, C-SPAN, 06/25/10]

Interior Secretary Gale Norton, when David Bernhardt was Solicitor, may have “illegally used her position to benefit Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the company that hired her” soon after leaving the Interior Department. A criminal investigation centered “on the Interior Department’s 2006 decision to award [to a Shell subsidiary] three lucrative oil shale leases on federal land” that “could net the company hundreds of billions of dollars.”

It appears Royal Dutch Shell PLC had inside information and assistance to help it obtain these leases and that Gale Norton was less than forthcoming with Interior Department ethics officials about her role in the lease program. “The investigation’s main focus…[was] whether Norton violated a law that prohibits federal employees from discussing employment with a company if they are involved in dealings with the government that could benefit the firm, law enforcement and Interior officials said. They said investigators also were trying to determine if Norton broke a broader federal ‘denial of honest services’ law, which says a government official can be prosecuted for violating the public trust by, for example, steering government business to favored firms or friends.”

The Justice Department investigated “whether former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton illegally used her position to benefit Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the company that later hired her.” The criminal investigation centered “on the Interior Department’s 2006 decision to award three lucrative oil shale leases on federal land in Colorado to a Shell subsidiary. Over the years it would take to extract the oil, according to calculations from Shell and a Rand Corp. expert, the deal could net the company hundreds of billions of dollars.

The investigation’s main focus…[was] whether Norton violated a law that prohibits federal employees from discussing employment with a company if they are involved in dealings with the government that could benefit the firm, law enforcement and Interior officials said. They said investigators also were trying to determine if Norton broke a broader federal ‘denial of honest services’ law, which says a government official can be prosecuted for violating the public trust by, for example, steering government business to favored firms or friends.”

“In early 2006…the department announced that it planned to award Shell three oil shale leases. Norton resigned two months later, saying that she had no job lined up. In December of that year, Shell announced it had hired Norton as in-house counsel to its unconventional fuels division, which includes oil shale.” The Justice Department was “looking into whether Shell received a competitive advantage or other preferential treatment from the Interior Department in the awarding of the leases. ‘If [Norton] had feelers out, or was in discussions with Shell in any way, she is absolutely forbidden from participating in any way from doing anything with Shell,’ a law enforcement official said.”

Jim Tankersley and Josh Meyer, “[Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is focus of corruption probe,” Los Angeles Times, 09/17/09]

“The IG found that after leaving Interior but before joining Shell, Norton ‘failed to fully describe her role in the leasing program’ to department ethics officials. After she was hired, Norton contacted the Pentagon and Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, ‘indirectly,’ regarding oil shale issues.”

In addition, “the IG…found that BLM ‘appeared to give preferential treatment’ to Shell in two instances. In one case, two Shell bids were larger than the acreage allowed by BLM. In another, someone within the agency changed Shell’s numbers to comply with the requirements. Shell also submitted – and won – three bids – while other prospective bidders were allowed only one bid.”

Dan Berman, “[Gale Norton won’t face charges” Politico, 12/10/10]

“Critics accused the Interior Department of undermining a central goal of the leases by awarding three of them to Shell. The leases were meant to allow companies to test distinct methods for extracting shale from rock. But each of Shell’s tracts was granted for a variation of the same process. Critics also raised questions about the fairness of the process, given that Shell filed its first lease application just a day after the department issued its call for proposals in June 2005.” Department of the Interior “officials said they did not notify potential bidders” at that point in time.

“The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General began the investigation during the waning months of the George W. Bush administration and…made a formal criminal referral to the Justice Department…after concluding that there was sufficient evidence of potential illegal conduct.”

Jim Tankersley and Josh Meyer, “[Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is focus of corruption probe,” Los Angeles Times, 09/17/09]

In the end, “the Justice Department…declined to file charges against former Interior Secretary Gale Norton in connection with oil shale bids by Royal Dutch Shell.”

Dan Berman, “[Gale Norton won’t face charges” Politico, 12/10/10]

David Bernhardt was investigated as part of a Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General investigation into whether Royal Dutch Shell received preferential treatment in BLM’s awarding of oil leases in 2005 and 2006.

David Bernhardt was investigated as part of a Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General investigation that was launched “based on a complaint that Royal Dutch Shell…received preferential treatment during the awarding of oil shale Research, Development, and Demonstration (RDD) leases in 2005 and 2006 by the Bureau of Land Management.”

The investigation found that while Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who subsequently secured employment with Shell, was “very interested in the RDD program during her tenure as Secretary” there was no evidence “to conclusively determine that Norton violated conflict-of-interest laws.” However, BLM “appeared to give preferential treatment to Shell in two specific issues regarding these leases,” and “someone in BLM provided Shell with information” that allowed Shell to submit applications for leases multiple days before any other company.

According to interviews the Office of the Inspector General conducted, “[Gale] Norton and her staff viewed oil shale as a ‘game changer,’ meaning if it could be developed and produced, it would have a significant, positive impact on the Nation’s energy position.” Additionally, David Bernhardt and Gale Norton both “wanted to be involved in oil shale matters because they understood the sensitivity of oil shale development in Colorado.”

The investigation also found that “Bernhardt and Norton had toured a Shell oil shale facility on private land in Colorado.” In fact, Bernhardt, who closely advised Norton, traveled with her on multiple occasions to meet Shell executives in Colorado.

As part of the investigation, the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General interviewed Melissa Loftin, who later became the designated Interior Ethics Official. Loftin said that she asked Bernhardt his “‘thoughts’ on whether Norton’s involvement in oil shale matters reached the level to where [Norton] was involved ‘personally and substantially on a particular matter involving specific parties.'” Bernhardt responded, “Norton’s involvement did not reach this level” and “BLM managed the RDD process.”

“[Report of Investigation – Royal Dutch Shell,” Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General, 12/09/10]

David Bernhardt praised Donald Trump for saying, “‘I want to get rid of the stream buffer rule. I want to end the war on coal.'”

David Bernhardt praised Donald Trump’s speeches on energy and the environment, claiming Trump “laid out very detailed speeches about what he wanted to do.” Bernhardt said Trump said, “‘I want to get rid of the stream buffer rule. I want to end the war on coal.’ He was clear.”

Minute 19 of[ YouTube , 03/02/17=

http://www.newsweek.com/oil-mining-david-bernhardt-lobbyist-approved-department-interior-2nd-command-621969

2x?

As protesters tried to interrupt the vote, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources advanced David Bernhardt's nomination for deputy interior secretary on Tuesday, 14 to 9. He will soon face another vote by the Republican-dominated Senate, which is expected to confirm him.

Bernhardt's nomination has alarmed environmentalists because he's is a top executive with the Denver-based law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and has worked to greenlight various energy and water projects.

Supporters, however, point out that the Colorado native also worked as the top legal counsel for the Department of the Interior under former President George W. Bush, which will help him navigate the bureaucratic terrain. “Many of us have known David Bernhardt for years through his prior public service at the Department,” wrote officials with the Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable. “We have found him responsive, intelligent and committed to cooperation among government agencies at all levels and the recreation community’s private sector.”

At Brownstein, Bernhardt lobbied for Cadiz Inc., a company working to drain water from an aquifer in the Mojave Trails National Monument and sell it to coastal communities in Southern California.

He is also the top lobbyist for California’s Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural entity of its kind in the nation. Westlands has paid Brownstein more than $1.25 million since 2011, mostly for his lobbying efforts, which include suing the Interior Department and writing legislation on Westlands’ behalf. “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,” McClatchy reported.

Mining company Hudbay Minerals also employed Bernhardt from 2011 to 2015, and he remains a consultant to the company, according to The Arizona Daily Star. Hudbay hopes to develop the Rosemont Copper mine southeast of Tucson, Arizona, in one of the most biodiverse regions of the United States.

“The primary objection we have [to Bernhardt] is that he has spent the last number of years working on behalf of oil and gas and large agribusiness to weaken environmental protections and to lobby for government to weaken environmental regulations,” says Doug Obegi, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that other Bernhardt clients have included “Noble Energy, a major Gulf of Mexico oil producer; Statoil, the Norwegian company that may build a wind farm off the New York coast; and Halliburton, the world's largest fracking services provider.”

While at the Interior Department under Bush, Bernhardt authored several legal opinions that sought to weaken protections for endangered species.

Bernhardt’s appearance before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-May shed some light on how he plans to operate in the role. There, he refused to outright recuse himself from negotiations that might entail a conflict of interest, but he pledged to sever all financial ties to Brownstein and approve his activities with government ethics officers.

On Tuesday, the Senate's the Energy and Natural Resources Committee also advanced the nominations of Dan Brouillette as deputy secretary of energy and Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members. The Senate is expected to confirm all three.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Trump-administration-kills-push-to-ban-bottled-11824841.php

Trump administration’s latest environmental rollback is an unusual one, but with a familiar feature: It benefits big business.

The National Park Service announced Wednesday that, effective immediately, it will no longer allow parks to ban the sale of plastic water bottles, which have long been criticized for littering lakes and forests.[also approved neonazi sf 8/17]

Since 2011, as part of the Green Parks Plan adopted under former President Barack Obama, the Park Service has encouraged the use of tap water and refillable bottles on federal lands, while allowing parks the option to prohibit the sale of disposable water bottles in shops, hotels and vending machines.

Opponents of the effort, including powerful industry groups, say repeal was long overdue. The initiative never achieved its desired benefits, they said, and allowed the continued sale of other bottled beverages like soda, which are typically less healthy than water.

“Consumption of water in all forms, tap, filtered, and bottled, should always be encouraged,” said Jill Culora, a spokeswoman for the International Bottled Water Association, a trade group. “The rescinded policy was seriously flawed.”

The policy, according to a Park Service memo, sought not only to reduce the environmental footprint of plastic by limiting litter and curtailing high disposal costs, but also to embrace the environmental “symbolism.”

While none of the 23 parks that implemented bans are in California, the Bay Area’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area had been eyeing such a policy.

Advocates of the bans called Wednesday’s action another move by the president to put business before the environment.

Like other federal agencies, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the park service, has come under fire for the president’s appointment of people with ties to industries affected by agency regulations.

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who was confirmed in June, previously spent eight years as an attorney at the Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, whose clients include water bottler Nestle.

“Just as we’ve seen across the board with the Trump administration, this is an example of the industry working behind the scenes to protect its profits,” said Lauren DeRusha Florez, associate campaign director at Corporate Accountability International, a national nonprofit group that advocates sustainable business practices. “Plastic water bottles have a tremendous environmental impact.”

The beverage industry has for years lobbied the federal government for the policy change, and several members of Congress recently joined the chorus.

The National Park Service said an internal review concluded that it didn’t make sense to sell soda and other sugary drinks while barring water.

“We determined that park visitors can best choose how to keep themselves and their family hydrated when visiting a national park,” said parks spokesman Jeremy Barnum.

Supporters of the ban suggested that perhaps a better solution would be to target soda bottles as well. Parks that initiated bans, including the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Canyonlands in Utah and Mount Rainier in Washington state, boosted the number of water-filling stations for reusable bottles.

“The choice between sugary drinks and bottled water is a false choice,” DeRusha Florez said. “The truth is that what this policy had done is increase access to free tap water and make available reusable water bottles.”

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander

off bs

David Longly Bernhardt is chair of the firm’sNatural Resources Department and represents a wide range of clients in rulemakings, regulatory enforcement proceedings, adjudications and permitting reviews.

David's practice is based on extensive experience gained from his public service both as the Department of the Interior’s chief legal counsel and as a policymaker who led efforts related to species conservation, conventional and alternative energy development, natural resources planning, environmental compliance, climate change and Indian affairs.

In 2006, David was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior. Prior to serving as Solicitor, he held several high level positions with the Interior including: Deputy Solicitor, Deputy Chief of Staff, Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Director of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs.

As Solicitor, David was the Chief Legal Officer and third ranking official for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He provided advice and counsel on a wide range of legal and policy matters to each of the agencies that make up the Department of the Interior, while leading a team of nearly 500 attorneys and staff.

In addition to his responsibilities at the Department of Interior, in 2007 David was appointed by President Bush to lead the International Boundary Commission between the United States and Canada where David was responsible, along with his Canadian counterpart, for maintaining the 5,525 mile international boundary between these two nations.

Prior to his service within the Executive Branch, David was an associate at Brownstein from 1998-2001.

https://www.ecowatch.com/zinke-interior-department-2461928957.html

Public Lands and Waters 'For Sale' at U.S. Dept. of Interior

Greenpeace placed a giant sign reading "For Sale: By the US Department of Interior, Public Lands and Waters, Inquiries From Oil and Gas Companies Encouraged" outside of the Interior Department Tuesday as Sec. Zinkeheld an event outside the building.

Sec. Zinke and the Interior Department are currently reviewing the status of national monuments, marine sanctuaries, and protections from offshore oil and gas drilling, potentially opening up new drilling activity in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Public records highlight that Zinke's personal schedule includes several meetings with oil and gas companies and lobbying firms including BP America, Chevron and ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, the Western Energy Alliance and Continental Resources.

"The Trump administration and Secretary Zinke want to sell our public lands and waters away to desperate fossil fuel companies," said Greenpeace USA Climate Campaigner Mary Sweeters.

"Secretary Zinke is meeting almost exclusively with fossil fuel lobbyists, ignoring the voices of people in this country who want to see our public lands, national monuments, and waters protected, not exploited. It's clear that unless you are an executive at Exxon or the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, Zinke's Interior Department will most likely not listen to you."

The Senate will vote on David Bernhardt, the pick for deputy secretary of the Interior, this week. As head of law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's natural resource department, David Bernhardt has most likely led most of the the firm's energy and mining and work and a significant chunk of his clients are oil and gas companies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eni US will become the first energy company allowed to explore for oil in federal waters off Alaska since 2015 after the Trump administration this week approved a drilling plan on leases the company has been sitting on for 10 years.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the drilling plan of Eni US, a unit of Italy's Eni on Wednesday as part of President Donald Trump's plan to boost oil and gas drilling and make the country "energy dominant."

The approval is conditional on Eni getting other state and federal permits, which in past cases are generally granted once BOEM gives the green light.

"We know there are vast oil and gas resources under the Beaufort Sea, and we look forward to working with Eni in their efforts to tap into this energy potential," said BOEM's acting Director Walter Cruickshank.

Eni plans to drill into the Beaufort Sea from an artificial island using extended wells more than 6 miles (10 km) long starting in December. Eni did not immediately return a request for comment on its drilling plans.

Trump in April signed an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy executive order to extend offshore oil and gas drilling to areas in the Arctic and other places that have been off limits to support the industry.

Eni's leases, which were set to expire by the end of the year, were outside of an area protected by former President Barack Obama weeks before he left office. The company's plan to move ahead with risky and expensive drilling comes despite years of low oil prices and dangerous Arctic conditions.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc quit its exploration quest offshore Alaska in 2015 after a ship it had leased suffered a gash in mostly uncharted waters and environmentalists had discovered an existing law that limited the company's ability to drill.

Environmentalists complained that the administration rushed the approval of Eni's plan, providing the public only 21 days to comment on the plan and only 10 days to comment on scoping for an environmental review required by federal law.

An environmental lawyer said her group would work to stop the drilling. "We'll fight Trump's reckless giveaway of our oceans for the sake of polar bears, whales and ice seals and the fragile ecosystems where they live," said Kristen Monsell, a lawyer with the nonprofit group, the Center for Biological Diversity.

President Trump this morning nominated a former lobbyist who initially ran his Interior transition team to be the department's second-highest-ranking official.

David Bernhardt, a veteran of both Capitol Hill and the George W. Bush administration's Interior Department, is chairman of the natural resources department at the law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Until earlier this year, he advocated for the powerful Westlands Water District, a government utility that provides water for California farmers, and Access Industries, a conglomerate owned by a Soviet-born billionaire.

Bernhardt has been considered the leading contender for the department's deputy secretary position ever since Doug Domenech, another Bush-era Interior staffer, took over the transition effort late last year (Greenwire, Jan. 30).

"Bernhardt's extensive experience serving under former Interior Secretaries [Gale] Norton and [Dirk] Kempthorne and his esteemed legal career is exactly what is needed to help streamline government and make the Interior and our public lands work for the American economy," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a press release. He noted that Bernhardt's expertise ranges from the Endangered Species Act to outer continental shelf leases and from mining royalties to Indian affairs.

Bernhardt's former boss also praised his nomination.

"After I became Secretary of the Interior, Dave was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the Solicitor, Interior's highest ranking legal officer," Kempthorne said in a statement. "Dave provided wide counsel based on thoroughly understanding issues being decided. He is thoughtful and fair."

Bernhardt will need to be vetted by lawmakers again before he can serve as Zinke's No. 2 and is likely to face tough questions about his former clients and Bush administration record.

"David Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest," Center for Western Priorities Media Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement. "If he does not recuse himself from working on issues he has profited from as a lobbyist, he will be the embodiment of the Washington swamp — taking a high-level government job to help his private sector partners cash in. If Bernhardt does recuse himself from all his conflicts, he'll have nothing to work on at Interior."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has raised concerns about recent moves by the Bureau of Land Management that could benefit Cadiz Inc., a pipeline company represented by Brownstein Hyatt. Cadiz wants to build a 43-mile-long pipeline and pump water from an aquifer under land the company owns to 100,000 households in Southern California, but Feinstein and conservation groups fear it could dry out the Mojave National Preserve (Greenwire, April 6).

The Western Values Project, a government watchdog group based in Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Mont., is also suing Interior to obtain documents related to Bernhardt's tenure as the department's solicitor. During that time, the agency was hit by several scandals involving doctored scientific reports and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Greenwire, April 25).

Bernhardt's previous Senate confirmation process also included a few hurdles.

Then-Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that year that he believed Bernhardt was not a good pick, claiming the nomination is "not in keeping with the level of qualifications most people would expect for the Interior solicitor" (E&E News PM, March 15, 2006).

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) then slowed down the process with a procedural move, citing concerns about a rural schools grant program (E&E Daily, Sept. 11, 2006).

In the years since, Bernhardt has made tens of thousands of dollars' worth of political contributions. Last election cycle, for instance, he and his family contributed a total of nearly $35,000 to Republican lawmakers, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Some of the biggest beneficiaries included Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

A native of the tiny western Colorado oil town of Rifle, Bernhardt grew up hiking, hunting, skiing and riding on the federal lands in Garfield County. He dropped out of high school, choosing instead to get his GED and then a bachelor's degree at the University of Northern Colorado. He interned at the Supreme Court and graduated with honors from the George Washington University Law School.

Early in his career, he served as a staffer for former Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.).

Dale Hall, who served with Bernhardt as Fish and Wildlife Service director, called him "a man with personal and professional integrity that is beyond reproach and has always advocated for the proper implementation of the law." Hall is now the CEO of Ducks Unlimited, a waterfowl conservation group.

Bernhardt's nomination comes a month to the day after Zinke told a ranching group that "the president has approved most, if not all" of his picks for key Interior leadership positions (E&E News PM, March 28).

The deputy secretary announcement, however, is the first to emerge from the White House since then, leaving Interior without permanent political leadership picks at the assistant secretary or bureau director levels three months into the Trump administration.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3766823-Bernhardt-David-L.html

https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/05/11/document_gw_10.pdf

1 Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck, LLP Washington, District of Columbia Law Firm Shareholder 6/2009 Present 2 Bernhardt Brothers Land and Cattle, LLC See Endnote Greeley, Colorado Limited Liablity Company Managing Member 6/2012 Present 3 Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries Richmond, Virginia State Agency Board Member/guber natorial term appointment 8/2012 6/2016 4 Center for Environmental Science Accuracy and Reliabilty See Endnote Dixon, California Non-Profit Board Member/vo

--off bs

32101 County Road 105

Dixon, CA 95620

(559) 554-2947

http://www.bestscience.org/

Craig Manson

Executive Director

Jean Sagouspe

Chairman

Jim Chilton

Vice Chairman

David Wood

Secretary/Treasurer

Kole Upton

Member

RAIG MANSON is General Counsel of Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural water agency in the United States. Westlands serves more than 650,000 acres on the west side of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Manson became General Counsel in May 2010.

Manson has had a distinguished a career in law, academia, and government. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, he later was selected for the Air Force Funded Legal Education Program and attended The University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. Manson graduated with great distinction from McGeorge in 1981 where he was Editor-in-Chief of the law review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Manson served as an Air Force judge advocate overseas, at the Pentagon, and as Associate Professor of Law at the United States Air Force Academy. During his four year Academy professorship, he taught constitu-tional law, international law, space law and policy and was named outstanding Military Educator for 1989. He also was an adjunct professor at Webster University.

Leaving the active Air Force in 1989 Manson joined Downey Brand, a law firm with deep Central Valley agri-cultural roots that is now Sacramento’s largest law firm. Following that engagement, he was appointed as the first person ever to be General Counsel of the California Department of Fish and Game. Five years later, the Governor of California appointed Manson to the Superior Court bench in Sacramento County. Manson re-signed his judgeship in February 2002 to accept the President’s appointment as Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife & Parks in the U.S. Department of the Interior. In that position, he oversaw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. The President also appointed him to be United States Commissioner on the joint U.S.-Canada Great Lakes FisheriesCommission. Manson held these positions concurrently until December 31, 2005.

From 2006 to 2010, Manson was Distinguished Professor and Lecturer in Law at the Capital Center for Public Law and Policy at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. From 2006 to 2008, Manson was senior policy advisor to the Washington, D.C., office of Hunton & Williams.

bob jr

Dr. Ramey earned his Bachelor's degree in Biology and Natural History from the University of California Santa Cruz, his Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from Yale University, and his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. His postdoctoral experience included re-search at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the Center for Reproduc-tion of Endangered Species at the San Diego Zoo. He has a as Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, after which he served as a consulting Science Advisor to the Office of the As-sistant Secretary of Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of Interior. In 2007 he founded Wildlife Science International, Inc., and began consulting full time on scientific issues involving the Endangered Species Act. In 2009 he also began serving as Science Advisor for the Council for Endangered Species Act Reliability (CESAR).

Dr. Ramey has an active research program and regularly publishes the results of re-search in peer-reviewed journals. Recent projects include scientific issues surrounding the greater sage grouse, delta smelt, hookless cactus, desert bighorn sheep, killer whales, and African elephants. Dr. Ramey is a member of Caprinae Specialist Group of the International Union for the

== 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:

===

b2 cult of corruption gale norton and

DAVID BERNHARDT

Director of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Department of the Interior

Then: As an attorney with Brownstein, Hyatt, and Farber, Bernhardt lobbied Congress and federal administrative agencies on behalf of Delta Petroleum Corp., Timet-Titanium Metals Corp.,NL Industries (an international chemical company), and the Shaw Group(a maker of piping for oil companies and power plants). Bernhardt also worked for 6 years on the staff of Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo), serving as point person for a federal water rights settlement with Colorado's Ute Indian tribe.Critics of the settlement claim that its true purpose was not to appease native groups, but to benefit developers.

Now: Bernhardt has been one of the administration's point people in the push to promote oil drilling from the Arctic to Wyoming; in 2001, he helped prepare congressional testimony on Arctic drilling for Interior Secretary Gale Norton that dismissed warnings from the government's own scientists. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that runs the wildlife refuge, had reported that drilling could have a negative impact on the region's caribou herds. According to published reports, Bernhardt rewrote the FWS findings, and Norton, in answering questions before a Senate panel, misrepresented the research, relying instead on information from a report funded by BP Exploration.

JEFFREY HOLMSTEAD

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2003/09/ungreening-america-behind-curtain

MMS

Many of the alleged misdeeds occurred when Gale Norton was secretary of the interior. Now a general counsel with Shell in Denver, Norton declined to comment, even when asked to address the portion of the reports dealing with the department she headed.

“It’s appropriate for me to let the Shell public-affairs people discuss it,” Norton said.

Shell is one of the oil companies named in the report, along with Chevron, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp.

“Shell has been aware of the inspector general’s investigation regarding alleged improper conduct by certain MMS employees and cooperated fully with that investigation,” said Shell spokeswoman Darci Sinclair. “However, it would be premature to comment on the Interior Department inspector general report until we have had an opportunity to review the content.”

Officials with Chevron could not be reached.

One report said that Gregory W. Smith, former head of the Lakewood MMS office, had sex and took illegal drugs with subordinates.

Trump has nominated an attorney and former lobbyist who wants to weaken the Endangered Species Act to be the No. 2 person at the Interior Department, the agency that manages most federal land, including national parks and forests.

David Bernhardt is expected to be questioned by the Senate about potential conflicts of interest that include lobbying for a California water district and a Canadian company that wants tomine copper in the Santa Rita mountains of Arizona.

“In his long career taking advantage of the revolving door of special interests, Bernhardt has always sided with big business at the expense of our most imperiled wildlife,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Bernhardt is a shareholder at the Denver law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreckwhich made about $25.2 million from federal lobbying in 2016. He previously was the top attorney at the Interior Department under President George Bush. He is an avid hunter and fisherman, and the official Interior Department announcement of his appointment features Bernhardt posing with a dead moose.

David Bernhardt

ACTION BOX / What you can do about it

Bernhardt’s nomination can be blocked by the Senate. You can look up your senator and contact him or her with concerns about Bernhardt’s history of representing industrial interests.

Bernhardt’s nomination is opposed by groups including the Center for Biological Diversity which can be reached at 520-623-5252 or center@biologicaldiversity.org. He is also opposed by the National Resources Defense Fund which can be reached at 212-727-2700 or nrdcinfo@nrdc.org.

“He was extremely good atcongressional strategy,” former Interior Secretary Gale Norton told The Denver Post.

Bernhardt was criticized in 2008 for saying that Endangered Species Act can’t be used to regulate sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Interior Department when he worked there was also the site of a series of scandals one critic said “makes the Teapot Dome look good” such as Interior employees using drugs and having sex with oil and gas company representatives. Norton was the focus of a corruption probe into how oil shale leases were awarded in Colorado, and Bernhardt was mentioned frequently in thereleased report. She was not prosecuted.

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https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/RoyalDutchShell_Public.pdf

blm shale oil shell exxon

We also interviewed Kit Kimball, former Director, Office of External and Intergovernmental Affairs, DOI, who explained that Norton and her staff “didn’t totally trust the BLM.” In addition, Kimball stated that Norton knew Shell was ready to move forward with their oil shale development efforts and felt very strongly that they needed a BLM oil shale leasing program to do so. “She knew Shell wanted to get going,” said Kimball. As a result, Kimball explained, both Norton and David Bernhardt, her counselor, felt they needed to be involved to make sure BLM’s oil shale leasing program moved forward in an appropriate way.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/forest-service-ready-approve-controversial-arizona-copper-mine-threatening-environment

U.S. Forest Service is poised to sign one of the :{two federal permits needed for a :(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{giant, mile-wide open-pit copper mine in Arizona:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:. The announcement for what would be the third-largest copper mine in the county, if approved, was quietly published Monday in the Federal Register.

The developer of the controversial project has been represented in Washington by David Bernhardt, the former lobbyist who has been nominated for the No. 2 spot at the Interior Department. Bernhardt briefly headed the transition team for Trump’s Interior.

HERE’S THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT ON THE ROSEMONT MINE PROJECT

“No rational analysis could lead the stewards of our public lands to conclude that this devastating project is acceptable,” said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “This decision is motivated by politics and corruption.”

Bernhardt lobbied for the proposed Rosemont copper mine in the 1.78-million-acre Coronado National Forest from 2011 through 2015. He remained a consultant for the project. Rosemont Copper Co. paid about $1.8 million in lobbying fees from 2011 to 2016 to a Denver law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where Bernhardt is a shareholder.

Rosemont Copper Co. paid Bernhardt more than $5,000 forlegal services, according to his ethics disclosure form. The exact amount was not released. Bernhardt is expected to be questioned by the U.S. Senate about possible conflicts of interest such as Rosemont. The Interior Department doesn’t oversee the Forest Service, which is part of the Department of Agriculture.

The Federal Register announcement said a “Record of Decision” is expected to be signed in early June.

Hudbay Minerals Inc., the Canadian firm behind the project, said that the permit is one of two federal permits needed for the project. The other is a Clean Water Act permit that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers previously recommended be denied. The reviewers said the mine would “cause or contribute to” violations of Arizona water quality standards.

Hudbay CEO Alan Hair told analysts in February that he expected the company would receive the permits “in due course.”

The proposed mine is in the Santa Rita mountains of southern Arizona where the nation’s only wild jaguar lives. Another endangered large cat, the ocelot, has also been photographed nearby.

Hudbay plans to mine up to 90,000 tons of ore a day over the estimated 19-year life of the mine and produce 1.25 billion tons of waste rock and mine tailings. A feasibility study in March said the company has found other ore deposits nearby that it could also mine.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-nominee-for-interior-deputy-to-face-democratic-attack/article/2622986

Trump's nominee for Interior deputy to face Democratic attack

by John Siciliano | May 12, 2017,

Next week's confirmation hearing for Interior Department deputy secretary David Bernhardt is set to bring Democratic opposition back to the fore by using his ties to the energy industry to undermine his approval.

Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, likely will lead at least some of the more pointed questions over Bernhardt's previous employment. The energy committee will take up his nomination next Thursday, the panel announced yesterday evening.

"I am gravely concerned about Mr. Bernhardt's record of working on behalf of corporations at the expense of the environment, and his history at the Department of the Interior during years plagued by ethical scandals," Cantwell said this month. Cantwell led the efforts in beating back a Republican-backed bill earlier this week to repeal methane regulations on oil and natural gas drillers.

"The committee must do its job in closely scrutinizing his record and any conflicts of interest that run contrary to protecting the public interest and upholding the stewardship responsibilities entrusted to the department, on behalf of the American people," Cantwell said.

Financial disclosure forms showed Bernhardt earned $80,000 last year from a number of energy companies as a private consultant and lawyer.

The Trump administration sees Bernhardt as an invaluable asset to the Interior Department, where he has served at various times under previous Republican administrations.

Zinke also faced opposition from Cantwell over fear he would exploit public lands for energy development. She feared that he would be unable to "moderate the Trump administration's extreme views on exploiting our public lands," according to a statement she made on the Senate floor in February.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the Republican chairwoman of the energy committee, has been quiet on the Bernhardt nomination.[MMS?]

Meanwhile, a coalition of Democrats who included Cantwell sent a letter to Zinke late Thursday demanding an explanation for why he decided to suspend a number of the agency's federal advisory committees until the fall.

"We are very concerned about this news and would like an answer as to why the [Resource Advisory Council] meetings were postponed during the [Bureau of Land Management's] review of all advisory boards and committees," the senators wrote. "It is critical that local voices, including RACs, have the opportunity to provide input and take part in the process at all times, not just when those local voices align with the administration or a large special interest."

The Interior Department said it is suspending the meetings as it conducts an internal review to improve the agency's decision-making process.

The advisory groups are set up to provide a diverse array of "community input on often-contentious public land management issues," according to a statement from Cantwell's office.