The nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) to be Interior secretary won the approval of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a Mar. 4 vote that advanced her nomination to the full Senate.
All Democrats and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted affirmatively, though not without misgivings expressed by the Alaska Republican.
Later, the committee held a generally positive hearing on the nomination of David Turk to be deputy secretary of energy.
A veteran Capitol Hill staff member who also has worked in the Energy Department, Turk appeared to have no trouble agreeing with senators on both sides of the aisle about needs for technological progress in the energy sector, including the prospect of carbon capture, reuse, and storage and an “all of the above” approach to energy sources.
But first came the uneasy action on the Interior Department nominee.
Commitment to Alaskans
Murkowski had met twice with Haaland outside of the committee’s nomination hearing, each meeting for more than an hour, and she said the nominee “committed to me that she will ‘make sure that we are doing all we can to ensure that your constituents have the opportunities that they need.’
“I am going to place my trust in Representative Haaland and her team, despite some very real misgivings,” Murkowski said.
Alaska has a large population of Native Americans, and Murkowski said her constituents were well aware of the fact that Haaland would be the first Native American to head Interior if confirmed. Their appreciation for that fact was tempered, however, by what they have heard of Haaland’s politics, according to Murkowski.
“They are concerned by her opposition to resource development on public lands, including her opposition to key projects in Alaska and her questioning of the vital role that Alaska native corporations serve in our communities,” the senator said.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the committee, used what has become a catch phrase for him, the idea that an energy transition “must come through innovation, not elimination,” meaning development of low-pollution energy, not simple obstruction of energy production and jobs involved in fossil fuels.
He said it appeared that Haaland understood the point. He also said it meant a lot to him that Rep. Don Young (R-Ala.) endorsed Haaland as a lawmaker who strives for bipartisanship.
Basic questions unanswered
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) voted against Haaland after explaining that her views—aligning in the past with environmental activists in opposition to fossil fuels—were “squarely at odds with the mission of the Department of the Interior and outside of the mainstream.”
Haaland has been in Congress only 2 years and has no previous experience with land management or environmental protection. Barrasso zeroed in on her inexperience.
“During her confirmation hearing, Congresswoman Haaland struggled or refused to answer the basic questions any nominee for the Department of the Interior would be expected to know,” Barrasso said.
“She was unwilling or unable to respond to questions about the department, resource policy, and the laws she would be asked to implement,” the Wyoming senator said.
