As she prepares to leave the Biden administration, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland expressed confidence that the work the department has done to conserve land and promote renewable energy during her tenure will be durable. |
© Mark Schiefelbein, Associated Press |
“We have some pretty awesome attorneys here at the department,” she said “They really make sure that the work we’re doing is right, it’s done well and it’s durable.”
“The fact that we really have, on a lot of these conservation efforts, gotten the full support of the communities that we have done these in — that really is something I think that's valuable,” she said.
Haaland particularly expressed skepticism as to whether the incoming administration would be able to block wind energy projects — despite President-elect Trump’s growing hostility to the climate-friendly power source.
“Of course, they can always try. But I mean, there's existing rights that people have,” Haaland said.
“Quite frankly, I don't see ...the offshore wind industry taking a step back at all. They have too much invested,” she added.
When asked what she will do when she leaves the Interior Department, she declined to give specifics. She did say, however, that she hopes to continue to fight for Native people and combat climate change.
“Before I came here, before I came to Congress... I was an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. I was a climate activist,” she said.
“I worked hard on a lot of elections, every seat, every single cycle, to get the candidates who cared about my issues elected. So my guess is that I'm going to give support to organizations that move those issues forward,” she added.
She also declined to comment on whether she will run for governor in her home state of New Mexico, saying that she could not speak about elections from her perch within the administration. Read more when the full article runs this weekend at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
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