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Biden Nominates First Native American To Head U.S. Interior Department

   DailyWire.com
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 04: Rep. Debra Haaland (D-NM) talks with reporters after a portrait with her fellow House Democratic women in front of the U.S. Capitol January 04, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

On Thursday, Joe Biden followed through with his campaign promise to “ensure tribes have a seat at the table at the highest levels of the federal government,” nominating first-term Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) as his Interior Secretary.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland would become the first Native American appointed to a presidential cabinet position.

“A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” Rep. Haaland tweeted on Thursday. “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. I am honored and ready to serve.”

Haaland, 60, is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, a federally recognized tribe in west-central New Mexico, near Albuquerque. She says she’s a 35th-generation resident of the state.

The Associated Press reports:

Her selection breaks a 245-year record of non-Native officials, mostly male, serving as the top federal official over American Indian affairs. The federal government often worked to dispossess Native Americans of their land and, until recently, to assimilate them into white culture.

“You’ve got to understand – you’re taking Interior full circle,” said Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva (D), who had endorsed Halaand’s nomination. “For years, its legacy was the disenfranchisement of the Native people of this country, of displacement, of cultural genocide.”

The push to nominate Haaland was fueled by tribal leaders, climate activists, and liberal members of Congress.

Biden promoted Haaland as a component of an incoming team that will “confront the climate crisis, protect our air and water, and deliver justice to communities that have long shouldered the burdens of environmental harms.”

Several Hollywood celebrities had penned a letter to Biden and Kamala Harris last week backing Haaland “so we can begin to shift the focus back to caring for future generations and returning to the value system that honors Mother Earth,” they wrote.

“After four years of fossil fuel executives and lobbyists opening up Native lands and sacred sites to industry tycoons, the next secretary of Interior will be a Laguna Pueblo woman who went to Standing Rock in 2016 and cooked for the people,” Julian Brave Noisecat, a Native American activist, tweeted on Thursday. “She’s going to make our ancestors so proud.”

As the Los Angeles Times reports:

If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland will take over a department mired in controversy over the Trump administration’s campaign to open up sensitive land and offshore areas to oil and gas development. She will also be responsible for implementing Biden’s promise to end oil and gas leasing on land controlled by the federal government – a move certain to face backlash from oil-dependent states, including her own, and lawsuits from the fossil fuel industry.

Because most drilling in the United States takes place on private land, it’s unlikely that this push would affect major oil and gas states like Pennsylvania and Texas. But it would have a significant impact on New Mexico, where one of the country’s largest oil booms on federal land has brought jobs and tax revenue to one of its poorest states. The state is expected to ask for a waiver exempting it from a drilling ban.

She will also oversee plans to restore the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah to their original size, before President Trump greatly reduced them, and to reinstate protections against oil and gas extraction, mining and logging. And she will be in charge of the incoming administration’s efforts to prevent oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which the Trump administration is racing to carry out before the inauguration Jan. 20.

Michael L. Connor, a Native American who served as deputy Interior secretary in the Obama administration, was also mentioned as a potential nominee.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who is white, was also considered a strong candidate. However, several progressive groups asked him to remove his name from consideration. On Thursday, he called Haaland’s nomination “a watershed moment for Native communities, and for our nation.” In a statement, Udall said Haaland would “undo the damage of the Trump administration.”

According to the AP, Biden plans to introduce Haaland at an event on Saturday.

Related: Hollywood Celebs, Tribal Leaders, and Progressives Urge Joe Biden To Appoint A Native American As U.S. Interior Secretary

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