Haaland nomination to Interior Department ‘an unprecedented nod to Indian country’
Joseph Morton and Jessica Wehrman
Cq-Roll Call
As the chief executive officer of Ho-Chunk, Inc., the economic development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Lance Morgan says he knows who makes the big decisions in an organization.
That’s why he was pleased Thursday to learn Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., will be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden as the first Native American to lead the Interior Department.
After all, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, located within the department, answers to the person sitting in the secretary’s chair.
Tom WilliamsGetty Images
New Mexico representative Deb Haaland made history yesterday after President-elect Joe Biden nominated her to serve as interior secretary, a position that oversees the management and conservation of federal lands and natural resources, as well as agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior in this role.
The history-making selection is a delivery from the centuries worth of Indigenous organizing and lobbying from environmental groups and progressive lawmakers. A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior, tweeted Haaland, who is a member of Pueblo of Laguna. 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.
Kassie Siegel, Center for Biological Diversity, kassie [at] biologicaldiversity.org
Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, dallas [at] ienearth.org
Joe Uehlein, Labor Network for Sustainability, joe [at] labor4sustability.org
Biden Urged By Hundreds of Groups to Sign Climate Emergency Executive Order
WASHINGTON More than 380 groups today called on President-elect Joe Biden to sign an executive order to confront the climate emergency with the full power of the executive branch as soon as he takes office.
The groups presented Biden with a draft executive order with a suite of actions the president can take under existing law to phase out fossil fuels, protect workers and communities and “build back better” to a just, clean-energy economy.
Tom WilliamsGetty Images
New Mexico representative Deb Haaland made history yesterday after President-elect Joe Biden nominated her to serve as interior secretary, a position that oversees the management and conservation of federal lands and natural resources, as well as agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior in this role.
The history-making selection is a delivery from the centuries worth of Indigenous organizing and lobbying from environmental groups and progressive lawmakers. A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior, tweeted Haaland, who is a member of Pueblo of Laguna. 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.