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By JULIET EILPERIN AND DINO GRANDONI | The Washington Post | Published: December 17, 2020 WASHINGTON President-elect Joe Biden chose Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., Thursday to serve as the first Native American Cabinet secretary and head the Interior Department, a historic pick that marks a turning point for the U.S. government s relationship with the nation s Indigenous peoples. With that selection and others this week, Biden sent a clear message that top officials charged with confronting the nation s environmental problems will have a shared experience with the Americans who have disproportionately been affected by toxic air and polluted land. A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior, Haaland tweeted Thursday night. . I ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.
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President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Deb Haaland, the freshman representative from New Mexico, to lead the Interior Department, making history by selecting the first Native American to oversee the agency that manages millions of acres of federal land and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a person familiar with the decision.
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.
Michael Quinn, NPS
For many of us, 2020 has had its ups and downs. While our vision of the year didn’t include a global pandemic, the outpouring of support, community involvement, and activism we’ve seen this year has been inspiring.
Like so many others, we joined hundreds of Zoom calls from makeshift coffee table desks, got in our steps with walk-and-talk meetings, and halted our travel to Washington D.C. and field sites. Despite the unprecedented challenges, our eyes remained on our mission: to safeguard the wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau, while supporting the rights of its Native peoples.
Kim Bhasin, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) The leader of the retailer that did more than any other to #ResistTrump wasnât watching the around-the-clock coverage of the election results on cable news. Thatâs because Ryan Gellert, the new chief executive officer of Patagonia, doesnât own a television.
When he took over the company this year, it was already at war with Trump. To try to unseat Republicans, Patagonia had bought political ads and employees had pumped cash into congressional races. That weekend in November, his phone blew up with texts from friends and colleagues across North America and Europe as he watched President-elect Joe Bidenâs victory speech from his home in the Netherlands. Gellert felt a wave of relief, then sat down to compose a message to his employees. He told them to celebrate. âIt was like taking a lot of big bricks out of your backpack as youâre trudging uphill,â he recalls in an interview with Bloomberg Green.