With historic picks, Biden puts environmental justice front and center Juliet Eilperin, Dino Grandoni, Brady Dennis 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.
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This is the Dec. 17, 2020, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
It’s been nearly five years since the chilly February morning when I shuffled into the back of a conference room at Salt Lake City’s convention center to watch the federal government auction off oil and gas drilling rights for up to 45,000 acres of public lands. There were nearly 100 protesters in the room too, part of a growing campaign urging the Obama administration to stop allowing new fossil fuel extraction on lands and waters owned by the American people.
With historic picks, Biden puts environmental justice front and center Juliet Eilperin, Dino Grandoni, Brady Dennis 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.
Stephanie Gross for Southern Environmental Law Center
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toggle caption Stephanie Gross for Southern Environmental Law Center
President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Brenda Mallory to lead his Environmental Quality Council. Stephanie Gross for Southern Environmental Law Center
President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate
environmental lawyer and Obama administration veteran Brenda Mallory to run the Council on Environmental Quality, according to a source with knowledge of the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect private conversations.
The White House office oversees environmental reviews for virtually all major infrastructure projects, including pipelines and highways.
Biden has promised to make climate change a top priority, and Mallory s appointment fleshes out a climate team with expertise in regulation, finance, diplomacy and environmental law. Mallory would work with John Kerry, the National Security C
Biden picks New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be first Native American interior secretary
Her appointment would mark a turning point for a 171-year-old institution that has often had a fraught relationship with 574 federally recognized tribes.
By Juliet Eilperin and Dino GrandoniWashington Post
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Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., has been nominated to become the first Native American to serve as interior secretary. Washington Post photo by Bonnie Jo Mount
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland, a congresswoman from New Mexico, to serve as the first Native American interior secretary in a historic pick for a department that oversees the country’s vast natural resources, including tribal lands.