The Senate on Thursday approved former energy lobbyist David Bernhardt to head the Interior Department, where he will play a key role in implementing President Trump’s agenda of boosting coal, gas, and oil production, including offshore.
Bernhardt was confirmed in a 56-41 vote.
Bernhardt, 49, has a long record of working in and out of government in Washington. He had served as the Interior Department’s solicitor under the administration of George W. Bush, but has since worked outside of government.
It is his most recent time working as a consultant and lobbyist for the fossil energy industry that has earned opposition and criticism from Democrats.
Many Democrats will continue to oppose him even after he is sworn in. They argue that his previous lobbying makes him both unfit and unable to do the job of Interior secretary due to extreme conflicts of interests.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., have called upon the inspector general in recent days to investigate whether Bernhardt had continued to lobby while in his role as deputy secretary of the interior. Trump had tapped Bernhardt to be the new interior secretary after being confirmed last year to be the agency’s second-highest-ranked official, and after the resignation of former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke amid ethics concerns.
The Wyden-Udall investigation requests will likely still be pending when Bernhardt is sworn in as the agency’s new secretary.
Both high-ranking Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had said the questions regarding Bernhardt’s lobbying career have been reviewed to the committee’s satisfaction, with no major conflicts with him being secretary. He was confirmed last week by the committee in a bipartisan 14-6 vote.
Bernhardt has already been in charge of reforming the Endangered Species Act in his deputy secretary role, which is a major part of Trump’s environmental deregulation agenda.
His goal as secretary will be to make species protections less burdensome for developers and the energy industry. However, the reforms are highly controversial among environmentalists and conservationists, and will most likely be the target of lawsuits once finalized.
Bernhardt will also be in charge of shuttling through a new controversial five-year offshore drilling plan for coastal waters. Florida lawmakers, in particular, from both sides of the aisle adamantly oppose opening up drilling off its coasts.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on Thursday that Bernhardt would not commit to him to not open drilling off the Atlantic coast. Schumer had met with Bernhardt recently ahead of the vote.
Bernhardt will also be in charge of rolling back regulations to allow more onshore drilling, fracking, and mining on federal lands and previously protected areas like national monuments, which is also a major part of Trump’s energy dominance agenda.
Selling new leases for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will also be a priority for Bernhardt. The 2017 GOP tax cuts opened up the refuge for drilling.
