The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, ejensen@foe.org

Bernhardt Unfit to Lead DOI

WASHINGTON

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on David Bernhardt's nomination today. The hearing brings the former energy lobbyist one step closer to becoming the next secretary of the Interior. Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have received over a quarter of a million dollars from Bernhardt, his old firm and its former clients in the last five years.[1]

Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:

David Bernhardt is an industry crony who spent his career helping corporate polluters increase their profits and avoid regulation. If Bernhardt is confirmed, Big Oil will wield even more power and influence in Trump's pro-polluting and pro-fossil fuels DOI.

The Department of the Interior should be protecting our public health and public lands, not enriching big polluters. Senators must listen to their constituents instead of protecting oil industry profits and oppose Bernhardt.

Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.

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