Jeff Merkely Hammers Secretary Burgum For Expediting Drilling Permits Amid 'Bogus' Energy Emergency

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During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke about Secretary Burgum's leadership of the Department of Interior.

Transcript

00:00Well, thank you very much, Chair Murkowski, and welcome, Secretary Burgum.

00:03Mr. Secretary, I am just astonished, and not in a good way, by all we have seen over the

00:10last four months at the Interior Department. Coming into this second Trump administration,

00:15I feared that Interior would open up more lands to drilling and mining, deepening our

00:20addiction to fossil fuels, and ignoring the growing impact of climate chaos. And, of course,

00:26that chaos has huge consequences for the health of our public lands. And that fear was justified.

00:33Despite the U.S. operating at an all-time high for energy production and more than 19 million leased

00:39acres sitting idle across the country, that's 46 percent of the onshore acres and 79 percent of the

00:47offshore acres, yet the administration lied to the American people and declared a bogus energy

00:54emergency. And now you're expediting fossil fuel permitting and dropping protections for

01:00vast swaths of public lands while restricting renewable energy production. You don't have an

01:07all-the-above energy policy. You have a fossils-above-all policy, and one that hurts our future.

01:15I also feared that a second Trump administration would undermine the Endangered Species Act

01:20in order to pave the way for industry and developers to not have to be bothered by protecting

01:25species on the brink of extinction or the health of their ecosystems. And, right on time,

01:31the department proposed a change to the Endangered Species Act, declaring that habitat destruction

01:36doesn't count when it comes to harming species. But, Mr. Secretary, I never expected to see,

01:42not even for a second, an administration that would fire or push out under threat hundreds of dedicated

01:49public lands employees, including firefighters and park rangers, who keep us safe and protect our

01:54national treasures. I never expected to see an administration openly propose to offload vast

02:00numbers of national park sites onto the states, fracturing our treasured system with an eye on profit

02:07rather than preserving our collective heritage. I never expected to see an administration brazenly

02:12violate bipartisan congressional direction written into law by holding back funds for state and tribal

02:18historic preservation offices, national heritage areas, international anti-poaching groups,

02:23and volunteer trail groups. I never expect to see an administration that would callously propose

02:28to forsake our treaty and trust responsibilities to sovereign tribal nations. In your confirmation hearing,

02:34you said how proud you were as governor of the strong partnership you had with tribes in North Dakota.

02:41We don't have to wonder what tribes think today about your proposal to cut core tribal programs for

02:47road maintenance, for public safety, for social services, and other vital services nearly in half,

02:54or cut tribal school administration by 80 percent in a system with a $1 billion in deferred maintenance

03:01and dozens of schools in desperate condition. A broad coalition of organizations from across Indian

03:08countries serving tribal nationals and tribal citizens sent you a letter on April 11th calling these cuts

03:14absolutely unacceptable and that they quote undermine the sacred promises made by the United States to

03:19tribal nations. Madam Chair, I'd like to submit that letter for the record.

03:23Without objection. I never expected to see an administration delay funding for wildfire preparedness

03:30and fire red card employees who are trained to fight wildfires or try to end air and smoke monitoring

03:38in national parks as we enter wildfire season. And here we are on the brink of another fire season.

03:45You have left us less prepared.

03:49Safeguarding dangerous species and ecosystems, preserving public lands, supporting tribal nations,

03:54protecting against wildfires are fundamental responsibilities of the department.

03:59For the Trump administration, however, it's clear that none of that is sacred. President Franklin Delano

04:06Roosevelt said, there is nothing so American as our national parks. The country belongs to the people.

04:15An environmentalist and novelist Wallace Stenger said, national parks are the best idea we ever had.

04:23If creating the national park system was the best idea we've had,

04:28this administration's assault on the national park system is one of the worst.

04:33The parks bind us together as a nation. They are shared natural wonders open to all.

04:39Parks preserve and show us our shared history, places where we can take pride in what happened

04:45there and places where we can learn how to live up to our ideals. Congress created nearly every national park

04:52site by law, not just our crown jewels, but each of the park sites, including sites that aren't part of the

05:01capital N, capital P system, like the Oregon Caves system in Oregon.

05:08They all deserve recognition. Each location is special and part of our national story.

05:14But this administration wants to strip down the national park system and hand out the parts.

05:20Mr. Secretary, you like to talk about unleashing America's balance sheet,

05:24focusing on the mining and exploitation profit potential of our public lands.

05:30But accounting for the value of public lands is not as simple as a business spreadsheet.

05:36How do you value recharging one's soul on the rim of the Grand Canyon?

05:40How do you measure the value of a fourth grader gasping in awe at the unspoiled natural wonder

05:46of Crater Lake in Oregon? Or of an adult who watched civil rights marches on TV in the 60s,

05:52walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and reliving the fight for racial equality

05:58and remembering Bloody Sunday in 1965? This administration talks about public lands like

06:04they're just a transaction available for wheeling trade or for sale. But they are not just a transaction.

06:12They are part of the soul of this nation. They are to be celebrated, protected and passed on to

06:19the next generation and the generation after. Our national park sites, our national wildlife

06:25refugees. Our national landscape conservation system belong to the American people. They are not for sale.

06:31So today I'll try to dive deeper into the shocking strategy of selling off America's treasures,

06:38destroying endangered species and ecosystems, walking away from our responsibility of the tribes

06:43and the effort to fire dedicated professional federal workers and to freeze funding for parks,

06:48nonprofits and most dangerously, wildfire preparedness. I look forward to the discussion.

06:52Thank you. Thank you, Senator Merkley. Mr. Secretary, again, welcome to the committee. You have five

07:00minutes to give us a little bit of the outline here. Your full statement, of course, is included as part

07:07of the record and we look forward to the exchange with members at the conclusion.

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