President Biden isn’t the only member of his administration with family issues.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is being dogged by ethics questions stemming from her daughter Somah Haaland’s activism against oil and gas leasing near Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. The issue pits the department against the Navajo Nation.
The Standing Committee of the 25th Navajo Nation Council voted Monday to reject any buffer zone around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It pulled its compromise proposal after a stalemate with the Interior Department over valuable leasing allotments owned by tribal members.
The tribe warned that thousands of Navajo allottees who rely on income from the royalties “will be pushed into greater poverty” if the department proceeds with plans to withdraw 351,000 acres of land around the Chaco Canyon region for oil and gas leasing.
Ms. Haaland “failed to even consider the tribe’s previous compromise plan” for a 5-mile buffer zone instead of a 10-mile buffer, according to the Western Energy Alliance, which has called for an investigation into “the secretary’s connections to her daughter’s activities and lobbying.”
Somah Haaland works as a media organizer for the Pueblo Action Alliance, the New Mexico environmental group helping spearhead the “Frack Off Greater Chaco” campaign to block drilling in the Chaco Canyon area, including allotments owned by Navajo members.
The alliance was among the organizations involved in the raucous October 2021 protest outside the Interior Department in which activists rushed the lobby, resulting in an estimated 55 arrests and multiple injuries to security personnel.
Whether Somah Haaland was in the crowd is unclear, but the activist was in Washington the same week. A photo posted Oct. 11, 2021, on social media shows Somah Haaland standing outside the White House in front of the Andrew Jackson statue, which had been vandalized with “Expect Us” graffiti.
Somah Haaland, who uses “they/them” pronouns, also tweeted: “With respect, this is not at all about my mom.”
— somah 🌧 (they/them) (@woolyneptune) October 11, 2021
Somah Haaland was also part of a coalition of climate and Indigenous activists who traveled in December to Washington “to lobby members of Congress for Greater Chaco protections,” according to WildEarth Guardians.
During the trip, the coalition screened the film “Our Story: The Indigenous Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco,” which “showcases the threats the Greater Chaco Landscape and its communities face from continued oil and gas leasing and drilling.” Somah Haaland is the film’s narrator.
Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said Somah Haaland has “aggressively lobbied DOI and Congress to advance the Chaco withdrawal” and cited a double standard.
“Can you imagine if President Trump’s interior secretary David Bernhardt had a son who lobbied him on behalf of Western Energy Alliance to increase leasing around Chaco?” she said. “It would have been unacceptable and rightfully criticized. Secretary Haaland’s situation is no different and probably worse since over 5,000 Navajos stand to lose millions of dollars in income every year if the withdrawal is approved.”
The Navajo allottees face the loss of an estimated $194 million over the next 20 years if the Interior Department fences off oil and gas drilling in the Chaco Canyon area.
“The situation is a violation of ethics rules and the interior secretary’s trust responsibility to the tribe,” Ms. Sgamma said.
Protect the Public’s Trust filed lawsuits in April against the department and the Bureau of Land Management after receiving no responses to its Jan. 2 requests under the Freedom of Information Act for communications between the administration and Somah Haaland.
Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said Somah Haaland’s activism “has tremendous potential to create the appearance in the minds of the American public that the secretary is no longer an objective decision-maker on this issue.”
“We believe that, under the circumstances, this should put the agency on high alert for the potential of misconduct and the need for transparency,” Mr. Chamberlain said. “Yet what we have gotten instead is diversion and a lack of transparency about the extent of any relationships and conversations between the secretary’s daughter and department leadership.”
He noted that Deb Haaland appears in the anti-drilling film narrated by her daughter. A blurb on Video Project says the film chronicles “the ongoing Indigenous-led work to protect the remaining lands that are untouched by oil and gas.”
Asked about the issue, Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said Wednesday in an email that “we don’t have a comment on the oil and gas lobby concerns.”
The secretary was quizzed about her daughter’s activism during a hearing last month before the House Committee on Natural Resources.
“Could you tell me when you plan to fulfill the Jan. 2 request from Protect the Public’s Trust about communication between DOI, BLM and your daughter in reference to lobbying efforts and activities involving your daughter and members of your staff, and the protest that turned into a riot at Interior headquarters, which your daughter seems to have participated in?” asked Rep. Matthew Rosendale, Montana Republican.
Ms. Haaland responded without mentioning Somah. “We get thousands and thousands of FOIA requests, so I recognize that they all can’t be attended to immediately, but they will get to those FOIA requests in a timely manner,” she said.
Mr. Rosendale was skeptical. “No offense, Madame Secretary, but it’s nearly six months’ time since that request has gone out,” he said.
On Wednesday, the New Mexico congressional delegation reintroduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, which would permanently withdraw federal lands within the 10-mile buffer zone from mineral development.
Those supporting the bill include the All Pueblo Council of Governors. Ms. Haaland belongs to the Pueblo of Laguna, one of the council’s 20 tribes.
“We applaud our Delegation for understanding the cultural importance of protecting sacred landscapes and for working tirelessly to permanently prevent further harm on federal lands in the Greater Chaco Region,” the council said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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