A panel of House lawmakers is set to examine the alleged influence of “extreme environmental activist groups” at the Biden administration’s Department of the Interior (DOI), according to a newly published internal memo.
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations—which oversees multiple federal agencies, programs, and policies— will hold a hearing regarding the issue on April 30.
The White House is “beholden” to activist nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and “those aligned with leftist social and environmental justice agendas,” Republicans said in the memo.
“Despite rigorous compliance and ethics requirements, NGOs’ growing influence in the federal rulemaking process is significant and often occurs outside of the public eye,” the memo states.
During the upcoming hearing, Republicans will examine DOI’s alleged “questionable communications with extreme activist groups” under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
The department has cultivated “intimate and potentially improper relationships with radical NGOs” that are “driving the Biden administration’s extreme environmental agenda,” the memo states.
According to The Washington Times, Ms. Haaland had a relationship with the organization before joining the Biden administration and has coordinated with its members to advocate excluding more land in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, from new oil and gas leasing and mining claims.
The action followed “extensive public engagement, including significant consultation with Tribal Nations,” the release said without mentioning Ms. Haaland’s alleged interactions with the Pueblo Action Alliance.
Citing information obtained from various media reports, and documents produced in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, along with oversight by the House Committee on Natural Resources (Committee), Republicans said there were “serious concerns” about the department’s relationship with several NGOs and organizations.
In particular, the subcommittee, led by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), is concerned about alleged “undisclosed ex parte communications” and “off-the-record meetings between high-ranking DOI officials and nonprofit staff,” the memo states.
Concern Over Possible CCP Ties
“Moreover, there is significant concern that some of these extreme activist groups have ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other foreign entities,” it adds.According to Republicans, Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, which is based in Washington, D.C., declined to testify at the hearing, as did Julia Fay Bernal, the executive director at Pueblo Action Alliance in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within the DOI, waived the development fees for the Vineyard Wind project after the latter requested a payment deferment because it was “unnecessarily burdensome for lessees because, at that point, they have not begun receiving project income,” Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) reported.
Tommy Beaudreau, an attorney who represented Vineyard Wind, LLC, was later sworn in as deputy secretary of the Interior, according to the watchdog.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Department of the Interior for further comment.
