President Donald Trump nominated Bernhardt to be the deputy secretary of the interior in April 2017.[5] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 24, 2017,[6] and sworn into office on August 1.[7] He became acting secretary of the interior on January 2, 2019, following Ryan Zinke's resignation.[8] Bernhardt was nominated to officially become Secretary of the Interior in February 2019[9] and was confirmed on April 11, 2019.[10]
Early life and education
Bernhardt grew up in Rifle, Colorado.[3] His father was a county extension agent and his mother was in the real estate business.
Bernhardt worked for the Department of the Interior during George W. Bush's presidency.[14] Early in his career with the DOI, he was deputy chief of staff and counselor[3] to then-secretary of the interiorGale Norton.[2] He also served early on at the DOI as director of congressional and legislative affairs. Later he was confirmed and served as the solicitor at the DOI.[3] He was also the United States commissioner to the International Boundary Commission, U.S. and Canada.[14]
President George W. Bush nominated Bernhardt to serve as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior in November 2005, subject to Senate confirmation.[15] He was the DOI deputy solicitor at the time.[3] Bernhardt was sworn into office in November 2006,[4] after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He served as Solicitor from 2006 to January, 2009.[5][16]
In 2011, Bernhardt filed a lawsuit for the Westlands Water District that "sought to force the feds to make good on a commitment to build a multibillion-dollar system to dispose of the poisoned water" resulting from toxic irrigation in the Westlands district.[18]
Until the end of 2016, Bernhardt remained an attorney and lobbyist for the Westlands Water District.[18] In November 2016, he de-listed himself as a lobbyist in order to comply with the new president's ban on lobbyists joining his administration.[21] After withdrawing his formal registration as a lobbyist, Bernhardt became a consultant to the Westlands Water District for a $20,000 per month retainer.[22] While remaining a lawyer at Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck, after November 2016 Bernhardt was briefly in charge of the Interior Department transition team for President Donald Trump.[5] In that role, he was in charge of overseeing staffing in the Department of the Interior along with Devin Nunes.[21]
Until resigning by early 2017, he was on the board of the Center for Environmental Science Accuracy and Reliability.[23]
Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Deputy Secretary Bernhardt
On April 28, 2017, Trump nominated Bernhardt to be the deputy secretary of the interior.[5][14][1][24] The role made Bernhardt the "top deputy to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and COO of the federal lands and energy agency".[2] The appointment was praised by Zinke,[11][5] Republican members of Congress,[18][12] and former-interior secretary Dirk Kempthorne,[1] as well as Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable, Ducks Unlimited, and the Boone and Crocket Club.[25] His nomination was strongly opposed by conservationists,[18][1][21]fishing groups,[18][21] and California Democrats,[21] who cited his history of representing and lobbying on behalf of oil companies and agricultural interests[1] as well as conflict-of-interest concerns arising from his firm's work on regulation issues with the DOI.[5]
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-May 2017,[26] Bernhardt testified that he would "apply the law and be honest with the science" at the Interior Department[25] but also said the president's views, rather than the recommendations of climate scientists, would guide the Interior Department's policies whenever possible.[26] Ethics issues were raised by Senators such as Maria Cantwell, with Bernhardt replying he took ethics very seriously. He said that unless he received authorization to do so, he would not involve himself substantially in any particular matter involving his former clients.[25]
On July 24, 2017, the Senate confirmed Bernhardt's nomination by a vote of 53–43.[27] He was then sworn into office on August 1, 2017.[7]
During Bernhardt's tenure as deputy secretary and acting secretary the Department of the Interior substantially increased fossil fuel sales on public land and embarked on a program of deregulation.[28]
In 2019, Politico reported that heads of the oil industry lobbying group Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) celebrated their ties to Bernhardt, who had IPAA as a client during his legal career.[13]
In August 2020, the Interior Department's inspector general released a report concluding that the agency had withheld sensitive public documents related to Bernhardt prior to his Senate confirmation and that this action did not violate any legal or ethical standards.[29]
Secretary of the Interior
Bernhardt as secretary of the interior and President Trump in Bakersfield, California in February 2020
On January 2, 2019, Bernhardt became acting secretary of the interior, replacing Ryan Zinke.[8] On February 4, 2019, Trump nominated Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior.[9] He was confirmed by the Senate on April 11, 2019, by a vote of 56 to 41.[30]
In May 2019, the House Oversight Committee investigated whether Bernhardt was complying with record-keeping laws.[31]
In September 2019, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report finding that Bernhardt, then acting secretary, had twice violated federal law[32] when in January 2019 he directed the National Park Service to use park entrance fees for maintenance in keeping parks open during the government shutdown.[33][34] The GAO report concluded that the Interior Department moved funds between accounts without authorization from Congress in violation of the Antideficiency Act and federal appropriations law.[32][34] The Interior Department rejected the GAO's conclusion that any laws were violated, and maintained that the directive was an "appropriate and lawful use of Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act funds."[33][34]
On August 4, 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump. Bernhardt announced that August 4 would be designated "Great American Outdoors Day" and that each year on that day entrance to national parks would be free.[37]
Bernhardt relocated the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colorado, on August 11, 2020.[38]
Bernhardt on August 17, 2020, announced plans for an oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, clearing the way for drilling in the remote Alaskan area.[39]
On August 20, 2020, Bernhardt designated the site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot for inclusion in the National Park Service's African American Civil Rights Network. It is the 30th site to achieve such a designation, which includes sites associated with the civil rights movement in the United States, such as the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama and the Pullman National Monument in Chicago.[40]
After leaving the Department of the Interior, Bernhardt rejoined his former law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck as a senior counsel. He also joined the advisory board of Advancing American Freedom, a political advocacy group founded by Mike Pence.[42] Bernhardt is the chairman of the America First Policy Institute's Center for American Freedom.[43]
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