** What’s behind the opposition to Deb Haaland?
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Friday, February 26, 2021
@DebHaalandNM ([link removed])

Now that Rep. Deb Haaland appears to be on track ([link removed]) for confirmation as the first Native American Interior Secretary, reporters ([link removed]) and writers ([link removed]) are taking a deeper look at what motivates the senators ([link removed]) who staunchly oppose her nomination.

The most dramatic moment during Haaland’s confirmation hearing came when Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming asked for an assurance that Haaland would follow the Endangered Species Act. Before Haaland could finish answering, Barrasso cut her off ([link removed]) , shouting, “I'm talking about the law!”

That moment, along with the repeated claims that Haaland is a “radical,” sent a clear message to Haaland’s supporters, especially in the Indigenous community. Rebecca Ortega, of Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, told the Associated Press that Barrasso’s shouting was “horrible.”

“It was disrespectful,” Ortega said ([link removed]) . “I just feel like if it would have been a white man or a white woman, he would never have yelled like that.”

In addition to the accusations of racial bias, The Guardian notes that senators most critical of Haaland also have extensive ties to fossil fuels ([link removed]) . Barrasso, who has consistently denied climate science ([link removed]) , has received more than $1.2 million from oil and gas companies, PACs, and employees over the course of his federal career.
Quick hits


** Haaland’s Senate grilling raises questions of racial bias, financial ties
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | The Guardian ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | Grist ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) (Opinion) | Boston Globe ([link removed]) (Opinion)


** Haaland’s historic nomination spurs hope, apprehension in Alaska
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Anchorage Daily News ([link removed]) | Roll Call ([link removed])


** How the Biden administration can put the Bureau of Land Management back together again
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Audubon Magazine ([link removed])


** Tribes flex political muscle in quest to co-manage parks
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Will the climate crisis tap out the Colorado River?
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High Country News ([link removed])


** North Dakota officials block wind power in last-ditch attempt to save coal
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NPR ([link removed])


** Colorado limestone quarry with ties to former Interior secretary faces dire financial future
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Aspen Public Radio ([link removed])


** Opinion: Biden administration pulls massive logging project near Yellowstone
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Missoulian ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Republicans’ depiction of the first Native American ever nominated to the Cabinet as a ‘radical’ threat to a Western ‘way of life’ revealed something about the conservative id: a deep-seated fear that when the dispossessed finally attain a small measure of power, we will turn around and do to them what their governments and ancestors did to us.”
—Julian Brave NoiseCat, Data for Progress
Washington Post ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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When you've just found the ultimate scratching post… A bobcat is barely noticeable nestled in the spiny situation of a saguaro cactus @OrganPipeNPS ([link removed]) #Arizona ([link removed])

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