Washington, DC — Lawmakers should press Interior Secretary nominee David Bernhardt on how he will return balance to the department’s public lands stewardship, wildlife conservation, tribal commitments and natural resources management. The National Wildlife Federation said today that the U.S. Senate must ask Acting Interior Secretary Bernhardt about his role in the precise execution of the administration’s unbalanced “energy dominance” agenda, which will impair millions of acres of our shared natural heritage, and what steps he will take to advance conservation priorities across the nation. The transition from the roles of Deputy and Acting Secretary to Secretary and keeper of the department’s full and diverse mission affords him the opportunity to recalibrate the Department’s priorities and enact a thoughtful conservation agenda for the Department.

“History judges Secretaries of the Interior by the public lands they steward, the wildlife species they conserve, and the voices of people on the landscape they amplify. The U.S. Senate should press Acting Secretary Bernhardt on his top conservation priorities and the specific steps he will take restore balance to the Department’s actions, including prioritizing the recovery of the thousands of vulnerable wildlife species, protecting treasured landscapes across the nation, upholding Tribal obligations and responsibilities, preventing oil spills off our coasts, and restoring robust public input into decision-making,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.

O’Mara recently wrote a column for the Washington Post about the lessons of Zinke’s tenure and his legacy at the Interior Department.