‘Clearly Conflicted Official’: Biden Appointee Potentially Broke The Law To Kill Drilling In Alaska, Complaint Alleges

Jack McEvoy, Daily Caller

An Interior Department (DOI) official may have been serving her former employer’s interests when carrying out a plan to halt oil and gas leasing in northern Alaska, according to an ethics complaint filed by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a watchdog group.

PPT alleges that the DOI Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary For Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis violated federal ethics pledges when implementing the DOI’s move to halt oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to the complaint. Daniel-Davis’ previous role may present a conflict of interest as she was chief of policy and advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a large environmentalist nonprofit that opposes oil and gas exploration. (RELATED: ‘Sue And Settle’: Biden Admin Agrees To Block Oil And Gas Drilling After Settling With Eco Activists)

“ANWR has been one of the most high-profile issues at the Department, with that profile even heightened in light of the current debate over the role of oil and gas leasing in the nation’s energy policy in general,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Yet, rather than avoiding further controversy on this matter, the Department has taken a ‘damn the torpedoes’ approach by handing the reins to a clearly conflicted official.”

The NWF joined an August 2020 lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to auction ANWR leases while Daniel-Davis was still chief of policy, according to court filings.

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