House Republicans Dig Deeper Into Deb Haaland’s Relationship With Pueblo Action Alliance
- October 24, 2023
Tristan Justice, Free Beacon
House Republicans are digging deeper into Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s relationship with the Pueblo Action Alliance, a radical climate group based in New Mexico.
On Monday, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent a letter to Haaland and the agency’s ethics director demanding documents related to the secretary’s involvement with the Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA).
The letter is a follow-up to lawmakers’ initial inquiry in June. A group of House Republicans probed the secretary’s potential conflicts of interest after her spring decision to choke off oil and gas development around New Mexico’s Chaco Cultural National Historical Park. The 20-year moratorium implemented by Secretary Haaland achieves a primary goal of the PAA, which happens to employ Haaland’s daughter, Somah.
Secretary Haaland participated in a film opposing oil and gas development in the Chaco area that was released in January last year. The documentary, which was narrated by Somah, was at the center of an ethics complaint filed by the nonprofit watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust in August.
“Given her past statements, participation in this film, and her child’s active role in lobbying against oil and gas development in the region, reasonable observers could question Secretary Haaland’s impartiality in the matter,” the group wrote in a letter to the inspector general for the Interior Department.