Watchdog group files complaint against Interior Dept official for crossing ethics line on adverse ANWR policy
- September 15, 2022
Suzanne Downing, Must Read Alaska
Protect the Public’s Trust, a government watchdog group, filed an ethics complaint against a Department of the Interior senior official, who the group accuses of improperly influencing policy on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, her immediate past employer.
Protect the Public’s Trust sent a letter to the Department of Interior’s Inspector General alleging that Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis heavily influences a course change in Interior policy, all to cooperate with her National Wildlife Federation, which had sued the Interior Department over oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“Based upon documents PPT obtained from a whistleblower and Freedom of Information Act request, Ms. Daniel-Davis’ involvement in the issue may have crossed the line into personal and substantial involvement in a particular matter involving her former employer,” wrote Michael Chamberlain, the director of PPT. “Within six months at Interior, Ms. Daniel-Davis had exercised her official authority to achieve practically all of the legal remedies sought by her former employer in court.”