Federal Watchdog Requests Transparency Regarding High-Ranking BLM Official’s Activities

Letter from members of Congress raises additional questions about Culver’s ability to act impartially

Today, Federal watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust responded to the letter sent by members of the Committee on Natural Resources and its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations requesting the Department of the Interior provide information regarding Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director for Policy and Programs Nada Culver. If the Biden Administration’s promises of the most vigorously ethical administration in history are to have any meaning, the Department should go above and beyond the bare minimum requirements for transparency and not only provide all requested information to oversight authorities but also make these documents public.  

As PPT revealed yesterday, Ms. Culver may have violated her ethics obligations by participating in matters involving her former employer. The new information provided by the letter raises additional questions concerning Ms. Culver’s ability to act impartially and whether she has fulfilled her obligations to fully inform and adhere to the guidance of Department ethics officials regarding her previous employers and activities. The growing weight of questions calls for a much greater degree of transparency.

“The American public deserves to trust that the decisions of its government are made in an impartial and unbiased manner,” Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust said. “The high-ranking officials who are entrusted with authority over rulings that affect the lives and livelihoods of the public must not be influenced by potential conflicts or the specific Federal actions sought by previous employers. The Department of the Interior must provide a maximum level of transparency to assure the American public that its officials are living up to this standard.”

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