Democrats
want answers about the Interior Department’s decisions during the shutdown
Controversial decisions
made by the Interior Department and other agencies during the ongoing partial
government shutdown are emerging as an immediate test of power for Democrats
looking to hold the Trump administration accountable after re-taking the House
of Representatives.
The use of entrance fees
to keep national parks open, along with a sudden decision to bring back
department employees to work on offshore drilling and related tasks, have come
under fire from House Democrats and environmental groups — they argue Acting
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and other officials may be breaking the law.
And lawmakers are looking to flex their new power once the government reopens.
On January 23, Rep. Betty
McCollum (DFW-MN), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee for agencies
including the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
announced that she intends to probe the Trump administration’s decisions during
the shutdown.
“I’m going to be doing oversight hearings,” McCollum told ThinkProgress, laying out how the subcommittee plans to approach the matter, including collecting information pertaining to processes during the shutdown and lining up witnesses.
At the heart of
complaints lobbed at several of the Interior Department’s shutdown decisions is
the Antideficiency Act, which specifies that
only “cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection
of property” merit the ongoing unpaid labor of federal employees in a shutdown
scenario.
McCollum said
stipulations laid out in that act and appropriations law more broadly aren’t
being followed and pointed to several key examples.
One major sticking point
concerns a decision made last week. Despite not being included in initial
shutdown contingency plans, some employees at several Interior Department
bureaus, like the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM), were called in to work.
These employees have
been tasked with working on issues such as the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)
five-year leasing program, which would open virtually all U.S. waters up to oil
and gas drilling.
Other tasks include processing oil and gas permits more generally, in addition to completing environmental reviews of expanded hunting and fishing in more than 60 national wildlife refuges.
Other tasks include processing oil and gas permits more generally, in addition to completing environmental reviews of expanded hunting and fishing in more than 60 national wildlife refuges.
Another point of
contention during the shutdown has involved
national parks and monuments, which have historically been closed
during prolonged shutdowns.
The Trump administration
opted to keep many of the parks open to the public, seemingly to avoid the
backlash closed parks and canceled vacations sparked during the 2013 shutdown.
Without adequate park staffing, the decision has resulted in massive amounts of trash and wrecked toilets at many parks, in addition to damage to nature and wildlife at parks like Joshua Tree in California.
Without adequate park staffing, the decision has resulted in massive amounts of trash and wrecked toilets at many parks, in addition to damage to nature and wildlife at parks like Joshua Tree in California.
While environmental
advocates and organizations like the nonprofit National Parks
Conservation Association (NPCA) have called for the government to close the
parks in order to protect them and would-be visitors, the Interior Department
announced instead two weeks ago that entry fees and other funds collected at
some parks would be used to keep them open.
That means the parks are unable to collect fees even as their reserve funds are being rapidly depleted. Lawmakers say the entire situation is likely illegal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), under which fees collected are intended for visitor services and not operations.
That means the parks are unable to collect fees even as their reserve funds are being rapidly depleted. Lawmakers say the entire situation is likely illegal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), under which fees collected are intended for visitor services and not operations.
Combined, these moves by
top Interior Department officials during the shutdown have alarmed
Democrats. “I believe [appropriations law] is being abused and misused and
this is definitely not within the spirit of the law,” McCollum said.
The congresswoman
declined to speculate as to what steps might be taken should Bernhardt or other
officials be found in violation of the law. “I can’t predict an outcome when I
don’t know what the violations are or how severe they are,” she said. “But I do
believe the laws are being violated. The first thing you have to do is gather
the evidence and we’re doing that.”
Outside of the subdued
halls of Congress, advocates are also demanding answers.
The nonprofit group
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on January 22 announced that
it had asked the the Government Accounting Office (GAO) to “immediately
investigate” the source of the funding allowing for the employees to return to
work at agencies like BOEM and BLM, as well as the reasoning behind the
decision.
“If they’re using these
funds… they’re violating the [Antideficiency] Act,” Jeff Ruch, PEER’s executive
director, told ThinkProgress.
With vacancies
stretching across bureaus at the Interior Department long prior to the
shutdown, environmental groups and watchdogs are speculating that many of the
controversial shutdown decisions come directly from Bernhardt. The acting
secretary has worked as a lobbyist for major fossil fuel companies and is
largely seen as tied to industry and big polluters.
Those ties have come
under intensive scrutiny during the shutdown, with oil and gas drilling
charging ahead even as offshore wind projects remain temporarily stalled.
President Donald Trump’s “America First energy strategy” was listed as a key reason mandating the return of BOEM staff during the shutdown, with no explanation given as to why offshore oil and gas drilling might be considered a life, health, or safety issue for the country.
Bernhardt tweeted on January 24 that carryover funds will be used to reschedule offshore wind meetings “very soon,” an announcement that came only after mounting outrage over oil and gas prioritization.
President Donald Trump’s “America First energy strategy” was listed as a key reason mandating the return of BOEM staff during the shutdown, with no explanation given as to why offshore oil and gas drilling might be considered a life, health, or safety issue for the country.
Bernhardt tweeted on January 24 that carryover funds will be used to reschedule offshore wind meetings “very soon,” an announcement that came only after mounting outrage over oil and gas prioritization.
Ruch said getting
answers regarding the department’s decisions presents an opportunity for
Democrats eager to exercise their new power.
“In terms of the
rhetoric, there’s lots of talk of accountability,” he said, emphasizing that
seeking information post-shutdown offers “a test” of what the opposition party
will be able to do in the next two years on environmental issues.
Lawmakers seem to sense
that opening as well. On Thursday, Democratic members of the House Natural
Resources Committee hosted a forum lambasting the “blatant favoritism” toward
the oil and gas industry during the shutdown.
“I think shameless is an
appropriate word,” Chair Raúl Grijalva (AZ) said, pointing to the “scales
tipped in favor of industry” by the department.
Ultimately, lawmakers of
either party can do little with the government closed. But McCollum, who plans
to scrutinize the Interior Department’s shutdown decisions, indicated that the
issue isn’t going away and will remain a priority for Democrats.
“The chaos needs to stop
and I will keep working [to stop it],” she said, calling the shutdown “just
morally wrong, legally wrong.”