Failed Interior Secretary Haaland Now Wants To Ruin New Mexico

In declaring her candidacy for governor of New Mexico, former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland became the first high-ranking official from the Biden administration to run for a new political office. The announcement surprised no one, especially after her only real primary challenger, the state’s senior U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, withdrew from the race. Perhaps Heinrich, the Silver Spring, Maryland, resident who was born in Nebraska and grew up in Missouri, realized that a competitive gubernatorial primary would require him to actually live in New Mexico, but I digress.

During her confirmation hearing to lead the Interior Department, Haaland celebrated how she was making history, as if that were innately positive. Lots of people “make history.” How they are remembered is often very different. Once confirmed, her tenure running the Interior Department gave her four years of near limitless authority over hundreds of millions of acres of land, both on and offshore.

Haaland controlled access and leases and permits for oil, gas, coal, mining, timber, and ranching. She decided on the construction of access roads and other infrastructure projects like pipelines and transmission lines. She also had blanket approval of wind, solar, and other “green” projects with hundreds of billions of dollars from both the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Bill.

Let’s check the tape to see how she did.

Energy prices didn’t go down. They went up nearly 30 percent. Gas prices didn’t go down. No, they stayed at the highest four-year average for a presidential term in modern history. Not even consumption went down. It too increased. Emissions barely went down. They were basically flat, and at an enormous cost.

What do we have to show for four years of Deb Haaland’s tenure as America’s landlord?

Pain. We are weaker and poorer.

When Alaska wanted to build a road and needed an easement 450 feet wide for 25 miles across federal land, Deb Haaland said no, overriding the will of Alaska’s governor and the local tribal communities that supported the project. She knows better than Alaskans.

When Minnesota wanted to develop Twin Metals mine to produce the copper, nickel, and cobalt needed for the wind and solar, Haaland again said no. She knows why it is better for us to continue to buy these materials from markets controlled by Communist China and sourced from child slave labor in sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change, or something.

Haaland stopped legally required oil and gas leases, ultimately losing in the courts. She turned a blind eye to dead whales likely killed by offshore wind projects. She ignored the concerns of New England lobstermen when her push for offshore wind turbines limited their fishing waters and threatened their industry. 

Like all self-impressed individuals who have failing records, Haaland will respond to criticism with accusations of racism. Or sexism. Whichever causes discomfort and compels you to stop questioning her, regardless of the damage she does.

Perhaps the most blatantly egregious use of DEI to mask a radical agenda was when Haaland claimed “indigenous knowledge” as the foundation for her decision-making. This was meant to silence all dissent. She should have just been honest: Don’t criticize me or I will call you racist.

Yes, Deb Haaland has more American Indian blood than Elizabeth Warren, but that is not a qualification for anything. And that will not silence me or my organization, which advocates for the rural energy jobs that have suffered at the hand of Deb Haaland’s tenure, regardless of the origins of her so-called knowledge.

I’m not the only one. When Haaland denied resource development at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, a native site, it was the tribe members who protested. They wanted the development, the jobs, the revenue, and the opportunity for prosperity. This was their land, but Haaland knew better. So massive was their protest that when Haaland arrived for a photo-op, the community blocked her motorcade, and the event was canceled.

Turns out the natives are racist against natives. Or climate change. Whatever. It doesn’t matter; shut up and let Deb Haaland run roughshod over you, your industry, your people, your way of life. She knows better. Just ask her.

There is a reason why Haaland narrowly won confirmation for the secretary position. Contrast that with the current Interior secretary, Doug Burgum, whose common sense and clarity convinced more than half the Democrat caucus to vote for his confirmation.

Deb Haaland is not just polarizing. She is dangerous.

Using history as a guide, Gov. Deb Haaland will likely do to New Mexico what she did to America, and the state will suffer enormously as a result. Talent and wealth will flee. Poverty and misery will increase. She will make history, but she will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF.