Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing on the influence of extreme activist groups within in the Department of the Interior under the Biden administration. Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) issued the following statement in response:

“In Joe Biden’s Administration, extreme environmental activist groups have taken over the Department of the Interior. Their radical agendas, improperly developed in concert with Biden Administration officials, ignore the needs of local communities and put our national security at risk.”

Background

Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland will appear before the full House Committee on Natural Resources on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. 

Under Haaland’s leadership, DOI has cultivated close and potentially improper relationships with extreme environmental activist groups, many of whom are working overtime to drive the Biden administration’s “social and environmental justice” agenda. Information obtained from media reports, document productions in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, and congressional oversight conducted by the House Committee on Natural Resources raises serious concerns about DOI’s relationship with extremist groups such as the Pueblo Action Alliance, Code Pink, Energy Foundation China and the Wilderness Society, among many others.

The committee is particularly concerned about undisclosed communications and off-the-record meetings between high-ranking DOI officials and nonprofit staff. Notably, information in the public domain suggests that senior DOI officials worked with radical anti-use nonprofits to implement natural resource withdrawals in New Mexico and Minnesota, negatively impacting the economies of local communities, killing jobs, locking up access to American resources, and increasing domestic demand for foreign resources. On several occasions, the committee has raised concerns that many extreme activist nonprofit organizations have ties to foreign governments -- most concerningly, ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For example, evidence exists that Code Pink is funded significantly by individuals and organizations connected with the CCP.

In advance of the secretary’s appearance before the full committee, today's hearing was a chance for members to hear from experts and engage in dialogue on the rise of extremist influence in the DOI.