Interior Secretary Nominee Deb Haaland's Congressional Grilling Keeps Travel Industry Waiting
Skift Take
It's no easy task facing members of Congress who are pro-fossil fuels when you're a climate change and outdoors advocate. Deb Haaland skillfully deflected contentious questions by promising to listen, collaborate, and serve both aisles of Congress, while staying firm on clean energy and conservation.
Congresswoman and Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland kept her composure on Tuesday and reiterated her stance in ensuring bipartisan collaboration and finding a balance between energy production, a future of clean energy, and science-based conservation decisions.
Maybe not the answers green travel advocates were fully looking for, but Haaland's political skills were on full display on day one of her nominating hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
A second round of questions will take place Wednesday and determine whether she will become the United States' first Native American Secretary of the Interior. The U.S. outdoor recreation and conservation groups will have to wait longer for a final vote on one of the most important and promising Biden administration picks for the future of the country's Native Americans, climate action, and outdoor tourism.
"It's not about me — rather, I hope this nomination would be an inspiration for Americans, moving together as one nation and creating opportunities for all of us," Haaland said in her nomination speech, stressing at the outset her penchant for collaboration, conversation and listening to all members of Congress. But she also recognized that fossil fuel energy will continue to
