Monday, Nov. 23, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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As President-elect Joe Biden assembles his Cabinet, he’s hearing a roar of encouragement from Native American tribes, environmental advocacy organizations and dozens of House Democrats to select Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico as the next secretary of the Interior.
No wonder: Haaland would be an exquisite choice for the position. Not only would she become the first Native American Cabinet member in U.S. history, she boasts strong qualifications and experience to lead the department.
Biden has positioned himself as a healer, and in that respect Haaland would be a perfect addition to his team. Bringing her aboard would be a profound statement on the strength of America’s diversity, and would put the department in the hands of someone with the know-how to repair the massive damage caused by the Trump administration to the nation’s public lands.
Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became one of the first two Native American congresswomen in U.S. history when she was elected to the House in 2018. She served as vice chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, chaired the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, and served on the Indigenous Peoples subcommittee.
Haaland, who held pioneering leadership roles in her tribe and in New Mexico’s state Democratic Party before her election to Congress, has strongly advocated for conservation of federal lands and greater federal-tribal collaboration to prevent violent crimes, while fighting the Trump administration’s massive giveaways of public lands for oil and gas development. She also has intimate knowledge of leasing issues on native lands, and a solid understanding of mining and environmental issues.
Another key attribute: She understands the important role that native lands can play in the development of renewable energy, a cornerstone of Biden’s plan to rebuild the American economy and address climate change.
It’s well past time for a Native American to be in charge of Interior, given how deeply the department affects the lives of indigenous people. Its departments include the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, and it also manages about 55 million acres of land held in trust by the United States government for various Native American tribes and individuals.
Yet the federal government’s appalling history of neglect, exploitation and victimization of indigenous people continues. The Trump administration’s actions toward Native Americans — as shown perhaps most vividly by its crackdown on protests over the Dakota pipeline — were a shameful reflection of this racist legacy.
Placing Haaland at the head of the department would be an important and meaningful step down a more righteous path. As she told Vox, her selection would be deeply symbolic, “especially when we think about how the federal government essentially threw out their federal Indian policies throughout the centuries and tried to exterminate Native Americans across the country.”
Haaland could also be expected to apply her life experience to protecting the environment from exploitation by commercial interests such as the oil and gas industry, logging and mining — and not just on tribal lands, but throughout the 500 million acres of public lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
Biden has three strong candidates on his short list for the position, as he’s also considering New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich. It’s commendable that all three of his potential choices are Westerners — that should be a requirement for anyone running Interior, considering how much of the department’s focus is on the region.
But there’s simply no better choice than Haaland. Adding her to the Cabinet would move the nation forward symbolically, boost the diversity of the White House team and place the department in the hands of a uniquely well-suited person to manage it. And, of course, it would make history.
Now, that’s a strong candidate.We add our voice loudly and proudly to those who are supporting her.
