CHEYENNE, Wyo. — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited Wyoming Thursday, Aug. 12 as part of the Biden administration’s “America the Beautiful” initiative.
Haaland met with Governor Mark Gordon in Lander, according to a press release from Gordon’s office. Her visit started on the Wind River Reservation with a designation of the Path of Honor — Wind River Veterans Memorial, a tribute to military service members and veterans from the Wind River Reservation. Haaland, a former Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, is the first Native American to fill her position.
Both Wyoming senators disapproved of Haaland’s nomination and eventual confirmation. Gordon said yesterday’s visit was a chance to “advocate for Wyoming’s interests.”
““This has been a valuable opportunity for the Secretary to see firsthand the critical nature of federal lands for Wyoming people,” Gordon said in a press release. “I appreciated her taking the time to be here and to listen to Wyoming perspectives on how her Department has significant impacts on the lives of those who live, work and recreate on federal lands,” Governor Gordon said.
A big talking point was energy. The Biden administration put a pause on oil and gas leasing on public lands in January as part of its fight against “the profound climate crisis,” but a federal judge overruled it in June. A report funded by Wyoming lawmakers estimated the move would cost Wyoming hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, though a critic who reviewed it for the Wilderness Society said its impacts are exaggerated.
Gordon encouraged Haaland to hold the Bureau of Land Management’s postponed March and June 2021 gas lease sales.
“I continue to stress how much the mineral industry has done for our state, its importance to our economy, and the impacts and issues created by the Biden Administration’s actions,” Gordon said.
Wyoming is the largest single contributor of greenhouse gasses from fossil fuels extracted from federal lands, according to a 2018 report. Haaland’s visit coincided with an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that affirmed, among other things, that humans are responsible for a rapidly warming climate and greenhouse gasses are largely to blame.
