By BECKY EDWARDS
Guest columnist
This week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced Congresswoman Deb Haaland’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior to the Senate floor for a final vote with bipartisan support. Rep. Haaland would be the very first Native American to hold this position. We have just two words to sum up our feelings about Haaland and this nomination: ABOUT. TIME.
Rep. Haaland has gained bipartisan support from Sen. Murkowski from Alaska, and Sen. Collins from Maine has also indicated she will support the nomination when it arrives for a Senate floor vote. However, Sen. Daines has fervently opposed Haaland’s nomination and even repeatedly called her “radical.”
Yet, Rep. Haaland’s experience, voting record, and bipartisan work in the House of Representatives indicates the exact opposite.
The Department of the Interior conducts affairs across both tribal lands and public lands. With Rep. Haaland’s leadership and heritage as an Indigenous woman, she will be extremely well suited to forge a new, productive, supportive relationship between the US Government and Tribal Nations. It is inexcusable that for generations the Department of the Interior was helmed by mainly white men (with only two women, ever) without the long, historical connection to our national and tribal lands. We applaud the incoming Biden administration for not only appointing a highly competent and experienced woman to this role — but also for finally representing Indigenous leadership at one of the highest levels of our federal government. Rep. Haaland — we are so very
excited to work with you.
As a member of the Natural Resource Committee and Public Lands subcommittee, Rep. Haaland has been a fervent public lands champion — having been at the forefront of crafting solutions to the climate crisis through America’s public lands. With the COVID pandemic only elevating our nation’s reliance on our public lands for emotional and physical health, Rep. Haaland is the leader
Montanans need to advocate for and protect our cherished public lands and waters.
From soulful wilderness to our neighborhood soccer fields — public lands are core to how we raise our families in the Mountain West. We fiercely protect our children’s right to a healthy climate
and public lands. Recent rollbacks of environmental protections have made our air and water vulnerable to increased pollution, and attacks on our shared public lands such as Bear’s Ears and our
national monuments threaten their very existence. We are confident Rep. Haaland will stand up for conservation and recreation as they drive our economies, support our communities, and
provide us safe, equitable space for all.
We urge Sen. Daines to abandon partisan divides and productively work across the aisle, just as Sen. Murkowski has done, to secure a healthy, prosperous future for Montana’s shared public lands and energy resources. We are hopeful for a swift approval process on the Senate floor, as we have no time to lose.
As Rep. Haaland recently stated, “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.” We have needed a fierce leader for our public lands and waters. Now, we finally have her.
Becky Edwards is the Executive Director of Mountain Mamas, and lives in Bozeman with her husband and three daughters.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Guest Editorial 3/6/21