Interior Secretary Deb Haaland overturns a Trump-era policy that had opened millions of acres of federal land in Alaska to energy development and mining.

Haaland signed a record of decision, released Tuesday, formally nixing five public land orders issued in the closing weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency that would have lifted a mining and drilling ban on 28 million acres that was in place more than five decades.

The Interior secretary also signed a public land order that revokes the five “improperly issued” orders signed by then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Haaland’s public land order takes effect Thursday, when it’s formally published in the Federal Register.

While, Alaskan officials condemned Haaland’s move, it should be noted that the interior secretary reportedly has ties to Cuba’s Communist regime through her daughter’s work that she began in 2020. Somah Haaland is employed by an environmentalist group, the Pueblo Action Alliance, which has been targeted among a number of other Leftist groups by the Venceremos Brigade that has ties to Cuba’s Communist regime.

Deb Haaland’s interaction with her daughter’s employer is already the subject of a recent ethics complaint filed Aug. 17 with the DOI Inspector General. The complaint, which was filed by Protect the Public Trust (PPT), a government watchdog group, accused the interior secretary of “apparent ethical breaches.”

The PPT complaint was filed after it was discovered that Deb Haaland participated in a 2022 documentary film aimed at outlawing the development of oil and gas drilling leases near New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historic Park (CCNHP). The stated reason for pushing the drilling ban is to preserve Native American land and artifacts.

The complaint says the documentary depicts the former New Mexico congresswoman participating in PAA activities before and after she was confirmed in her current DOI role and requests the agency’s Inspector General to investigate whether Haaland complied with her impartiality and ethics obligations when she exercised her regulatory authority in the matter.

The documentary film, “Our Story: The Indigenous Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco,” features interviews with Deb Haaland and her daughter, Somah Haaland, who serves as Communications Coordinator of the Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA), a coalition of environmental organizations that began lobbying on the issue prior to the interior secretary’s nomination.

The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. Worst of all, Haaland’s ban on drilling on the Alaskan lands ends up doing great harm to native American tribes in the state since many tribe members own land that they can lease for drilling in exchange for money. None the less, like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris does not have to ban fracking, she can appoint bureaucrats, like Deb Haaland, to do the dirty work for her using rules and regulations to block it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay