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Karen Budd-Falen, the third-highest ranking official at the Interior department under the Trump administration, has long-standing ties to the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. In a story co-published with High Country News, Jimmy Tobias and Chris D'Angelo of Public Domain revealed that in 2018, after Budd-Falen joined the Interior solicitor's office during the first Trump administration, a Nevada ranch co-owned by Budd-Falen and her husband signed a contract to sell water rights to the developer of the Thacker Pass mine for an undisclosed amount of money.
One year after signing the contract, Budd-Falen's Interior department calendar shows she was scheduled to have "Lunch with Lithium Nevada" at Interior headquarters in Washington. The topic of the meeting was redacted by Interior officials. The Interior department ultimately approved the Thacker Pass mine in the final week of the first Trump administration.
Last week, Public Domain obtained Budd-Falen's financial disclosure form, which had been subject to unexplained delays before Interior finally released it in response to public records requests. Interior has still not released any ethics agreements signed by Budd-Falen, which could shine more light on whether she was permitted to meet with the mine developers.
Last month, E&E News revealed that Interior's new Chief Information Officer, who joined the agency from SpaceX, was granted an ethics waiver to work on some issues that will benefit SpaceX, even though he holds a financial stake in Elon Musk's company.
Durango Herald: Reject Pearce
The Durango Herald editorial board joined the growing chorus of voices calling on Congress to reject President Trump's nomination of Steve Pearce to run the Bureau of Land Management. The editorial warns that Pearce's lengthy record of supporting land sell-off would have serious consequences.
"Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the BLM director does have disposal authority – significant authority," the editorial board wrote. "In the hands of someone who believes public lands should be 'returned' to states, bulldozed by counties, or auctioned for drilling, the risk is immediate."
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‘Local management’ sounds good until you realize that wealthy private interests are inevitably going to have a bigger voice than you do. Transferring ownership risks losing our voice to monied interests who don’t value public lands the same ways we do. You shouldn’t have to know the right politicians or wealthy private property owners to enjoy the public lands you currently own.”
