A government watchdog  released documents exposing a conflict of interest between the West Coast university and the National Park Service ( NPS) director.
The nonprofit organization Protect the Public’s Trust ( PPT ) released records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) on Thursday that showed NPS Director Charles Sams was given the go-ahead by department of the interior to accept an honorary degree from Oregon’s Portland State University. Sams was granted approval by the agency ethics bureau in June last year despite the university being “party to numerous cooperative agreements with the]National Park Service ]” and “likely ]having ] other matters, actions, or decisions pending before the Department”.
The Director’s approval of the honourable degree, according to the Department of the Interior’s Ethics Office, would hardly cause a sensible person to doubt his or her impartiality in a PSU-related issue.
The ethics office stated in its decision that the majority of NPS’s joint agreements with PSU are still at the local stage and that the Director has had either nothing or very little role in the existing cooperative agreements with PSU.” We understand, based on information provided by NPS, that the…
The language employed to defend the honor from a partner university is comparable to the language used by the interior secretary to formally relinquish ethics complaints regarding her decision to implement an oil and gas moratorium in New Mexico. Despite native criticism, Secretary Haaland rescinded the rules last year and prohibited fresh oil and gas leases ten miles away from Chaco Cultural National Historical Park. The 10-mile cushion around the American Indian historic site protects existing contracts but reduces the potential for new digging for the next 20 years.
After Haaland’s child requested the limits, the Interior Department inspector general’s demand led to the passing of the get. The conflict of interest is currently being investigated by the Interior Department. Haaland had even participated in a movie produced by her mother’s advocate group, which opposed oil and gas development there.
PPT released more files from a public records request in February that showed that Haaland allegedly abused a” get all clause” in federal ethics to discredit claims of improper conflicts.
According to Haaland to national ethics officials,” I have thoroughly assessed whether my participation may increase a question regarding my objectivity and performing my standard duties.” ” I have taken into account the important information about the specific subject in question and have determined that I believe a sensible person with knowledge of those statistics do not doubt my impartiality.”
In other words, Haaland only provided a speech without providing any justification for concerns that it constituted a violation of ethics. Despite working with her child to end oil and gas opportunities in the Greater Chaco area, the secretary only asserted that she was independent.  ,
The American government had every right to expect that the Biden-Harris administration’s pledge to be the most moral in history would set the bar really high, according to Michael Chamberlain, the chairman of PPT. ” Yet under normal circumstances,’ pretty little involvement’ or ‘ possible involvement’ where ethics concerns arise should raise red flags. However, Secretary Deb Haaland’s Department of the Interior seems to be setting the bar fairly low for morality.
