U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today secured a commitment from Trump’s Secretary of the Interior nominee Doug Burgum to bring common sense back to the Department of the Interior and fight for Montana issues like returning recovered grizzly bear populations to state management and issuing critical federal mining permits.
Watch Daines’ and Burgum’s full exchange HERE.
Daines: If confirmed, you will be eighth in line of succession of President of the United States, Governor, and that goes in line with when these departments became part of the United States government. The interior goes back to 1849, and the oldest agency within Interior is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA. I think it’s only fitting before I get into my questions, my remarks, if I might submit a letter for the record from the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT), of which some of my, three of my 12 federally recognized tribes in Montana are part of- COLT. Of course you have five federally recognized tribes and members of COLT, but if I just read the letter that they wrote in your support, it says it’s been incredible for COLT tribes to have such a close supporter nominated to the Secretary’s office. He is someone in whom we have deep trust and confidence. We have gone to him with our most complex, difficult issues over many years. He is exactly the kind of leader tribes need at the Interior Department. And they close in the letter by saying this: Governor Burgum has COLT’s highest recommendation and endorsement to serve as the next secretary of the Interior. Chairman, I’d like to submit this letter for the record.
Daines highlighted the successful recovery of the grizzly bear and secured Burgum’s commitment to work towards state management:
Daines: Governor, last week the Fish and Wildlife Service denied Montana and Wyoming’s petitions to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bears because these two populations have exceeded recovery targets by so much that the Service no longer believes these two populations are even distinct. We should be celebrating the fact that the grizzly bear has recovered. It’s an example of a great species now that has recovered and is prolific across these ecosystems. But sadly, this ruling coming out of FWS punishes Montana’s successful grizzly bear recovery efforts. It’s really completely backwards. We should be celebrating the recovery, but instead we are now having the sacrifice to adjust living with the bears. Whether it’s predation losses by livestock producers, as well as human safety. Sadly, many Montanans have been killed, badly mauled by grizzly bears, so the people back home take this very, very seriously. It’s literally gotten to the point up along the Rocky Mountain Front, west of Great Falls, where our playgrounds at one of our schools, they have a high fence there to protect the children from grizzly bears when they go out for recess. The Service keeps moving these goal posts for delisting and returning these bears to state management where it absolutely belongs, like we’ve done with the wolves. The Service set recovery numbers at 500 and 800 respectively for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. The most recent estimate is now best science, 2100 bears in these two ecosystems. Governor Burgum, would you acknowledge that the data shows the recovery of these two populations and commit to working with me to delist them?
Burgum: Well, Senator Daines, I’m aware of the data and this is a super important issue. I know it- to Montanans, it’s important to people and also in Wyoming and Idaho. And I’m with you. We should be celebrating when species come off the endangered species list as opposed to fighting every way we can to try to keep them on that list because as you say, the complications. And the other thing you mentioned in your remarks is also the state. Having been a governor, I understand how dedicated the state fish and wildlife representatives are from Montana, from Wyoming from North Dakota, South Dakota- I mean all of the folks. As the chair of Western governors I came to understand how dedicated those state officials are. I think there’s a belief that when they come off of federal protection that they’re unprotected. No, they’re managed as they are all the other species in the state by the locals who’ve got the closest data. So yes, I pledge to work with you on this issue.
Daines also asked Burgum to prioritize critical coal mining permits and protect Montana jobs:
Daines: The Biden administration has been slow walking three critical permits for coal mines in Montana. The Bull Mountain mine south of Roundup, the Rosebud mine, the supplies coal for Colstrip, and the Spring Creek mine in Southeast Montana are all in desperate need right now to finalize permits. The Bull Mountains mine has already had to layoff hardworking Montanans because Biden’s Office of Surface Mining has refused to finish the needed reviews. My question is when confirmed, will you prioritize completing these permits so Montana families don’t lose their jobs?
Burgum: Senator Daines, this is part of a larger crisis our nation is facing around electricity. We have a shortage of electricity and especially we have a shortage of baseload. We know that we have the technology to deliver clean coal. We’re doing that in North Dakota. Senator Hoeven and others began these efforts over two decades ago. But we have an opportunity to decarbonize, produce clean coal and with that produce reliable baseload for this country. And so again we absolutely would want to work with you on this issue because this is something that’s critical to our national security. Without baseload we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China, and if we lose the AI arms race to China, then that’s got direct impacts on our national security in the future of this country.
Lastly, Daines and Burgum discussed the importance of the Great America Outdoors Act:
Daines: I want to quickly close by highlighting the importance of a bill that I’m working with Senator King of Maine, we co -chair the National Parks Subcommittee. We’re proud of the fact that no matter which way the gavel goes, it goes back and forth over time in the U .S. Senate, Angus King and I are always co -chairs as we work together on behalf of our national parks. I’m working with him to reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. This is critical to address the deferred maintenance challenge we face with our great public lands. President Trump signed the greatest conservation [bill] in 50 years, when he signed the Great America Outdoors Act. And I thank Vice Chairman Heinrich for helping so much and getting that across the finish line. He signed that in 2020. I hope I can count on your support for reauthorizing this program.
Burgum: You can, absolutely.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Rachel Dumke