U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan sent a letter to the inspector general of the Department of the Interior requesting an investigation of four senior political appointees in the department who are allegedly working on matters directly related to and benefitting their previous clients work. In the letter, Sullivan alleges that the officials have conflicts of interest, violating federal ethics laws, having worked to halt certain resource development projects in Alaska in their prior positions with environmental advocacy groups, and working to halt those same projects as executive branch employees.
The projects in Alaska described in the letter include the Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A), the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) oil and gas leasing program, and the Ambler Road project – projects, all of which, have been slowed or stopped by the Biden Administration Department of the Interior.
In his remarks, Sullivan decried an ongoing “anti-Alaska agenda” and “war on Alaska working families” by the Biden administration through its issuance of 20 executive orders and actions specifically focused on the state since coming into office in January. Sullivan also criticized Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) for leading efforts among members of Congress to block investment and projects in Alaska, while New Mexico has received nearly half of all drilling permits approved nationwide on federal lands in the past year.
In addition to requesting the ethics investigation, Sen. Sullivan has requested a series of documents, within 30 days, from the DOI IG, including signed and dated ethics pledges for each official, recusals or ethics waivers issued by or to any of the officials, and any communications between the DOI officials and their former employers or clients since their appointments.