'Just Another Day in the Kleptocracy': Trump Interior Dept. Official Heads to Fossil Fuel Extraction Company in Apparent Sequel to Alaska Plunder Push
After spending close to two years in President Donald Trump’s Interior Department advocating to open federally protected lands in Alaska, Joe Balash is joining a company drilling for oil and gas in the nation’s northernmost state, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“Potential conflicts of interest, utilizing the D.C. revolving door, and looking to drill on federal public lands?” tweeted public land advocacy group the Weestern Values Project. “Balash is just another example of the mess and mismanagement within Secretary David Bernhardt’s Interior.”
According to the Post, Balash, who resigned his position as assistant secretary of the Interior at the end of August, will join the fossil fuel extraction company Oil Search.
Oil Search, which is based in Papau New Guinea, is operating in state land on Alaska’s North Slope, the Post reported:
“The revolving door of the Trump Administration continues to spin—and it’s wider than ever before,” Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said on Twitter.
Balash told the Post that he won’t be violating ethics rules by lobbying or working with his former employer.
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