AOC praises Biden’s ‘historic appointment’ of first Native American to key climate post and public lands post

Progressive icon and Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had high praise for president-elect Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Congresswoman Deb Haaland to be his secretary of the interior.

Ms Haaland, a first-term congresswoman from New Mexico’s 1st District, will be the first Native American to serve in the position that oversees all federal lands — including tribal lands — and conservation efforts in the US. The Interior Department is responsible, for instance, for handling permits for energy companies seeking to frack, mine, or otherwise search for resources on public land, processes that often harm the surrounding environment.

“This is a big deal. Historic appointment,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted shortly after news outlets began reporting Mr Biden’s selection of Ms Haaland.

“A visionary Native woman in charge of federal lands. Unequivocally progressive. Green New Deal champion. Exquisitely experienced. @RepDebHaalandsister, you are going to do such a great job. I am so proud of you and the movement.”

Ms Haaland will need to be confirmed by the Senate, which, for now, remains in Republican hands. That could change if Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeat GOP Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the 5 January Georgia Senate runoffs.

As interior secretary, Ms Haaland would also oversee the National Parks Service (NPS) and its 422 sites. She will be responsible for managing more than 109 million sq acres of public land, protecting more than 1,000 animals on the endangered species list, and running clean water projects that irrigate and provide drinking water to millions of farms, livestock and people in the western half of the country.

Ms Haaland joins congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio (Housing and Urban Development) and congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana (senior adviser to the president) as the third House member to be picked off by Mr Biden. Democrats can’t afford to lose many more members to the incoming administration, as they are projected to hold a single-digit majority.

But Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given her blessing to Mr Biden to elevate Ms Haaland to her new role.

On Wednesday, Ms Pelosi hinted at the pick — and that it had her blessing.

“I am so proud that, as one of the first Native American women to have served in Congress, she serves as chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands,” the speaker said in a statement on Wednesday. “Congresswoman Haaland knows the territory, and if she is the president-elect’s choice for interior secretary, then he will have made an excellent choice.”

Ms Haaland is a member of the federally recognised Laguna Pueblo tribe based around Albuquerque, New Mexico.