Swamp monsters deliver 170,000-signature petition to Mitch McConnell’s office opposing Trump nominee for Interior secretary

The swamp has risen.

Donning green face masks and appearing as monsters that just stepped out of a haunting marsh, a group of environmental advocates delivered a near-170,000-signature petition to senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office on Wednesday to oppose Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Interior, David Bernhardt.

The “swamp monsters” were from Greenpeace, a global environmental justice group that has fought back against the White House’s environmental deregulation and the administration’s lack of progress on climate change reform.

Irene Kim, a Greenpeace USA activist who helped deliver the petitions to the Senate Majority Leader's offices, said in a statement to The Independent: “Is it weird that I put on my best suit and a swamp monster mask to pay a visit to Mitch McConnell’s office? Sure. But not as weird as putting [oil industry lobbyist and acting US secretary of the interior] David Bernhardt in charge of our country’s public lands and waters.”

“Bernhardt is the ultimate swamp creature — a career lobbyist who’s spent his two years inside the White House making his former clients’ dreams come true,” she continued. “Today, the Senate will be confronted with Bernhardt’s shady dealings and conflicts of interest. Even if they choose to look the other way, we the people will not.”

One of the swamp monster activists drew attention last week when she sat in on Mr Bernhardt’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for several hours — donning a green face mask throughout the event.

Greenpeace tweeted a screenshot from C-SPAN’s livestream of the hearing featuring the swamp monster prominently displayed just behind Mr Bernhardt at the time, writing, “One of these swamp creatures is a former oil lobbyist who could be in charge of 'protecting' the country’s public lands and waters — guess which one?”

The environmental group has been joined by other progressive organisations in its petition opposing Mr Bernhardt’s nomination, including Daily Kos, People Demanding Action, CREDO Action and SierraRise, among others.

Their petition describes Mr Bernhardt as “a veteran oil and gas lobbyist who has helped push the expansion of drilling at the Interior Department, to serve as its next secretary.”

“As deputy secretary, Bernhardt played an active role in the Trump administration's push to open public lands to fossil fuel and mining interests,” it reads. “Recently, he led the interior during the historic 35-day government shutdown and irresponsibly instructed parks to remain open while understaffed, putting visitors at risk and resulting in widespread damage. He also authorised the parks use visitor fees to cover maintenance costs and day-to-day operations during the shutdown - a move that some said was illegal.”

A representative for Greenpeace told The Independent the swamp monsters had this to say about Mr Trump’s appointee during his confirmation hearings last week: “David Bernhardt is one of us. He's down here in the muck every day advocating for the dirty fossil fuels we swamp monsters love.”