Interior

December 11, 2024 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter 2024 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentInterior

Doug Burgum and the Myth of the “Normal” Trump Nominee

Trump has spent the month since the election firing off a rapid torrent of Cabinet picks. His nominees generally fall into two types: obviously whacko (see Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr.) and superficially normal (think Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Pam Bondi). While the headline-grabbing scandals and general trumpery of the first group easily draw scorn, it’s important that we not grade the second group on a credulous curve, overlooking the economic interests behind their soothingly conventional manner.

March 15, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter

2020 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentFinancial RegulationInterior

Selling Out the Arctic; Bailing Out the Rich

The year is 2023, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 50 percent higher than it was before the Industrial Revolution, and the so-called “climate president” has decided to go ahead with industrializing the Arctic wilderness, a region already warming four times faster than the rest of the world. 

January 24, 2022

Toni Aguilar Rosenthal

Blog Post Climate and EnvironmentEthics in GovernmentInteriorRevolving Door

Revolver Spotlight: Tommy Beaudreau Is Big Oil’s Back Door to Biden’s Interior

President Biden nominated Tommy Beaudreau to be his Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior last April, and he was confirmed to the position by June. Unfortunately, though Biden seeks to be seen as a climate champion, Beaudreau was, and is, a uniquely terrible choice to help helm a climate-focused administration. His revolving door record is extensive, his conflicts of interest are nearly unprecedented, and his (re)installment at the highest circles of the Department of the Interior was ultimately a win for oil and gas conglomerates.