Montana-based conservation watchdog group Western Values Project (WVP) Action announced a multi-platform ad campaign in Arizona targeting Senator Martha McSally, calling on her to oppose David Bernhardt’s nomination to serve as Secretary of Interior. Bernhardt’s confirmation hearing, in front of McSally’s Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is scheduled for Thursday.
Ahead of the hearing, WVP Action launched “Tapped” in Arizona, which will run on television and digitally starting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 27th and will run into next week.
Watch Arizona’s McSally Ad “Tapped”
“Senator McSally’s constituents need a Department of Interior that will fight for our public lands and preserve our Western way of life,” said Jayson O’Neill, Deputy Director of the Western Values Project Action. “David Bernhardt has spent much of his career working as a mega-lobbyist before working on behalf of special interests in senior government posts. Time and again, Bernhardt has sold out the West by helping his former clients and other special interests that have had negative impacts on Western states. We need Senator McSally to stand up for her constituents and oppose Bernhardt’s nomination.”
The advertisements note how past lobbying ties and policies pushed by Bernhardt have had direct impacts in Arizona, including:
- Four national monuments in Arizona, covering almost 2 million acres, were reviewed and threatened with reductions by the Interior Department under the President’s executive order, including Ironwood Forest National Monument.
- A 20-year uranium mining ban around the Grand Canyon could be removed by the Trump Administration and Interior. The Interior Department included uranium on a critical minerals list and Bernhardt previously lobbied for a uranium corporation, Ur-Energy, which “engages in uranium exploration, development, and mining,” from 2009 to 2012.
- David Bernhardt lobbied for the Rosemont Copper Company and its Canadian owner, Hudbay Minerals, from 2011 through 2015 and worked on Rosemont’s behalf as a consultant until late 2016. The administration just approved a final permit for the controversial open-pit mine.
The ads come a week after WVP released polling from Arizona which found that voters’ strong opposition to Senator McSally voting to confirm Bernhardt as the next Interior Secretary.
Specifically, the poll found:
- After hearing a series of messages against Bernhardt’s confirmation, a clear majority statewide oppose confirming him (31% support/54% oppose, including 45% who strongly oppose his confirmation).
- After hearing from opponents of Bernhardt’s confirmation, majorities of Arizonans say they would feel negatively about McSally (34% favorable/53% unfavorable) and would support replacing her in office (39% keep/51% replace) if she votes to confirm Bernhardt.
- By wide margins, Arizonans disapprove of the policies DOI has pursued under Bernhardt, such as weakening protections for threatened species and changes to the Endangered Species Act (66% disapprove, 54% strongly), shrinking national monument protections for industrial oil and gas and mining development (68% disapprove, 52% strongly), and expediting approval and permitting of oil and gas drilling in previously protected wildlife habitat (64% disapprove, 49% strongly).
Previously, Western Values Project launched, www.DavidBernhardt.org, a comprehensive resource of primary source materials and background on Bernhardt’s work as a mega-lobbyist and how he used his position to help special interests.