September 12, 2019 3:30 a.m.
On Wednesday, Congressman Peter DeFazio sent a letter to oversight officials at the U.S. Department of the Interior, demanding answers about he calls the “questionable activity” of U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.
A release from DeFazio said the letter to the department’s Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt and Director of the office of Ethics, Scott de la Vega highlights report’s that claim Secretary Bernhardt is violating federal ethics policies and using his position to promote the approval of the Jordan Cove Project.
In a strongly worded statement, DeFazio said “Secretary Bernhardt’s questionable actions with regard to JCEP are numerous, and it appears he has violated at least two requirements of current political appointees including President Trump’s so-called ‘Drain the Swamp’ Executive Order and his own ethics recusal”.
The release said on Secretary Bernhardt’s recusal list is his most-recent former employer, lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. In December of 2018 that firm was hired by Canadian company Pembina, which is in the process of seeking approval to the JCEP. The release said in March of this year, Secretary Bernhardt held at least two meetings with several Colorado county commissioners who represent areas where the natural gas would be extracted and exported to Jordan Cove. DeFazio’s release said according to news reports, one of those commissioners, Garfield County Commissioner Mike Sampson, taught Secretary Bernhardt in high school.
A link to DeFazio’s letter is posted here:  https://defazio.house.gov/sites/defazio.house.gov/files/Ltr%20to%20Interior%20IG%20and%20Ethics%20re%20Secretary’s%20questionable%20actions.pdf.