[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 200 (Thursday, December 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7906-S7909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Order of Procedure
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following
the disposition of the Balash nomination, the Senate proceed to the
consideration of Executive Calendar No. 167, as under the previous
order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, today I am gratified to be finally
debating and voting on the nomination of Joe Balash to be the U.S.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals.
I have been coming to the floor, as have a lot of my colleagues,
making the case about how it has taken too long to get good people into
the Federal Government. I am sure I will have to give that speech maybe
a few more times--I hope not--to finally get people who want to serve,
who have been nominated by the President, to be confirmed by the
Senate, to move them. It doesn't help the American people that we just
delay well-qualified Americans who want to serve their country just for
the sake of delay. It is happening, but I am not going to focus on that
today.
I actually want to thank the Democratic Whip, Senator Durbin, who was
actually very helpful in trying to move this nomination, which has been
stalled on the Senate floor for many weeks now. Joe Balash was
nominated by the President in July. I appreciate the cooperative spirit
from my colleague from Illinois, and I thank him again for that.
This is a very important position in the U.S. Government. The
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management entails
supervision and overseeing the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement, and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement. It is very important for the entire country. It is
particularly important for my State, the great State of Alaska, and for
so many others where Federal lands make up an enormous part of the
State.
Yesterday, my colleague and friend, Senator Lee from Utah, talked to
a number of us about how much Federal lands constitute different States
in terms of the overall percentage. A lot of Americans don't know this.
Usually, if you live on the east coast, you don't have Federal land as
a big part of your State, but in Alaska, it is 61 percent; Idaho, 61
percent; Utah, 63 percent; Nevada, almost 80 percent. These positions
in the Department of the Interior are enormously important.
This is a very important job, and I am glad to see we are finally
getting to vote on it because it is important to help manage resources
that we have in abundance but also protect the environment. We all love
our environment. Alaska has the most pristine, beautiful environment in
the world, and we know how to protect it. We also have enormous
opportunities for jobs in energy on public land. What is in all the
Federal statutes that Joe is going to be in charge of implementing is
that you can do both. You can do both. You can protect the environment
of this great Nation, and you can also utilize these incredible
resources that we have on public lands. In essence, that is what his
job is going to be all about.
I encourage my colleagues to look at Joe Balash's confirmation
hearing and his background because he is probably one of the most
qualified people to hold this job in the entire country--in the entire
country. Joe Balash comes from a long, distinguished career of public
service in Alaska. He was the commissioner of natural resources in
Alaska, and he was the deputy commissioner of natural resources in
Alaska, which manages one of the largest portfolios of land, water,
minerals, oil, gas, and timber of anyplace in the world--not just in
the country, in the world. Very few countries have more resources than
we do in Alaska, and for years, Joe Balash was in charge of managing
those. That makes him super well qualified for this job.
As DNR commissioner, he oversaw 100 million acres of uplands, State
land in Alaska--this is obviously bigger than most States in America;
40 to 60 million acres of submerged lands and tidelands; and resources
that included managing over half a million barrels of oil production a
day. Joe oversaw a workforce of over 1,100 people as the commissioner
of natural resources and a budget of $170 million a year.
Joe understands how to build consensus, how to navigate State and
Federal lands issues and interests, and, importantly, how to work to
responsibly develop our resources and grow our economy, while always
understanding that our lands sustain us and that stringent
environmental safeguards are absolutely necessary for all Americans.
Let me say one other thing about Joe Balash. You can look at the bio,
you can look at the experience, but you
[[Page S7907]]
also need to know the man. When I was the commissioner of the
department of natural resources, Joe Balash worked for me as my deputy,
and for the past almost 3 years, he has worked as my chief of staff
here in the Senate.
Perhaps more than any other issue--experience, a super hard worker--
he is a man of integrity, a man of character, and a man who cares
deeply about his country and wants the best for Americans and for
Alaskans.
I can't think of anyone more qualified--experience, character,
integrity, knows the issues, cares about the environment--so I am
strongly encouraging my colleagues to vote for Joe. He was voted out of
the Environment and Natural Resources Committee in September with the
support of every Senator in that committee, with the exception of one.
When the committee looked at his experience and background and they
heard about his integrity and character, there was enormous bipartisan
support for Joe. I am hoping we will see that here in a few minutes
when we come to vote.
I understand that one of my colleagues, unfortunately, is going to
come down to the floor soon and encourage a vote against Joe. I am
still not sure why. Maybe it is something related to a recusal issue
between State and Federal lands in Alaska. I will be interested to hear
what the recusal issue is.
Most recusal issues, by the way, as we look at confirmations in the
Senate, relate to people who have interests in the private sector, and
perhaps those private sector interests impact policy decisions. But
when you have someone who has worked on lands issues in a State, the
idea of being recused because you have expertise in policy from your
State job when you go into a Federal job, to me, seems, well,
outrageous. We will see what that argument is.
I do know that Joe Balash will follow the rules and regulations as
they relate to ethics and conflicts in a steadfast way because I know
who he is. So I again encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor
of this extremely well-qualified nominee who has the character,
knowledge, expertise, and experience for a very important job for the
country and someone who is going to do a great job for Secretary Zinke
and President Trump.
Madam President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, the Department of the Interior is the
steward and guardian of our public lands--our national parks, wildlife
refuges, and wilderness areas. As the Supreme Court said more than a
century ago, it is the Secretary of the Interior's responsibility to
see that none of the public domain is given away to anyone who is not
entitled to it.
As the steward and guardian of the public lands, the Secretary must
represent the government and the people of the Nation as a whole, not
the special interests or even the interests of a single State. But the
Secretary does not do his job alone; he has delegated his authority and
responsibility for land and minerals management to the Assistant
Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. The Assistant Secretary
exercises the Secretary's direction and supervision over the Bureau of
Land Management. The Assistant Secretary needs to be someone who can
discharge this important duty fairly and impartially. Equally
important, though, he must be seen by the American people as someone
capable of being a good steward of their public lands and not as
someone who comes to the job with a predisposition to dispose of their
public lands to special interests.
An impartial and unbiased decision-maker is a core element of the due
process. The principle that no one can be the judge in his own case has
been a hallmark of Anglo-American law for over 400 years. I believe
confirming Mr. Balash to be Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals
Management would be contrary to this principle.
In 2014, Alaska's Department of Natural Resources filed a claim for
20,000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with the Bureau of
Land Management. Alaska's Department of Natural Resources sought to
remove the long-recognized boundary of the Refuge. It asked the Bureau
of Land Management to convey the 20,000 acres of Refuge land that would
then be outside the Refuge's boundary to the State of Alaska so that
those lands could then be leased for oil and gas development.
Mr. Balash was the head of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources
at the time it made its claim to the Bureau of Land Management. The
Bureau of Land Management properly rejected Alaska's claim. Alaska
appealed the Bureau's decision to the Interior Board of Land Appeals,
where the appeal is now pending. If the Senate confirms Mr. Balash to
be the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, he will be
overseeing the Bureau of Land Management. He will exercise the
Secretary's direction and supervision over the Bureau of Land
Management. He will be in a position of reversing the Bureau of Land
Management's decision which originally denied Alaska's claim.
Moreover, Secretary Zinke has the authority to take jurisdiction of
the case away from the Board of Land Appeals and to delegate that
authority to decide the case to Mr. Balash. Mr. Balash may become the
Interior Department's judge in the case that he initiated as Alaska's
commissioner of natural resources.
That is my main concern. I asked Mr. Balash his plans to recuse
himself from participating in the Department's consideration of
Alaska's claim. I believe Mr. Balash thinks that he will comply with
whatever the department's ethics office says the rules are--which is
basically a 1-year recusal from being involved in that situation. That
said, Mr. Balash, even under these current rules, could be in the
position of being the final arbiter on a case he previously brought on
expanding Alaska's claim to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He
alone could make the decision. He alone could reverse the decision on
the State of Alaska's claim to the Bureau of Land Management--a claim
that was turned down. He could reverse that. For that reason, I am not
supporting Mr. Balash's nomination to this position today.
There are so many things that we have right now that are an
unrelenting assault on our public lands and our environment by this
administration, and there are many on the other side of the aisle who
are supporting that. We have seen an unprecedented use of the
extraordinary procedures of the Congressional Review Act to nullify
carefully crafted rules to protect the public lands and environment. We
have seen the Secretary of the Interior unlawfully postpone
implementation of other lawful rules. We have witnessed and seen
legislation on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge run through here
without the proper processes and procedures. We saw the majority use
the extraordinary procedure of budget reconciliation not to balance the
budget, as it was intended, but to circumvent regular order. Only this
week, we witnessed President Trump launch an unprecedented and unlawful
assault on our national monuments. Mr. Balash, I fear, will become
maybe an unwilling but nonetheless a participant in these assaults on
our public lands. That is why I cannot at this point give my support to
this nomination.
I know my colleague from Alaska has worked with him. I respect his
opinion on this position. I hope he will respect mine. I do not think
that at this point in time, without a better recusal, I can support Mr.
Balash's nomination.
I thank the Presiding Officer.
I yield the floor.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, President Trump has nominated Joseph
Balash to be Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals at the
Department of the Interior. In that role, Balash will oversee the
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement, and head ``Interior's management of all
federal lands and waters, and their associated mineral and non-mineral
resources, as well as the appropriate regulation of surface coal
mining.''
Balash has worked for years in Alaska politics, including as the
former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
In 2013, as the acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of
Natural Resources, Joe Balash advocated for exploration in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. Balash petitioned the U.S.
[[Page S7908]]
Fish and Wildlife Service ``to reconsider its decision to bar [Alaska]
from conducting seismic studies in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.''
Also, Balash has stated that he supports the Trump administration
rewriting the 5-year plan for the offshore oil and gas leasing plan,
which could likely lead to new areas being opened up to offshore
drilling.
I am a strong supporter of protecting the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge and oppose opening up new areas of the Atlantic to offshore
drilling. For these reasons, I oppose his nomination for Assistant
Secretary for Land and Minerals at the Department of the Interior.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I am here with my colleague from the
State of Alaska, Senator Sullivan. We have heard his comments, his very
strong support of the nomination of Joe Balash to be the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management. As he has
indicated, he speaks as one who has great insight and knowledge, having
worked with Mr. Balash for a period of years.
As we think about those who are willing to step up and serve in this
new administration, I think it is particularly telling that when we
have personal knowledge, when we have had these relationships, when we
know intimately of a person's work ethic, of their dedication to issues
and their willingness to serve, we pay particular attention to that.
I, too, stand in strong support of Joe Balash for this position, and
I thank the Secretary of the Interior for placing his trust, placing
his confidence in Mr. Balash to serve on his team at the Department of
the Interior.
We have an individual who knows intimately the subject area to which
he has been appointed. Joe is from a community by the name of North
Pole. We are all thinking about the North Pole as we get closer to
Christmas. I suggest that just being from Alaska is enough to convince
me that he is qualified for this position, but, honestly, the breadth
and depth of his experiences and his commitment, his care, his passion,
his dedication to serving not only the people but the lands that we
hold so dear is a great tribute to Joe Balash.
I have known and worked closely with him for years now, from the time
that he was at the department of natural resources with then-
Commissioner Sullivan to the time that he served as the chief of staff
for Senator Sullivan. Both of those jobs have allowed Mr. Balash to
demonstrate time and again his competence, his expertise on a wide
range of issues, particularly the stewardship of our public lands.
We had an opportunity while in the Energy and Natural Resources
Committee to listen to a little bit of his background, his upbringing,
and how he became so personally involved and intertwined with our
public lands. Then, if you think about the role he played when he was
at the State as commissioner of natural resources, he had direct
responsibility, management, and protection of 101 million acres of the
State of Alaska. This is larger than the entire State of California--
101 million acres. He also had control of a State park system
containing 3.3 million acres of land, more than twice the size of
Delaware. He is used to dealing with large areas of land and the
complicated and complex issues that are associated with them. He
genuinely understands how we can develop our natural resources while
protecting the environment and sustaining the health of wildlife and
ecosystems.
He is able to balance, he is able to understand people, and he is
able, as he has demonstrated as a manager, to manage land--managing
energy, minerals, timber, water, and renewable energies in a State as
diverse as Alaska.
In our State--I am sure that Senator Sullivan has noted this--we have
a constitutional mandate. It is written into our State's constitution
that we manage lands for the maximum benefit of our people. That means
working with folks from all different sorts of backgrounds; you don't
get to pick and choose. We all have our opinions and many competing
points of view. Joe was able to do that and do that well.
It is not easy to navigate, but I think Joe Balash has proven time
and again that he is capable and is willing to work with everyone.
Whether they are hunters, whether they are Tribes, whether they are in
the environmental community, the conservation community, his ability to
work with folks from all sides has been proven. Now he is ready to take
this next step--to take it up a notch to the broader Federal level. I
believe that he will make an exemplary Assistant Secretary, not just
for those of us from Alaska but for our entire country.
He will oversee the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement,
and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. He will,
largely, be the Department's point person for the management of our
Nation's working lands, those lands that are not reserved for
conservation purposes. It will be his responsibility to strengthen our
energy and our mineral security for generations to come.
There is no doubt in my mind that he is the right person to take this
on. I mentioned he is from North Pole. He was a two-time State
wrestling champion. That takes a little bit of discipline. I think he
will be well suited and will be an able partner with Secretary Zinke
but, really, an advocate for the American people.
He has proven that he has the work ethic to produce the value that
Americans need and deserve from their public lands. I know that his
management of the Department's assets--whether it is promoting
responsible energy development or ensuring access to Federal lands for
sportsmen's activities--will be carried out with a dedication to
transparency, to accountability, and to results.
On the sportsmen's side, I do understand he is an accomplished buck
hunter, and we recognize him for that.
Mr. Balash was considered by those of us----
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for 2 more
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. Balash was considered by those of us on the Energy
Committee at a hearing in early September. He was reported out 2 weeks
later with strong bipartisan support. He has done everything that
Members on both sides of the aisle have asked him to do. He has waited
patiently over the course of nearly 3 months, as we seek to confirm
him.
It was just mentioned by the ranking member that she has concerns
about his ability and the recusal process. It was made very clear in
committee with questions to Mr. Balash, as well as the follow-on with
questions for the record, about some of the issues that Senator
Cantwell has raised. I think it is important to note that Mr. Balash
pledged very clearly to consult with and follow the counsel of the
agency's ethics office. He did that in committee, in a statement. He
provided the same response in his QFRs. He said: I will consult with
the Department's designated agency ethics official regarding this
matter and fully comply with the ethics rules of the agency.
These are issues that have been asked, and they have been answered,
certainly to the satisfaction of the Energy and Natural Resources
Committee and to this chairman, and to those who reported favorably on
him from the committee. We are at the point where the Senate has now
asked to confirm Mr. Balash. I wish it had come a little bit earlier,
but we are where we are.
Again, I thank the Secretary for nominating Joe Balash for this very,
very important and key role at the Department of the Interior. I thank
Joe for being willing to continue his service to our Nation. I join
Senator Sullivan, and a lot of Alaskans, in being tremendously proud of
him. I urge all Members to support Mr. Balash's nomination to be our
next Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals
Management.
I yield back all debate time and ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Balash
nomination?
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
[[Page S7909]]
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Franken)
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Sentors in the
Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 61, nays 38, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 310 Ex.]
YEAS--61
Alexander
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Capito
Carper
Cassidy
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Donnelly
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heitkamp
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Scott
Shelby
Strange
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Warner
Wicker
Young
NAYS--38
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Casey
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Harris
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
Klobuchar
Leahy
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--1
Franken
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________