"Interior Dept. (Again) Hosts People Who Want To Sell Off Public Land"

"For an administration that says it opposes pawning off federal lands, it sure is cozy with pro-land-transfer zealots."

"On a Wednesday morning last June, Susan Combs, a high-ranking political appointee at the Interior Department, stepped to a microphone to welcome those gathered for an event at the agency’s headquarters titled “Federal Land Policies: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

The event’s keynote speaker: Myron Ebell, a prominent climate change denier and advocate of shrinking the federal estate. Ebell led President Donald Trump’s transition work at the Environmental Protection Agency and continues to be a vocal cheerleader of the administration’s pro-industry, deregulatory agenda.

“I’m so happy to see my friend Mr. Ebell, who will be a treat,” said Combs, who has a long history of vehemently opposing the agency she now helps run. She described Interior as “a huge land manager” and assured the audience that Ebell would provide “a great background” of federal land policy.

What followed was a 40-minute rambling assault on the very agency where Ebell and the others were gathered."

Chris D’Angelo reports for HuffPost February 14, 2020.

Source: HuffPost, 02/17/2020