IRVING — Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said he hopes the confirmation of Deb Haaland as secretary of the Interior — the first Native American to hold the post — is the start of a “new era of inclusion, understanding and respect” for the concerns of Native peoples.
“On behalf of the nearly 8,500 enrolled members of the Seneca Nation, I want to congratulate Secretary Haaland on her confirmation,” Pagels said in a statement after Haaland’s confirmation on Monday.
“This achievement not only speaks to her knowledge, skill and leadership as a lawmaker, but it is also a seminal moment for Native people throughout the United States,” Pagels said.
Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo, was approved by the Senate 51-40 in her confirmation. The former Democratic congresswoman now leads an agency that will play a crucial role in the Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change and conserve nature.
Her confirmation has a symbolism that certainly is not lost on Native Americans. The Interior Department, for much of its history, has often been used as a tool of what Native leaders and their advocates have called oppression against America’s Indigenous tribes and territories.
The department handles relations between the U.S. and Native American tribal governments, while managing the country’s public lands, endangered species and natural resources.
Pagels said such a moment has taken more than 240 years, “but the voice of Indian Country is finally being welcomed” at the highest levels of the U.S. government. He said Haaland’s understanding of the issues impacting Native territories will be welcome as no other federal agency has a more direct impact on Native peoples.
“The Interior Department is meant to be our partner, as sovereign governments, in defending and upholding our treaties with the United States, protecting our land and water, and recognizing our sovereign rights to self-determination,” Pagels said. “We all know that this partnership has not always been honored.”
He said Indian Country has “far too often been left behind as collateral damage in a Washington culture that prioritizes politics over policy.”
Haaland had already made history before her confirmation. In 2018, she became one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress.
Her nomination by President Joe Biden to lead the Interior Department was celebrated by tribal groups and environmental organizations, but her nomination faced opposition from Republican lawmakers and industry groups.
In Congress, Haaland was a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump’s agenda on environmental deregulation and she supported limits on fossil fuel development on public lands.
She opposes hydraulic fracturing and she was one of the first lawmakers to support the Green New Deal, which calls for drastic action to address climate change.
“The department has a role in harnessing the clean energy potential of our public lands to create jobs and new economic opportunities,” Haaland said during her confirmation hearing. “The president’s agenda demonstrates that America’s public lands can and should be engines for clean energy production.”