Deb Haaland
Secretary of the Interior
Deborah Anne Haaland was born in December 1960 in Winslow, Arizona. She is an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and identifies herself as a 35th-generation New Mexican. She earned an undergraduate degree in English from the University of New Mexico. A single mother, she worked her way through school, starting a salsa company, and earned a Juris Doctor in Indian law from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
She served as tribal administrator for the San Felipe Pueblo for nearly three years. She made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico but would later serve New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives, taking her seat in January 2019 and serving until her nomination by President Joe Biden to be Secretary of the Interior. She was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on March 16, 2021.
Haaland has one daughter. She is a Catholic.
In the News…
The Department of the Interior has approved one quarter of the area of the congressionally mandated lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Area for oil and gas. President Biden’s administration had previously canceled all Alaskan lease sales under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Record of Decision and Notice of Sale offering the minimum amount under the law, 400,000 acres, for oil and gas lease sale in January.
“The area offered for sale will avoid important polar bear denning and Porcupine Caribou Herd calving areas,” the bureau stated. “This also has the smallest footprint of potential surface disturbance due to No Surface Occupancy stipulations, and limits seismic exploration to the areas available for leasing.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Secretary Haaland today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Deb Haaland
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
