On 4/19/2023, Joe Biden’s Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland was called out by a Republican lawmaker Rep. Pete Stauber or lying under oath during Wednesday’s hearing.
Stauber: you said and I quote, “well, we did a mineral withdrawal in The Boundary Waters” end quote. Secretary Haaland, do you understand why this statement that you made under oath is false?
Haaland: Congressman, it is my understanding that we made a decision in this area.
Stauber: Madam Secretary, I have to interrupt you. Do you understand why the answer that you made under oath is false? There is no mining in the Wilderness Area, and there was no mining in the surrounding buffer zone either. As the Secretary of the Interior and as a former member of Congress on this committee, you should have known there was never a proposal to mine in The Boundary Waters per the 1978 act. Secretary Haaland, do you recognize the document behind me? Um, would you like me do you recognize that document? Um, for those that don’t know, it’s the updated list of critical minerals released from your department last year.
Haaland: Okay, yes.
Stauber: Now, do you recognize it?
Haaland: Yes, Sorry.
Stauber: Okay, In your exchange with Mr. Reschenthaler, you said in reference to the minerals in the Superior National Forest that you banned, and I quote, “I don’t know what kind of minerals were there. I don’t think they were critical minerals” end quote. Well, as someone who works, lives, and recreates there, and as someone who has the privilege of representing the people that live there, let me tell you those minerals include, that you band, include nickel, cobalt, palladium, platinum, and other group metals. Again, this is a list produced by your own department, Madam Secretary, and you told Mr. Reschenthaler that, quote, “I don’t think they were critical minerals.” That’s unbelievable. You claim the withdrawal that you forced upon my constituents is in The Boundary Waters. That’s wrong. Do you now understand?
Haaland: Congressman, I should have said that it was The Boundary Waters Watershed.
Stauber: Okay, Madam Secretary, I only have so much time. Let me correct it. Did you either misspeak or mislead in the testimony? Which was it last week?
Haaland: I should have added the word Watershed.
Stauber: you don’t think that the withdrawal included critical minerals. Again, that’s wrong. You had to be told that there were critical minerals. It was only after the hearing that you made the changes, and today you’re making the changes because you had no idea when Mr. Reschenthaler was asking you. You had no idea that the withdrawal was not in the Boundary Waters, and you had no idea that there were critical minerals that you banned in The Boundary Waters. So how can you as a secretary of material not know where the Wilderness is, and how can you not know that your agency withdrew critical minerals? You own this decision to take offline massive amounts of critical minerals we need for everyday life and our strategic National Security. Your decision, Madam Secretary, is either purely political or ignorance. It’s either ignoring your own agency’s research or a political move to satisfy your radical anti-mining activists. This ill-informed decision has left the United States more dependent on China.
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Your statement under oath is false! Sec Haaland Left Stunned, Lying Under Oath A: I should have added the word