It was never about making history for Deb Haaland, but about making her parents proud.

She says she worked hard, put herself through school, started a small business to pay bills, and eventually made her way into politics, first as a campaign volunteer and later as the first Native American woman to lead a political party in New York City. Mexico.

The rest seems to be history. Haaland was sworn in as one of the first two Native American women in Congress in 2019. Two years later, she took over as head of the Department of the Interior, an agency whose responsibilities range from managing energy development to meeting treaty obligations of the country to 574 federally recognized tribes

Haaland, the first Native American cabinet member in the US, spoke to the Associated Press about her tenure as leader of the 70,000-employee agency that oversees underground minerals and millions of acres of public land.

The hardest part? Balancing the interests of every American, she said.

I might personally have a certain opinion on an issue. It doesn’t mean that’s the decision that will be made, said Haaland, 62, sitting in the shade of the towering poplars that line her backyard in Albuquerque. There is a process, so I am committed to that. I really want to find a balance.

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Criticism of Haaland has increased in recent weeks. Environmentalists criticized her department’s approval of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska, while a Republican-led House committee opened an investigation into ties between Haaland and an indigenous group from

her home state

New Mexico advocating keeping oil and gas production on public lands.

Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress have also grilled her over her agency’s $19 billion budget request. Critics say the Interior Ministry under her leadership failed to make quarterly oil and gas lease sales as required by law, doubled the time it takes to get permits, and increased royalty rates paid to energy companies in were taken into account to discourage domestic production and promote the government’s climate goals. .

Haaland defended the Biden government’s priorities, reiterating that her department was following the law and on track to meet the government’s goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.

But even some Democratic senators who support more wind and solar power have questioned that timeline, saying some projects take years to be allowed and could be in jeopardy. New Mexico Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich got no answer from Haaland when he asked when the first large-scale offshore wind projects would be allowed

Domestic candidate Deb Haaland quizzed on oil drilling and pipelines

Haaland said she had an idea of ​​what the cabinet job might entail, having served in Congress and as a member of Congress

Chairman Joe

Biden’s platform committee when he was the Democratic

presidential

nominee. Many of Biden’s ideals on climate change, renewable energy and conservation mirrored her own.

What is preserved and how is at the root of a few thorny projects Haaland must navigate, from the Willow project to a drilling moratorium around a national park near Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, and now protests by Native American tribes against a proposed lithium mine in Nevada.

There is no one size fits all for all of these things, she said. “We need to look at each one individually and find the best possible solution.”

Native American tribes are not always happy with the outcome, they acknowledged.

Every tribe, I think, is different. Their chances are different. Their lifestyles are different and it’s up to us to make sure we get them to the table to tell us what’s important to them, she said. And we’re doing our best, as I said, to balance whatever the project is with the help of the science, with the help of the law.

Haaland’s heritage as a member of the Laguna Pueblo sets her apart from all previous Secretaries, and she is aware of the additional expectations of Indian Country, as she heads an agency with a fraught and even murderous history involving Native tribes.

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She has worked to encourage consultation with tribal governments, allocate more resources to address the alarming number of disappearances and deaths among Native Americans, and launched an investigation into the role of the federal government in boarding schools that have tried to target Native children in recent decades. to assimilate.

Wenona Singel, an associate professor at Michigan State University College of Law and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, pointed to the stories Haaland told of her grandparents being taken from their families when they were children. The story is similar to Singel’s own family and many others.

She understands the pain and trauma of our ancestors being robbed of their culture and their language and their Indigenous identity, said Singel, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. She has demonstrated a greater understanding of our nations’ need to come to grips with the realities of this history and the way it continues to impact our communities today.

For Haaland, there is no way to disconnect from her heritage: I am who I am.

Haaland grew up in a military family. Her late father was a decorated Marine and her late mother worked for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs for over two decades after serving in the United States.

US

Navy. Haaland often recounts how her mother, who was also a member of Laguna Pueblo, raised her to be fierce.

A mother herself, Haaland married her longtime partner Skip Sayre in 2021. They share a home in Albuquerque with their two rescue dogs Remington and Winchester.

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Haaland still hangs her clothes on the line to dry in the New Mexico sun, finds time to be outside every day and makes large batches of her own red chili sauce with garlic and oregano, which she freezes so she has a ready supply when she comes home.

Despite moving as a child, Haaland said her traditions kept her going. In fact, she’s working toward completing her master’s degree in Native American studies at the

UCLA University of California, Los Angeles

a feat that took almost 25 years to achieve.

Haaland’s mother was the one who encouraged her to complete her dissertation on an exploration of the traditional food of the Laguna Pueblo. Haaland was proud to say that she turned the paper in to her committee in early June to show that indigenous knowledge is still being passed on and that the food eaten in the Laguna Pueblo, including stew and piki bread, has not changed since the tribe migrated. generations ago from the Chaco Canyon area. While modern ovens may have replaced hot stones, Haaland said Laguna’s food is still rooted in tradition.

One of her first obligations as a Pueblo woman is to care for her family and community, and Haaland said that’s similar to the demands of her current job: managing and protecting natural resources and cultural heritage.

You have values ​​as a human being,” she said. That’s how you were raised by your family, and that’s what I bring to the table.