Reforming Federal Lands and the Endangered Species Act featuring Secretary David Bernhardt

Join CEI for an online forum with Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt on the challenges of reforming federal lands policies and the Endangered Species Act. The Secretary will discuss his reform accomplishments to date and the challenges and opportunities ahead, in conversation with Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and the Environment Myron Ebell and President Kent Lassman.

The Department of the Interior manages 11 agencies—including the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management—and more than 450 million acres, or 20 percent of the nation’s land area. Interior agencies are also responsible for regulating energy production on subsurface and offshore areas and enforcing the Endangered Species Act on private landowners.

Secretary David Bernhardt, U.S. Department of the Interior

Myron Ebell, Director of the Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Kent Lassman, President, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

12:00 – 1:00 pm EST

Register: https://cei-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_i3dLW58fT8uBibvRa5caxA

Registration confirmation and event reminder emails will be sent from CEI Events at [email protected] 

Questions? Email [email protected]

David L. Bernhardt serves as the 53rd Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.  He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 11, 2019. As Secretary of the Interior, Bernhardt leads an agency with more than 70,000 employees who are stewards for 20 percent of the nation’s lands, including national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, and other public lands. The department oversees the responsible development of conventional and renewable energy supplies on public lands and waters, is the largest supplier and manager of water in the 17 Western states, and upholds trust responsibilities to the 574 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives.

Bernhardt is an avid hunter and angler and recently served on the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has in-depth experience in legal matters concerning active regulations and rulemakings, with years of legal experience in both government and the private sector. His expertise ranges from the Endangered Species Act to Outer Continental leases, from mining royalties to Indian Affairs. From 2001 to 2009, he held several positions within the Department of the Interior, including serving as Solicitor. Raised in Rifle, Colorado, Bernhardt earned a B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. He graduated with honors from the George Washington University National Law Center.

Myron Ebell is Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at CEI and chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, which comprises representatives from more than two dozen nonprofit organizations that challenge global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies. Ebell has focused on energy and climate issues since joining CEI 20 years ago, but throughout the 1990s worked exclusively on federal lands policies and property rights issues, including especially the Endangered Species Act.  He served in 2016 as head of the Trump EPA transition team, while David Bernhardt headed the Interior team.  

Kent Lassman is President and CEO at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He oversees strategy for the organization, including management of a team of policy, communications, and fundraising staff. Prior to joining CEI, Lassman spent eight years as vice president at a public affairs firm in Washington, D.C., counseling clients on campaign approaches to issues ranging from telecommunications to privacy to biotechnology and state licensure.