Interior faulted for subsidy to firm once tied to David Bernhardt, now the deputy secretary
Source: Washington Post
Interior faulted for subsidy to firm once tied to David Bernhardt, now the deputy secretary
By Juliet Eilperin and Jack Gillum September 8 at 4:50 PM
An Interior Department agency responsible for managing water in the western United States improperly provided millions of dollars in subsidies to contractors in California, according to an inspector general's report, including to a major water district once represented by a lobbyist who is now Interior’s second highest-ranking official.
The Bureau of Reclamation, the Interior Department's top watchdog concluded, didn't fully disclose to Congress and others the $84 million cost of its Bay Delta Conservation Plan in California. It also said the bureau couldn't provide paperwork for why the water contractors didn't have to pay back $50 million in federal funding.
Though mentioned only once in the report, the Westlands Water District was part of the inspector general's analysis. That district, made up of more than 1,000 square miles of California farmland, was once represented by David Bernhardt, now the Interior Department's deputy secretary.
Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said in an email that Bernhardt played no role in the matter either in forging the initial agreement, which was signed about three months after he left his post in January 2009 as Interior’s solicitor, or while working in the private sector.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interior-faulted-for-subsidy-to-firm-once-tied-to-david-bernhardt-now-the-deputy-secretary/2017/09/08/b0d159d4-949a-11e7-b9bc-b2f7903bab0d_story.html
