“Just when you think the Interior Department can’t possibly become more corrupt and kowtow more to the oil and gas industry, you are proven wrong. Take the current nominee for Deputy Secretary, Kate MacGregor who currently serves as the department’s Chief of Staff. She previously fast-tracked and approved an oil drilling permit which employees with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had determined was both “incomplete” and “deficient,” Reveal reported.

MacGregor and six other high-level political appointees fast-tracked a drilling permit for the oil and gas drilling company Cimarex, emails revealed that were obtained from a public documents request. Cimarex wanted to expedite a drilling permit with BLM to started hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, on an area of farmland in Western Oklahoma. The company had problems with its application for a drilling permit and was required to wait another 60 days for its revised application to be reviewed.”

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