Author Archives: Jesse Coleman

Jesse is a Senior Researcher with Documented. He has expertise in the oil and gas industry, corporate lobbying and political strategy, and political spending. His work has been featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and other media outlets. Previously Jesse was a research specialist with Greenpeace from 2010 to 2017. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia.

jesse@documented.net
Posted inUncategorized

William Perry Pendley’s Fossil Fuel Funding

by Jesse Coleman

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt named William Perry Pendley as deputy director of policy and programs for the Bureau of Land Management in July of 2017. Since then, Pendley has served as acting head of the Bureau, with Bernhard extending his tenure by Secretarial Order in May of 2020. Interior is now facing multiple lawsuits that […]

Posted inUncategorized

Oil Execs on Trump’s “Opening the Country Council” Lost Millions for Shareholders, Spent Millions on Politics and Lobbying

by Jesse Coleman

On April 14, 2020, President Trump named almost 200 corporate executives and republican insiders to an advisory council on the coronavirus. The council is set to advise Trump on when and how to re-open the economy, and gives its members a formal role in advising economic policy. Trump described their role this way: “These bipartisan […]

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Kate MacGregor

by Jesse Coleman

Political Appointees at the Department of Interior have given special treatment to ex-clients of their boss, David Bernhardt, the oil lobbyist turned Secretary of the Interior.  SUMMARY Top Interior political appointee Katherine Macgregor, soon to be confirmed as Deputy Secretary, helped a former client of Secretary David Bernhardt secure oil and gas drilling permits from […]

Posted inCorruption, Interior, Oil and Gas, Uncategorized

David Bernhardt’s Ex-Lobbying Clients Met 70 times with Interior Department Appointees

by Jesse Coleman

  A new analysis from Documented has found that from 2/15/17 to 10/1/18, there were at least 70 meetings between top DOI political appointees and entities listed on Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s ethics recusal letter. The analysis demonstrates that despite legally binding ethics pledges, Bernhardt’s one time lobbying clients have few fetters on their […]

Posted inInterior

David Bernhardt Photographs

by Jesse Coleman

David Bernhardt was picked to replace Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Department of the Interior in January of 2019. Prior to joining the Department, Bernhardt was a lobbyist for oil, gas, and mining interests. Ethics rules prohibit him from meeting with a long list of former clients. Here are a series of photos of David Bernhardt […]

Posted inOil and Gas

Department of the Interior Ignores Scientists to Appease Oil Industry on Endangered Beetle

by Jesse Coleman

Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Department of the Interior has used “unsound science and poor ethics” in an attempt to cut protections for an endangered species of beetle, according to top scientific experts involved in the matter. The species at issue is the American Burying Beetle, whose last remaining habitat includes choice onshore oil and gas fields. This has made […]