A top Trump administration official who has failed to disclose her connections to a massive lithium mine in Nevada has a history of navigating financial entanglements while serving in top positions at the Interior Department that don’t require Senate confirmation.
Karen Budd-Falen, a lawyer now serving as a senior adviser under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, did not mention on her most recent disclosure form a lucrative water rights deal her family entered into in 2018 with Lithium Americas, which is developing the Thacker Pass mine, slated to be the nation’s largest source of lithium. The New York Times reported earlier this month that Budd-Falen also didn’t disclose the arrangement in forms she filed during her stint as a high-ranking solicitor during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The website Public Domain first reported Budd-Falen’s ties to the mine, which was approved by the Interior Department in January 2021 just before Trump left office. The federal government recently took an equity stake in Lithium Americas, which is building the project with a $2.23 billion federal loan.
Ethics experts say the omission, and the lack of public information around Budd-Falen’s recusals, is concerning given that she holds a position at Interior with an apparently wide-ranging portfolio. Additionally, as an adviser she wasn’t required to undergo a Senate confirmation process that would have brought an added layer of scrutiny to potential ethics conflicts. Interior did not respond when asked for Budd-Falen’s recusal documents.
