Gathered for a private meeting at a beachside RitzβCarlton in Southern California, the oil executives were celebrating a colleagueβs sudden rise. David Bernhardt, theirΒ former lawyer, had been appointed by President Donald Trump to the powerful No. 2 spot at the Department of the Interior.
Just five months into the Trump era, the energy developers who make up the Independent Petroleum Association of America had already watched the new president order a sweeping overhaul of environmental regulations that were cutting into their bottom lines β rules concerning smog, fracking and endangered species protection.
