Top Interior official who pushed to expand drilling in Alaska to join oil company there

Joe Balash, a Trump appointee, had served as assistant secretary for land and minerals management until Aug. 30.

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September 4, 2019 at 3:18 p.m. EDT

Joe Balash (left), then the Interior Department's assistant secretary for land and minerals management, and John Mansanti, president and chief executive of Crystal Peak Minerals, shake hands following the Sevier Playa Potash Project Record of Decision signing on Aug. 27 in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

Last summer, Scott Pruitt left his job heading the Environmental Protection Agency and within a few months had started consulting for coal magnate Joseph W. Craft III. Three weeks after leaving the Interior Department, energy counselor Vincent DeVito joined Cox Oil Offshore, which operates in the Gulf of Mexico, as its executive vice president and general counsel. Now, Joe Balash — who oversaw oil and gas drilling on federal lands before resigning from Interior on Friday — is joining a foreign oil company that is expanding operations on Alaska’s North Slope.