David Bernhardt , the nominee to serve as the next secretary of the Interior Department , was questioned about his ties to industry and accused of meddling with agency science during a confirmation hearing on Thursday, but managed to walk away from the rare public appearance relatively unscathed.

A longtime fossil fuel lobbyist, Bernhardt has served as acting agency chief since Ryan Zinke resigned as secretary earlier this year amid mounting ethics scandals. He told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that he had fully complied with all ethics rules and prioritized fixing the departments ethics programs in order to ingrain a culture of ethical compliance and reduce workplace misconduct.

Democrats took the opportunity to zero in on Bernhardts long list of potential conflicts. He worked for eight years at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck , where he lobbied on behalf of oil, gas, mining and agricultural interests. There are more than 20 former clients listed on his ethics recusal form.

I think you are so conflicted that if you get confirmed youre going to have one of two choices, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. One, youre going to have to disqualify yourself from so many matters I dont know how youre going to spend your day. Or two, youre going to be making decisions that either directly or indirectly benefit former clients, regularly violating your ethics pledge.