In a statement Thursday, United States Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) said he is “honored” to serve as the new chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Hoeven — a former North Dakota governor and vocal supporter of both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines — was elected to lead the committee on Tuesday.

“I am honored to serve as the chairman … and look forward to working with [newly elected] Vice Chairman [Sen. Tom] Udall [D-NM] and members of the Committee to pass legislation that helps improve the lives of people across Indian Country,” Hoeven said.

Read more: Meet the black woman who will run from NYC to DC to raise money for Planned Parenthood

The Indian Affairs committee is tasked with proposing legislation that addresses the concerns of “American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native peoples,” including land management and economic development, according to the committee’s website.

Sen. Hoeven’s new job is ironic because he has repeatedly opposed causes that Native Americans support. The Dakota Access Pipeline is the most recent example. As thousands of protesters from across Indian Country converged on Cannon Ball, North Dakota, over the latter half of 2016 to block the pipeline’s completion, Hoeven called the protests “violent” and asked President Barack Obama to deploy federal law enforcement to quell them.

“We recommend you provide federal law enforcement resources immediately to state and local agencies in order to maintain public safety, which has been threatened by ongoing — and oftentimes violent — protest activity,” Hoeven wrote in a Nov. 23 letter to Obama, which he co-authored with Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), according to the Huffington Post.

The same month, Hoeven criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ reluctance to grant an easement that would have let the pipeline’s builders burrow under Lake Oahe, a section of the Missouri River. The Corps went on to deny the easement on Dec. 4.

“The solution … is for the Corps to grant an easement for the project so that life can return to normal for our farmers, ranchers, tribal members and law enforcement officers, who have worked very hard to protect the lives and property of all,” Hoeven said in a statement.

Read more: Protesters bring printed definition of sexual assault to Jeff Sessions’ office

Incongruous though it may seem, Hoeven’s new position as chairman for the Indian Affairs committee is in keeping with most of the appointments made leading up to Donald Trump’s presidency. These include Trump’s nomination of an anti-civil rights attorney general in Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and a secretary of Housing and Urban Development who believes poverty “is more of a choice than anything else,” in Dr. Ben Carson.

This article originally appeared on Mic.com

Sign up for Inside TIME. Be the first to see the new cover of TIME and get our most compelling stories delivered straight to your inbox. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Contact us at letters@time.com.