Zinke hand public lands to fossil fuel industry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate confirmed Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) as Secretary of the Interior. During Sec. Zinke’s single term in Congress, he pushed to expand logging, drilling and coal mining on public lands. He is a champion of the coal industry — leading the opposition to the federal coal mining moratorium, fighting to keep open a tax loophole to benefit coal companies at the expense of taxpayers and supporting West Coast coal ports to export coal. Earlier Friends of the Earth joined with 170 environmental organizations opposing his nomination.

Friends of the Earth Senior Political Strategist Ben Schreiber issued the following response:

Donald Trump and his enablers in Congress have a clear vision for our public lands: filling them with as many mines and drilling rigs as possible. Even before Zinke’s confirmation, it was clear that Trump was determined to turn our public lands and waters into energy sacrifice zones. It is incredibly disappointing that Senate Democrats decided this was an acceptable vision for our natural heritage. The Keep It in the Ground movement was built to keep fossil fuel companies off our public lands and there will be fierce resistance to Zinke, Trump and anyone who enables their extreme agenda.

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Expert contact: Ben Schreiber, [email protected]
Communications contact: Patrick Davis (202) 222-0722 [email protected]