Coal champion Zinke will use Interior to plunder public lands

Coal champion Zinke will use Interior to plunder public lands

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Donald Trump nominated Representative Ryan Zinke (R-Mt.) to lead the Department of the Interior, the agency responsible for managing our public lands and waters. Rep. Zinke’s single term in Congress has been spent trying to expand logging, drilling and coal mining on public lands. He is a coal champion: 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.

Friends of the Earth Climate Campaigner Marissa Knodel issued the following response:

Zinke is another dangerous pick from Donald Trump. If the task is plundering our public lands on behalf of fossil fuel empires, Rep. Ryan Zinke is the man for the job.

Representative Zinke and Donald Trump are determined to turn our public lands and waters into energy sacrifice zones. Zinke denies climate change science, and champions increasing fossil fuel development for corporate profits over the health and safety of people and the planet.

A Secretary of the Interior should defend our natural heritage, not the fossil fuel industry.

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Expert contact: Marissa Knodel, (202) 222-0729, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]

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