BOSTON– Today, the confirmation hearing begins for U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke as Secretary of Interior. If approved, the move could threaten our public lands, opening them up to further drilling and mining.
Please see International Policy Director Tamar Lawrence-Samuel’s statement below:
“The possibility of having Representative Ryan Zinke in control of our public lands, including our national parks, is unconscionable. For someone just elected to federal office in 2014, Zinke sure hasn’t wasted any time cozying up to Big Oil. The sophomore congressman has taken more than $340,000 from the oil and gas industries over his short career in DC.
And, that money seems to be talking. Zinke consistently votes against environmental policies and seems to join the rest of his Cabinet nominees in denying climate change. Zinke would oversee the leasing of public lands to oil and gas exploration, which is particularly alarming considering who’s bankrolled his career.
Donald Trump’s Cabinet — a cadre of oil barons, corporate CEOs, and Wall Street bankers — represents an unprecedented level of corporate control over our democracy and threatens to put corporate profits before human rights, the environment and our democracy at large. It will be a government of, for, and by big corporations.”
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