Trump chooses congressman, former SEAL
Zinke as interior secretary
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[December 14, 2016]
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect
Donald Trump has chosen first-term Republican U.S. Representative Ryan
Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander, as his interior
secretary, a senior transition official said on Tuesday.
Zinke, 55, will be nominated to head the Interior Department, which
employs more than 70,000 people across the United States and oversees
more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks like
Yellowstone and Yosemite.
Zinke's choice was something of a surprise since some Republican
officials wanted him to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester of
Montana in the 2018 elections.
Zinke emerged after Trump had toyed with the idea of nominating U.S.
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state for the
position.
He is a proponent of keeping public lands under federal ownership,
putting him at odds with some in his Republican Party who are more
favorable to privatization or placing them under the control of states.
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It remains unclear where Zinke would stand on opening up more federal
lands to increased drilling and mining, something Trump promised he
would do as president.
Trump's official energy platform calls for opening "onshore and offshore
leasing on federal lands, eliminate moratorium on coal leasing, and open
shale energy deposits."
A Trump aide told Reuters last week that McMorris Rodgers had been
picked for the post. She had met Trump at his golf resort in Bedminster,
New Jersey, shortly after the president-elect began his Cabinet search.
On Tuesday, a source close to the congresswoman said she had never been
offered the job.
"It was an honor to be invited to spend time with the president-elect,
and I’m energized more than ever to continue leading in Congress as we
think big, reimagine this government, and put people back at the center
of it," McMorris Rodgers said in a Facebook post.
Zinke had been an early Trump supporter, backing the New York
businessman for president in May. His nomination must now be confirmed
by the Republican-controlled Senate.
"Congressman Zinke is a strong advocate for American energy
independence, and he supports an all-encompassing energy policy that
includes renewables, fossil fuels and alternative energy," Trump
spokesman Jason Miller said before a meeting on Monday between Zinke and
Trump at Trump Tower in New York.
Zinke, a member of the House of Representatives subcommittee on natural
resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental
safeguards on public land.
But, unlike other candidates who were on the short list for the interior
secretary job, Zinke opposes the transfer of public lands to the states,
a position that echoes Trump's.
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![](../images/121416pics/news_o25.jpg)
U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT) arrives for a meeting with
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New
York City, U.S., December 12, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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PUBLIC LANDS
Trump has said he does not think public land should be turned over
to the states and should be protected.
"I don’t like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and
you don’t know what the state is going to do," Trump said in an
interview with Field & Stream magazine in January.
Trump said putting states in control of public land would make it
easier to sell it off for energy or commercial development. He
thinks the federal government needs to focus on conservation.
"I mean, are they going to sell (states) if they get into a little
bit of trouble? I don't think it's something that should be sold,"
he said. "We have to be great stewards of this land. This is
magnificent land."
In July, Zinke resigned as a delegate to the Republican nominating
convention because the party platform called for transferring public
lands to the states.
"What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,"
Zinke told the Billings Gazette. "At this point, I think it's better
to show leadership."
Public land comprises more than 30 percent of Montana, according to
the Montana Wilderness Association.
The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their
environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of
3 percent.
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The Wilderness Society, a leading conservation group, said it was
concerned by Zinke's support for logging, drilling and mining on
public lands.
The Interior Department also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and handles tribal policy.
Under Obama, the department played a big role in efforts to curb the
effects of climate change by limiting fossil fuel development in
some areas.
(Reporting by Eric Beech, Valerie Volcovici, Susan Cornwell and
Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter Cooney
and Paul Tait)
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