“...groom and advise the next generation of conservationists.”
Ha, hilarious.
I just finished the fine book Wilderness Warrior, and you sir are no Theodore Roosevelt.
14
NIMBY is alive and well
But mainly, while most Republicans like to trash the environment where others live, where they live is different.
12
Please, tell me we'll be able to roll back the roll backs of both Zinke and Pruitt?
This administration gets more depressing by the day.
And when do laws "stick"? Why are these deplorables able to make their changes?
10
Another hypocritical Republican, so what else is new?
13
Zinke appeased the "state's rights" perspective of the Utah Mormon, white man legislature, the same argument was used when supporting the Confederacy when the south waged war on the United States of America. Montana is a rural state with a mostly white population, very Republican. When it comes to their lifestyles, traditions and "big sky", they will protect what they know is their 'bread and butter', tourism. The Utah monuments are rich in geographical and cultural history but the white male patriarchy cannot see past the dollar sign here even though it is tourism that has supported the rural economies of Southern Utah. What can we really expect from Trump supporters, a good many of which are in Utah. It's not mistake that these people can only truly related to the land if there is a dollar sign attached.
9
Job description for Trump Administration positions: Applicant must be corrupt.
12
Harry Barnes, chairman of the Blackfeet Nation, must acknowledge that Zinke should never have messed with Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, and then apply tremendous pressure upon Zinke to reverse the horrific slashing of Bears Ears that is in the works. "Is it contradictory?" is a foolish question by Barnes, because Zinke and Trump can turn on the Blackfeet Nation as fast as they have turned on native peoples in the area of Bears Ears.
4
Harper's Magazine had an interesting article last year "Political Climbers -
Environmentalist momentum in the West" by Richard Manning. It details the fact that many of the Mountain States have increasing populations of urban professionals who LOVE the outdoor life. They're shifting the economy away from resource extraction and ranching towards a service economy, and moving the politics towards more of the genuine Teddy Roosevelt politicians, not the ones like Zinke who appropriate the name while reversing the actions of TR.
https://harpers.org/archive/2017/08/political-climbers/
Zinke, Pruitt and their owners are fighting the last-gasp effort to take us back to the energy economy of the Teddy Roosevelt era - and spending our money as if they were robber barons, too. Hmm. Teddy was a trust-buster, too...
7
Sad to think that at one time a majority of Americans wanted to change the national anthem to "This land is Your Land " by Woodie Guthrie. Or that Ben Franklin thought the wild turkey was a more suitable national bird. Times sure have changed …and not for the better.
6
Zinke is a poster boy for this administration. From his ridiculous "personal flag" that flies from the top of the Interior Department building whenever he's there to his asinine riding a borrowed horse to work on his first day capped by his "up from behind his desk with a knife in his teeth" video, he personifies buffoonery. The Navy made the right call when they retired him due to his mathematical "artistry" with his travel vouchers.
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I'm sure the Koch Brothers & others in the fossil fuel extraction industry have absolutely nothing to do with Zinke's decisions.
17
So many of these Koch Brothers evil doers are greedy and deplorable but Zinke is really evil - there is something very “off” about him
15
"The Utah monuments were widely opposed by state politicians"
Please note: The Utah monuments were not widely opposed by state residents.
Small but important details.
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Zinke sounds like a typical politician, say one thing, do another; say one thing, say another, do something all together different. I'm not happy about reducing Federal land protections.
But something not stated in this article needs to come out. Bears Ears National Monument was just created December 28, 2016. One of the last things Obama ever did; could/should have been done much earlier if it had merit. And to imply that Trump or the EPA have eliminated environmental protections should be tempered with the fact that the only thing they are doing is eliminating executive orders/memos from Obama put in place shortly before leaving office. Why wait until you've been in office 7.5 years or longer to implement meaningful environmental protections. The NYTimes and Obama hope we have short memories.
Now, if regulations and policies are vetted and make sound sense, then keep (or modify and keep) them in place. But don't pretend that the EPA is eliminating long-held regulations and land protections; they are only eliminating policy that was just put in place!
Ma, they are not "only eliminating policy that was just put in place"
Here's a list the Times had put together of 67 protections EPA and Interior are gutting. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment...
Just looking at entry #31, it's a Trump executive order that revokes a number of rules and actions from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. That's just from ONE entry in the Times list.
Entry #32 is the gutting of a Clinton era regulation about industrial pollution, by the way. That's from President Bill Clinton, so isn't exactly new.
Here's #31: "Following a March 2017 executive order, the Department of the Interior rescinded Obama-era climate and mitigation policies and directed the Bureau of Land Management to review its mitigation strategies for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska."
Trump's executive order is "to review all actions taken pursuant to Secretary's Order 3330, "Improving Mitigation Policies and Practices of the
Department of the Interior," dated, October 31, 2013 (SO 3330), for possible reconsideration, modification, or rescission, as appropriate."
The entry links to here, which details regulations dating from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (at a minimum, I didn't read the whole depressing thing.)
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4343673/3360-20-20Rescinding-...
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Excuse me, but the narrative doesn't fit reality. Zinke is opening up plenty of public land in Montana to oil, gas, and coal development. He is NO friend of the environment here. There's a big difference between Zinke's Northwestern, Montana "residence" and the eastern half of the state. ZInke has proposed and/or leased 219,401 acres of public land to oil and gas leasing since December 2017! That's not protecting Montana's public lands! Every major coal mine in the state is seeking to expand. Much of that involves federal lands. Zinke appears to be accommodating all of those requests. When it comes to resource extraction, Zinke is no friend of Montana or our environment.
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Zinke is quoted: "I do listen to Montanans the same way I listen to Palau or the Virgin Islands".
For what strange reason does he listen to Palau, an independent island country in the Pacific?? Let's find out.
27
What do you expect he works for Trump. But with no one to put a check on him he can rip the tax payers all he wants. Seems like the people who work for Trump and are not fired or resign are causing problems or on the verg of getting fired. We desparately need a change in the House and Senate to put a check on these guys.
12
Another example of why the two Senate seat rule must be amended. Maybe give one seat the new state of Puerto Rico and keep the total at 100.
4
The author wrote:
"But those policies have thrilled both industry executives"...
Depends on what industry you favor I guess. The recreation industry (and recreationists nationwide) despises him.
22
True when the drought in the late nineties get so bad fish in the Missouri could not spawn and both Kansas Cities could not get water from the river without going deeper below the river at great expense and poor water quality to the benefit of Nestle bottled water.
4
A feckless hypocrite, Zinke’s legacy will be that of a courtesan for the fossil fuel industry willing to despoil vast pristine tracks of ecosystems in America unique to the earth.
The insatiable greed of his minders and his political ambitions are his guiding principles.
If Zinke does run for office in Montana his opponent will have a national fundraising platform designed to make certain Zinke does not do any more harm to the commonweal’s heritage.
9
Completely shameless. Offshore drilling (except near the President's resort). Open up Federal lands (except in the Sec'y of the Interior's home state). Republicans don't even bother to hide their corruption any more.
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It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
- Sinclair Lewis
Hypocrisy, on the other hand, is easy as pie.
10
He's one of the worst of the bunch. More greasy than most of them... no small accomplishment. So much for every Navy Seal being a hero.
11
So Zinke wants to save a chalet in Glacier National Park, while pushing to push for risky offshore drilling off all of our coasts (except, of course, the "unique" state of Florida - distinct because it's Republican governor has an eye on a Senate seat). So the beloved chalet will eventually offer stunning vistas of where many glaciers used to be - before our fossil addiction he wants to keep enabling does them in.
Mr. Zinke, please turn to fly fishing as soon as possible. And learn to do so focused on largemouth bass - your current work will expand their range while making it harder to sustain the trout that like cooler waters.
13
In this photo, it is fairly obvious that he leaked on himself Fairly embarrassing for a US Navy Seal who claims he's a geologist.
9
I am still wondering about the multibillion dollar contract awarded to a small Whitefish company to rebuild power lines in Puerto Rico after hurricane Irma.
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So which is the fake persona? I suspect the old one. Zinke was stalled in his Navy career by his corrupt use of taxpayer money for his own use. In tghe Navy he was known best as a self promoter, and claimed he did more military activity than his administrative job would actually entail. Others in the SEA:S did all they could to avoid him. In short, he is a corrupt fraud.
I suspect his ultimate goal, if this corruption does not kill his corrupt political dreams, is to make corrupt millions off the corporate masters he is now serving.
30
A guy that would be in jail in an ideal lawful democracy.
26
A truly dangerous and delusional man. This administration has them in spades.
34
Is anyone really surprised by all of this? Trump has replaced "the swamp" with a snake pit.
28
Zinke is rotten to the core! He will go down as the worst, most corrupt, Secretary of Interior ever!
22
I agree he is rotten to the core and corrupt. If he does prove to be the most corrupt, we must hope he faces a future at least as ironic as that of Albert C. Fall, Secretary of Interior during the Teapot Dome Scandal. Fall was found guilty of taking a bribe and served a year in prison. Edward L. Dohoney, one of the two oil executives who had bribed him, was found not guilty, claiming the money was just a loan. Then he foreclosed on Fall's home because Fall had not repaid the "loan," the bribe!
Maybe if Zinke were to receive such compounded treatment, he might realize that having no soul is bad enough, but claiming to have one and then selling it, always leads to bad ends, especially when the person to whom you sold it made the money with which he purchased the soul from fossil fuels. The sulfurous fumes of the underworld always claim those who believe them to light the way to prosperity.
7
Let us not forget the estimable James Watt. That guy didn't even like the Beach Boys, which is what really got him dumped by Saint Ronnie.
3
Zinke is an embarrassment to my home State, Montana, the State that gave us Mike Mansfield and Jeanette Rankin, the first woman to hold federal office in the United States, a State whose citizens actually care about federal land. Compared to Mansfield and Rankin, Zinke is a conman, a shill, a snake oil salesman. He is not an advocate for wilderness and parks but their destroyer. He will go down in history books as being the worst Secretary of Interior ever, joining the worst-ever ranks of Trump, Pruitt and DeVos.
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Environment degradation is for the little people, not the powerful.
13
Well, he's 98 percent a true Republican.
7
Another grifter that needs to go asap.
19
Zinke is perfectly delighted to foul up Utah in service to his personal wealth, power, and political ambitions but don’t anyone dare touch his precious home state of Montana. This is typical virulently disgusting Republican hypocrisy. “I have mine so I don’t care anything that is important to you”.
29
Sounds like the plan to ban offshore oil drilling in Florida, but allow elsewhere. Environmental destruction for thee, but NOT for me.
Hypocrites, thieves and Conmen, i.e. the GOP.
27
Shameful! Trump and his minions are wrecking our country and our best hopes for a clean energy future and beautiful lands.
15
We see you Mr. Zinke. We know what you are up to and you are no longer welcome in Montana. Go back to Santa Barbara.
21
We don't want him in California, either!
4
Typical case of NIMY. Time to "out" Zinke before he destroys all but Montana. May he be gone soon, along with the rest of the white house trash.
13
Would it be accurate to say that by way of waffle, Z-bo can't identify his morality and principle. That is until the highest bidders tell him where he stands. Liars and thieves do well in big city politics, the voting base in Montana is too small to not end up being flushed out for what you are. His political career is near its end. You're correct Z, take up fly fishin'.
9
Excellent article--shows once more Zinke is a total hypocrite. But does not show the extent of his horrible deeds concerning public lands and waters. I have documented 103 misdeeds he has taken as Interior Secretary--note: he actually considers himself as Sec. of Energy Dominance! See 103 reasons at https://www.wildlifepolitics.org/blog
15
That's okay. Conservationists have been outraging most of the rest of us for decades.
Yup. Ever since Theodore Roosevelt, that Commie.
11
I don't think TR was a commie, but he was a eugenicist.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/environmentalisms-racist-history
Those annoying conservationists, always trying to stop the destruction of America's land, air, and water.
8
Zinke is yet another typical narcissist/politician. Corruption comes easily. He panders to the wallets of backers who live in gated McMansions here in MT-a vast minority that is generally despised by most of us. Those people are not "Montanans" in our opinion regardless of claims of any birth right. In his egoism he thinks Montanans don't see the snake he is-but we do.
And by the way-what syncophant bureaucrat approved his planned trip without the cost and detailed purpose listed?? I hear lips puckering in that department! I worked for the Feds-we couldn't even GET training for basic skill sets because "there is no money". Another example of the layer upon layer of corruption.
13
Excellent reporting by Julie Turkewitz. She writes, "But as Mr. Trump’s chief public lands administrator, Mr. Zinke has favored the fossil fuel companies that have increasingly made up his donor base, overhauling restrictions on methane emissions, fast-tracking the oil-and-gas leasing process, and pushing to open nearly the entire outer continental shelf for energy development."
Mr. Zinke is apparently a weasel. Methane emmissions are really bad for life on the planet as we know and admire it. He dismantles environmental protections, everywhere but his own state of Montana, since he is deeply ambitious for more political career. He was for fighting climate change when Barack Obama was president. Working for this new administration, it is no longer an issue. Just another politician for purchase.
I just enjoyed the The Will Rogers Follies at the Goodspeed Opera House. David Lutken was fabulous, and quoted Will Rogers as saying, "I never met a man I didn't like." But then added, though some men are far more trying than others. Will Rogers made a lot of jokes at the expense of politicians of both major parties. Thinking of Zinke, the weasel described in this NYT piece, I would amend the statement. I never met a man I didn't like, unless he was a politician and practicing hypocrite and sycophant.
David Lindsay Jr. is the author of "The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth-century Vietnam," and blogs at TheTaySonRebellion.com and InconvenientNews.wordpress.com
5
If folks object to the rampant release and leasing of federal or state land for extraction of oil/gas then choose the option we all have to stop buying gasoline and stop flying all over the planet... If there were no demand then the drilling, pillage, pipelines, spills and pollution would stop. Not likely, true enough. We cannot even decide to use 1 gallon less gas every week which if you do the numbers would be significant.
2
It is too hard for the vast majority of Americans to go green because the alternatives are too expensive currently. This is due to our government's ties to fossil fuel industry money. Other countries' governments are helping their societies reduce reliance on fossil fuels which results in less costs to their nations overall. Making this problem one that society must fight our own government over is not only unhelpful, it is a bad long-term decision.
5
Hypocrite, was the first word that popped into my brain. And the second one is he should live in a state where the air and water quality are compromised because of his actions.
8
He needs to be sure he can still get re-elected when his trump stint is over.
5
Through out our lives we always hear through the media, stories of corruption from self serving politicians. So what Zinke is doing, is of course nothing new. What’s different now is both the magnitude of it and how blatantly it’s done. Trump has created a culture of corruption where there is no penalty nor repercussions to the behavior. In fact it seems to be the opposite. I know like many of you, I just can’t wait for this nightmare to end and we can take back decency and ethics. The silver lining is that every new corrupt act is probably about 1,000 New Democratic votes. I just hope the planet can hold out 3 more years.
5
For Ryan Zinke to compare himself to Theodore Roosevelt is akin to Donald Trump being compared to Marcus Aurelius.
6
When he leaves office, Zinke will likely limit his fly fishing and river rafting to Montana or abroad in Patagonia or New Zeland. The streams in the other fly fishing and rafting meccas will be polluted and trout-free due to his policies.
5
It looks like Secretary Zinke wants to at least keep the door open to possibly seeking statewide office in Montana again at some point. Don't forget that before his nomination to head the Dept. of the Interior, Zinke was widely expected to be the Republican nominee to face Senator Tester in this year's Senate race in Montana.
1
Zinke and Pruitt only care about money and power and do not care at all about the health of our planet and the importance of preserving our lands. Trump himself is dangerous but in bringing people (with the assistance of Republicans who confirmed them) like Zinke and Pruitt, he is completely destroying our planet irreparably.
9
Petitions, public comments, protests and proposed legislation come from the people. Why aren't you listening Sec Zinke? If you claim to be doing your job, seriously, you need to study the charts, graphs, evidence and the science of climate change. Will you believe NASA? https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Go ahead. Take a look. It may just shock you to your senses that depending upon and promoting fossil fuels with more oil and gas drilling leases means more drought, fires, less clean water, less snow, floods, extreme rise in ocean and air temperatures, and more loss of lives. Think about those facts while you are cruising down the river on your fly-fishing adventure.
4
This man and his buddy Scott are make me sick. I have spent a lifetime working to understand and protect our natural resources, and in 2 short years these men have taken us back to before Silent Spring.
6
And yet - someone voted this administration into office. I just hope we survive this experiment.
5
The hypocrisy continues- congratulations America on the government you elected, or by not voting - elected
2
Another Trump appointment who end up an enforced guest of the Federal Government. Zink in a Clink.
5
So, Zinke's next step is "being helpful to groom and advise the next generation of conservationists." God help us all. The thing about Zinke is, he might be something of a conservationist, at least left to himself, but he will sell whatever principles he has for power on a moment's notice, and then lie about it afterwards. When the going gets tough in the Trump White House, and the nation really needs a Teddy Roosevelt at Interior, Zinke is going to abduct that part of himself, drag it down into the deepest dungeon of his soul, and waterboard it until it confesses it loves coal.
89
Question: What are Zinke’s real estate interests in the state? What are his family land holdings? Who supports him? Given that the recent Republican tax scam favors real estate moguls I believe this is a fair line of inquiry. Given the Trump administration’s penchant for corruption I’d like answers.
99
In the past six years my wife and I have traveled 55000 miles in the west and desert south west. We camp and hike on public lands in our pickup camper.
In other words, we camp and hike on land that all Americans own, jointly, together. Perhaps the greatest shared owning of land in the world, and probably in history.
These lands need more protection, not less as Mr. Zinke is proposing.
We spent three weeks in parts of Bears Ears National Monument that Mr. Zinke wants to give to private developers. It is an astoundingly beautiful area, filled with Native American Historical sites. It needs the protection of being a National Monument.
And why? The best use of these lands is to cater to people like us---people who drive from their homes, spend money at grocery stores and gas stations, purchase supplies, rent recreational equipment, etc. In other words, instead of giving the land to private developers, use it to draw people for recreational purposes.
Here is one of our hikes in Bears Ears National Monument--it shows you what you own!
http://dan-lifeonwhidbeyisland.blogspot.com/2017/11/hiking-to-ancient-ru...
Get out, folks, visit our lands. Find and explore the site we showed you above. They are YOUR lands, and are under siege from the Trump administration and his hired guns like Mr. Zinke.
113
I will be in Utah's public lands this fall with my camera. Have to see the area before it is ruined!
3
Beautiful photos from your hike, Dan. Thanks for sharing.
1
“What bothers me about him is not so much his hypocrisy, it’s that he’s boldly ambitious and not guided by any reality-based principle,”
Hmm...an apt description of POTUS and most of his Cabinet. It's hard to rank them, but seems the only reason Zinke is (seems) slightly less overtly corrupt than Pruitt is his Presidential ambitions..
58
Not in my backyard-like his friend Tillerson on fracking :(
64