National

 

Trump vets Interior candidates who don’t share his vow to keep federal lands intact. “President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to keep federal lands in federal hands, is now considering candidates for Interior secretary who have advocated transferring vast swaths of federal property to states, and even to private interests. These include U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, who met with White House officials Saturday about the job, and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who has left open the possibility he’d take a Cabinet position with Trump. Both Republicans will be jobless at the end of the month, after Heller lost his Senate re-election bid and Labrador lost the GOP primary for Idaho governor.” [McClatchyDC, 12/18/17 (=)]

Sources: White House, Zinke met on offshore oil and gas expansion. “The Trump administration is putting the finishing touches on a plan to open up parts of the Atlantic Coast and potentially portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas exploration, according to industry sources with knowledge of the discussions. President Donald Trump met with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday to discuss some of the more contentious topics that will be part of the five-year offshore leasing plan, which the sources expect the Interior Department to announce in January. The plan, which would run through 2024, is considered a significant component of Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda to develop federal energy resources.” [Politico Pro, 12/18/18 (=)]

What will Zinke do with the rest of his life? “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will enter uncertain career territory when he leaves his $196,700-a-year job in President Trump’s Cabinet. Once a rising star in Montana politics, the 57-year-old former Navy SEAL has already declared he won’t run for governor in 2020. The state’s next U.S. Senate election, also in 2020, is for a seat currently held by a fellow Republican, Sen. Steve Daines. Returning to the House seat he left for the Interior post appears an unlikely option in the current political configuration, too, as the state’s sole congressman is a Republican, Rep. Greg Gianforte.” [E&E News, 12/18/18 (=)]

 

As Zinke says his goodbyes, department sails on. “As Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt prepares to temporarily take over the department’s tiller on Jan. 2, the man he’s replacing is going about the tough job of surrendering command. In what one Interior official described as a ‘very emotional’ session punctuated by two standing ovations, outgoing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke yesterday delivered what amounted to a farewell address to the department’s political appointees. Zinke told his fellow Trump administration loyalists, some of them Senate-confirmed and others holding lower ranks, that stepping down was ‘one of the most difficult decisions’ he’s had to make, this official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.” [E&E News, 12/18/18 (=)]

There's 'a lot' for Zinke's replacement to do. “The next person to helm the Interior Department might find it hard to change course. Ryan Zinke spent his 21 months as Interior secretary setting in motion major policies sought by the energy industry and Western Republicans. His successor will take office as rulemaking winds down, litigation heats up and Democratic oversight gets started — circumstances that could keep the new boss fighting old battles started by an outspoken Navy SEAL.” [E&E News, 12/19/18 (=)]

 

Zinke Is Gone—but America’s Wilderness Remains in Grave Danger. “Among other things, Zinke was regarded by his many critics as hopelessly unethical. Zinke had a tendency, for instance, to use the trappings of power to promote his image and his interests. He spent $130,000 in public money to replace the doors in his office. He commissioned official coins with his name on them. He chartered private planes for his travel. He was exceedingly cozy with oil-and-gas groups, corporate lobbyists, and conservative activists, crisscrossing the country at the public’s expense to speak to them. And he was involved in a dubious Montana real-estate deal with the chairman of Halliburton, the enormous oil-services firm that has benefited mightily from the environmental rollbacks undertaken by Zinke’s Interior Department.” [Nation, 12/18/18 (+)]

 

Feds ask to scrap 'meritless' royalty panel lawsuit. “Attorneys for the Interior Department this week asked a federal judge to throw out a challenge to outgoing Secretary Ryan Zinke's royalty advisory committee. The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), a farming and ranching coalition, this summer sued Interior to require greater transparency from its Royalty Policy Committee (RPC). The group last month asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana to stop the committee from meeting while a judge considers the case (Energywire, Nov. 30).” [E&E News, 12/19/18 (=)]

Utah Dem eschews left but vows defense of public lands. “Utah Democrat Ben McAdams beat Republican incumbent Mia Love by fewer than 700 votes in one of the last House elections decided last month. As the member who will represent the most conservative congressional district to elect a Democrat in 2018, McAdams is no stranger to his party's leadership. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) asked the soon-to-be-freshman lawmaker to second his nomination as the chamber's next majority leader during the Democratic caucus vote in November.” [E&E News, 12/19/18 (=)]

If the government shuts down Friday, national parks in Utah and elsewhere may stay open. “Absent some last-minute deal, parts of the federal government will shut down Friday night, shuttering many government services until Congress can pass — and President Donald Trump signs — a new budget. But unlike the 16-day government shutdown in 2013, when national parks and monuments were locked and closed off, the Interior Department has a contingency plan to keep the parks open to tourists, though the public treasures will be unstaffed. National park closures became one of the most viral narratives in the last extended shutdown, when President Barack Obama’s administration ordered facilities closed and erected fences around Washington’s iconic monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial.” [Salt Lake Tribune, 12/18/18 (=)]

 

State and Local

 

Sen. Michael Bennet wants San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act included in year-end public lands package. “Sen. Michael Bennet earlier this year took up the baton in a long effort to secure federal protection for 61,000 acres of wilderness in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. On Tuesday, the Democrat pleaded his case to Senate leadership as to why his San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act bill should be included in a year-end public lands deal now being considered.” [Denver Post, 12/18/18 (+)]

‘Really a disappointment’: Colonial farm in Northern Virginia to close Friday after rejecting agreement. “A Colonial-style farm in Northern Virginia is slated to close Friday after a years-long dispute with the National Park Service, which sought more control over the living-history museum that operated for decades on federal land. Barring a last-ditch agreement, Claude Moore Colonial Farm will vacate 77 wooded acres in McLean that it has called home since 1973. The closure follows a public squabble with the Park Service over the farm’s funding and a 2015 report that questioned the farm’s financial relationships with private contractors.” [Washington Post, 12/18/18 (=)]

What will happen to Florida’s supposed off-shore drilling ban with Ryan Zinke gone? “The future of Florida's promised exemption from President Donald Trump's offshore drilling plans is more doubtful after the head of the federal department in charge of natural resources has quit. Nearly a year ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke told Gov. Rick Scott that any new plans to expand offshore drilling wouldn't include Florida, giving the Republican an environmental victory just before he launched his Senate campaign.” [Tampa Bay Times, 12/18/18 (=)]

Could Jeff Denham go from election loss to Trump’s cabinet? “Outgoing Rep. Jeff Denham’s next job could be in President Donald Trump’s cabinet. The White House and various other leaders have approached Denham, R-Turlock, as a potential candidate to succeed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, said Bret Manley, Denham’s chief of staff.” [Modesto Bee, 12/18/18 (=)]

 

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

 

Op-Ed: Undoing the damage Pruitt and Zinke did to our environment. “Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke seemingly handed the EPA and DOI over to corporate polluters. They debased these agencies and endangered public health. Americans are relying on the Democrats to stand up, stop these destructive actions and protect people and the planet.” [The Hill, 12/18/18 (+)]

 

Op-Ed: Ryan Zinke is leaving — but the Interior Department still needs a full housecleaning. “But the work of cleaning up and fixing the department is only beginning. To get to the bottom of the problems that Zinke is leaving behind, the Justice Department, the inspector general and the new leadership of the House committees and subcommittees with Interior oversight should work aggressively to determine how deep the corruption goes. It is also vital for the president to immediately nominate a new secretary — one committed to the public interest and beholden to no special interests. She or he should bring in an entirely new leadership team that will rededicate the Interior Department to honoring America’s promise to tribal nations, respecting science and protecting the country’s lands and waters.” [Washington Post, 12/18/18 (+)]

Op-Ed: Only Good Management Can Prevent Forest Fires. “Pundits and politicians have taken to calling the rising incidence of catastrophic wildfire “the new normal.” But California’s experience in the 21st century is neither new nor abnormal. It is, in fact, the old normal. The devastation unfolding today is how nature manages forests.” [Wall Street Journal, 12/17/18 (-)]

 

Editorial: Zinke’s Interior time runs out. “In a January 2017 guest opinion printed in The Gazette, Zinke outlined a great vision as he awaited confirmation to the Interior post: ‘Upfront, I am an unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt and believe he had it right when he placed under federal protection millions of acres of federal lands and set aside much of it as National Forests. Today, much of those lands provide American’s the opportunity to hike, fish, camp, recreate and enjoy the great outdoors. It was on those lands that my father taught me to fish and hunt and the Boy Scouts taught me the principles of environmental stewardship and the importance of public assets. ‘It is also these lands that many communities, like Whitefish, the town I grew up in, rely on to harvest timber, mine, and to provide our nation with energy.’ If only Zinke had been able to provide the ‘humble,’ balanced leadership he described before he took the helm at Interior.” [Billings Gazette, 12/18/18 (+)]