Washington, D.C. – In response to the hearing today in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to consider the nomination of Rep. Ryan Zinke to be Secretary of the Interior, League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski issued the following statement:

“Ryan Zinke is part of Trump’s rigged cabinet that would cater to corporate special interests and Big Polluter profits over the interests of the public. Zinke has received an atrocious 3 percent score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard, he denies the science of climate change, and he supports continuing outrageous subsidies for dirty energy development on public lands. Those positions are out of step with the views of everyday families, but they align perfectly with the oil and gas companies that have contributed nearly $350,000 to his campaigns. While Rep. Zinke on occasion has broken with his party’s congressional leadership on conservation, there is little evidence that as Secretary of the Interior he would truly challenge their anti-parks agenda. Given his anti-environmental record, we urge senators to ask tough questions about how he would steward our national parks, manage endangered species so they don’t go extinct, and safeguard America’s majestic public lands from destruction and pollution at the hands of the dirty energy industry.”  

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