Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore
- Tell your senators to confirm a nominee who will act as a steward for our public lands, not an auctioneer for Big Oil.
- Read our full press release.
Today, Interior Secretary Zinke resigned from office, overwhelmed with scandals. Investigators at his own agency have also referred his case to the Justice Department, which means he could soon be facing criminal charges.
Confirming Zinke was a mistake from day one—and Congress needs to do better this time.
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We made sure everyone knew about his taxpayer-funded flights, his shady real-estate deals, and his unprecedented attempts to raid public lands for private profit. We also forced him to walk back some of his most extreme initiatives, like his plan to hike park entrance fees while cutting a popular outdoor program for third-graders.
But many of his disastrous policies will keep moving forward without him. David Bernhardt—the likely acting secretary, and the person who has helped Zinke every step along the way—is a former oil and gas lobbyist whose law firm sued the agency four times to challenge endangered species protections.
The Senate must not allow any more of our public lands and waters to be sacrificed to corporate polluters. Zinke’s successor must be someone who respects the mission of the Department of the Interior, so it can get to work fixing the damage Zinke has done. David Bernhardt, set to oversee the department now, is absolutely not that person.