Virginia Cramer, (804) 519-89449, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to confirm Rep. Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Governor Rick Perry as the Secretary of the Department of Energy.
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:
“Senate Republicans are rushing to approve Trump’s dangerous Cabinet picks, but the American people deserve better from our public officials overseeing shared public lands and energy.
“In his confirmation hearing, Rep. Zinke noted that his number one issue was restoring trust. We agree that trust is vitally important -- but no one should trust Zinke’s stewardship of our public lands. For more than a century our country’s parks, monuments, and other public lands have been held in public trust for ‘we, the people.’ Rep. Zinke’s nomination to lead our Department of Interior, however, threatens that tradition of stewardship because of his record of putting the profits of corporate polluters before people and places.
“Perry’s clear financial interests in major energy projects like the Dakota Access pipeline make it hard for anyone to trust that he will manage the Department of Energy’s activities impartially. His ideological obsession with promoting dirty fossil fuels and ignoring the climate crisis proves he won’t run the agency with ‘we, the people’ in mind, but with the interests of corporate polluters at the top of his agenda.
“Americans didn’t vote for more fossil fuels, more drilling and fracking, more pollution, and more threats to our public lands, but that’s what we’re getting with Zinke, Perry, and Trump. The majority of Americans want more clean energy, and they want our public lands protected for future generations to enjoy. Perry and Zinke’s ties to the fossil fuel industry undermine any trust in their ability to put the interests of the country before those of corporate polluters.”
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