Trump’s new Interior Secretary voted to defund Planned Parenthood five times

Zinke is an ex-Navy SEAL commander and received two Bronze Stars for combat missions in Iraq.

Zinke and Trump met in Trump Tower in NY on December 12.

While calling for the conservation of public lands, Zinke has also advocated for fossil fuel development, including the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, as a way to lessen US dependence on foreign oil.

Considering Zinke’s history on climate and his defending fossil fuel interests, “it is likely that we will be facing an uphill battle”, Campbell said.

The Department of the Interior manages public lands and national parks, and oversees conservation practices, among other duties. “When a Department of Interior Secretary is chosen, Americans expect that person to be a caretaker for and understand the responsibility they have in managing 650 million acres of our awesome public lands”, he added.

In an interview Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Zinke talked at length about his support for Trump’s nomination of retired Gen. James Mattis to be defense secretary, calling him the right man for the job.

As interior secretary, the 55-year-old Zinke would be in a key position to shape policy on hotly contested environmental issues. Mr. Salazar was replaced by Sally Jewell, the former CEO of Washington-based outdoor company REI.

In many ways, Zinke is an unlikely pick for Interior.

“I’m starting to wonder how many times I have to tell these guys in leadership I’m not going to allow Montana’s public lands to be sold or given away”, Zinke said.

“The big joke at Christmas this year was the only job in government that I would want is with the Department of Interior”, he told outdoors publication Wide Open Spaces in November. He contrasts Zinke with the choice of former Texas Governor Rick Perry as energy secretary and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams said that Zinke’s tenure has shown some positive signs but there are “serious concerns” about his backing of logging, drilling and mining on federal lands.

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It’s the Republican party’s official policy to steal 640 million acres of public land from the American people.

Eric Trump campaigns with his father, republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump in Biloxi, Mississippi. “It seems abundantly clear which path President-elect Trump would prefer he take”, said Bradley Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation.

Trump has offered the Whitefish Republican the cabinet post, but it is unclear whether Zinke has accepted it. A national movement to transfer federal public land ownership to the states has effectively become the default position for the GOP and was endorsed in the party platform this summer.

Under Mr. Zinke, oil-and-gas groups will expect an Interior Department that’s much more favorable to fossil fuels.

Trump on Thursday officially announced his selection of Zinke, saying in a statement that the nominee “has built one of the strongest track records on championing regulatory relief, forest management, responsible energy development and public land issues”.