The Lobbying Swamp Flourishes In Trump’s Washington
Reprinted with permission from ProPublica. It’s been more than two years since President Donald Trump, who rallied campaign supporters with calls to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and their ilk, took office. But despite that campaign promise, Washington influence peddlers continue to move into and out of jobs in the federal government. In his first […]
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Quits Under White House Pressure
Said one environmental leader, “Ryan Zinke will go down as the most anti-conservation Interior secretary in our nation’s history.”
Interior Nominee Zinke Would Review Obama’s Limits On Oil Drilling
As a first-term congressman, Zinke pushed to end the coal-lease moratorium, saying it had resulted in closed mines and job cuts, and he introduced a bill expanding tax credits for coal-burning power plants that bury carbon dioxide emissions underground.
Unlike Trump, Americans Want Strong Environmental Regulator
According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, just over 60 percent of Americans think it would be wrong to weaken wildlife protections and air and water regulations to bolster the energy industry. The poll also showed that 39 percent of Americans want to see a decrease in coal mining and oil drilling on U.S. federal lands in the coming years.
5 Trump Abominations This Week
The week began with his appointment of Exxon chief Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, continued with wild dissembling about Russia’s hacks on his behalf and ended with him calling his own supporters “vicious and nasty.”
Interior Pick Rep. Zinke Connected To White Nationalists In Montana
Rep. Zinke made news in 2014 when he accepted a $500 donation from Earl Holt, head of the Council of Conservative Citizens, whose writings about “brutal black on white murders” inspired Dylann Roof, who gunned down nine black worshipers the following year in a Charleston, South Carolina, church.