Tag: Ryan ZInke

Trump Administration Drops Florida From Offshore Drilling Plan

The following article by Hiroko Tabuchi was posted on the New York Times website January 9, 2019:

Gov. Rick Scott of Florida on Tuesday. “My top priority is to ensure that Florida’s natural resources are protected,” he said last week. Credit Hali Tauxe/Tallahassee Democrat, via Associated Press

The Trump administration said Tuesday it had ruled out drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Florida after strong opposition from the state’s Republican governor, Rick Scott.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke moved last week to allow new offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all United States coastal waters, opening more than a billion acres in the Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to potential leases. The decision prompted an outcry from Republican and Democratic governors alike on both coasts.

“I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,” Mr. Zinke said in a statement after meeting Governor Scott in Florida. “I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.” Continue reading “Trump Administration Drops Florida From Offshore Drilling Plan”

Trump’s offshore oil drilling plans ignore the lessons of BP Deepwater Horizon

The following article by Donald Boesch, Professor of Marine Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, was posted on the Conversation website January 5, 2018:

The Trump Administration is proposing to ease regulations that were adopted to make offshore oil and gas drilling operations safer after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. This event was the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven workers died in the explosion and sinking of the oil rig, and more than 4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists have estimated that the spill caused more than US$17 billion in damages to natural resources.

I served on the bipartisan National Commission that investigated the causes of this epic blowout. We spent six months assessing what went wrong on the Deepwater Horizon and the effectiveness of the spill response, conducting our own investigations and hearing testimony from dozens of expert witnesses. Continue reading “Trump’s offshore oil drilling plans ignore the lessons of BP Deepwater Horizon”

Trump Administration Abruptly Halts Offshore Drilling Safety Study

The following article by Mary Papenfuss was posted on the Huffington Post website December 22, 2017:

Findings were supposed to help prevent another Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The Trump administration has abruptly cut off funding for studying the safety of offshore drilling, halting a 21-month project to determine the best ways to avoid a repeat of 2010′s devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The study began last year and was supposed to review and update government regulators’ outdated offshore inspection programs to improve safety. Continue reading “Trump Administration Abruptly Halts Offshore Drilling Safety Study”

Interior reimbursed for Zinke Virgin Island fundraiser, but contributions unaccounted for

The following article by Ben LeFebvre was posted on the Politico website December 19, 2017:

The Virgin Islands Republican Party repaid on Oct. 5 the Interior Department $275 for expenses related to Secretary Ryan Zinke’s appearance, according to recent federal campaign finance filings. | Getty Images

Taxpayers have been reimbursed for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s participation in a political fundraiser last spring in the Virgin Islands — but questions remain about the donations he helped solicit, according to campaign finance records and interviews. Continue reading “Interior reimbursed for Zinke Virgin Island fundraiser, but contributions unaccounted for”

While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about taxes

The following article by A.P. Joyce was posted on the mic.com website December 18, 2017:

The news this week was dominated by the historic election of Doug Jonesin Alabama and the ongoing machinations to try to pass the Republican tax bill before the senator is sworn in.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been hard at work making consequential policy decisions that affect the U.S. and its relationship with the rest of the world.

Here’s what you might have missed: Continue reading “While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about taxes”

Zinke reprimanded park head after climate tweets

The following article by Timothy Cama was posted on the Hill website December 15, 2017:

© Getty Images

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke brought the leader of a California park to his office last month to reprimand him for climate change-related tweets the park had sent via Twitter, two sources close to the situation said.

Zinke did not take any formal disciplinary action against David Smith, superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park. And the tweets at issue weren’t deleted, because they didn’t violate National Park Service or Interior Department policies. Continue reading “Zinke reprimanded park head after climate tweets”

Trump is being sued to stop him from shrinking Bears Ears national monument by 85 percent. Who will win?

The following article by Todd A. Curry and Rebecca A. Reid was posted on the Washington Post website December 11, 2017:

The Moon House ruins in McLoyd Canyon, part of Bears Ears National Monument, near Blanding, Utah, is pictured in July 2016. President Trump made a rare move to shrink two large national monuments in Utah, including land that Native Americans consider sacred. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

On Thursday, President Trump announced that he would slash the size of Utah’s newest national monument, Bears Ears, shrinking by 85 percent land that President Barack Obama had declared protected in 2016. In response, five Indian tribes sued over Trump’s move in federal court. The tribes claim significant ancestral ties to this land and oversee the area in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management. They argue that although Congress delegated power to the president under the Antiquities Act to designate national monuments, it did not give the power to revoke them.

The Bears Ears suit follows several other tribal legal challenges this year against the federal government, including efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline and to improve health care on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. All of the tribes’ legal challenges this year have failed. That bodes poorly for the five tribes that have taken the Trump administration to court over Bears Ears. Continue reading “Trump is being sued to stop him from shrinking Bears Ears national monument by 85 percent. Who will win?”

Watchdog says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke failed to properly document travel

The following article by Lisa Rein and Drew Harwell as posted on the Washington Post website November 16, 2017:

Credit: Molly Riley/AP

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has failed to keep complete records — and in some cases kept none at all — of his travel since taking office, the agency’s watchdog told department officials this week, saying that management of Zinke’s travel was “deficient” and lacked oversight.

A rare alert sent by Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall to the secretary’s office Wednesday, obtained by The Washington Post, said her investigation into allegations of improper travel practices by Zinke has been stymied by “absent or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips.”

Interior lawyers and ethics officials also have not shown evidence to investigators that they have been able to “distinguish between personal, political and official travel” or cost-analysis documents to justify his choice of military or charter flights, Kendall wrote. Continue reading “Watchdog says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke failed to properly document travel”

Puerto Rico moves to cancel contract with Whitefish Energy to repair electric grid

The following article by Stephen Mufson, Arelis R. Hernández and Aaron C. Davis was posted on the Washington Post website October 29, 2017:

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló has called for the immediate cancellation of a $300 million contract with Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings, a tiny company based in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. (Reuters)

Puerto Rico’s electric company moved Sunday to cancel a $300 million contract with a small Montana firm for repairs to the territory’s hurricane-ravaged electrical grid, saying controversy surrounding the agreement was distracting from the effort to restore power.

The contract with Whitefish Energy — a firm that had just two employees the day the storm hit — had drawn blistering criticism from members of Congress for days. And on Friday the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has a large role in determining government reimbursements, said it had “significant concerns” about how the contract was secured. Continue reading “Puerto Rico moves to cancel contract with Whitefish Energy to repair electric grid”

Where’s Zinke? The interior secretary’s special flag offers clues.

The following article by Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website October 12, 2017:

The flag of the Interior Department’s deputy secretary, bottom, flew last week above the headquarters building in downtown Washington. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

At the Interior Department’s headquarters in downtown Washington, Secretary Ryan Zinke has revived an arcane military ritual that no one can remember ever happening in the federal government.

A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever Zinke enters the building. When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag — a blue banner emblazoned with the agency’s bison seal flanked by seven white stars representing the Interior bureaus — comes down.

In Zinke’s absence, the ritual is repeated to raise an equally obscure flag for Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt. Continue reading “Where’s Zinke? The interior secretary’s special flag offers clues.”