In this swamp monster update, Donald Trump is replacing one piece of shit to run the Department of the Interior with another.
Trump's last Interior Secretary resigned while facing 17 federal investigations.
"Zinke’s days of plundering our lands and enriching himself and his friends are over," said Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager for Friends of the Earth in statement. With an average of nearly one federal investigation opened into his conduct in office per month, Zinke’s highly questionable ethics have finally caught up with him. Now, he is just another name on Trump’s list of disgraced cabinet officials, which the Republican-led Congress has failed to hold accountable."
But Nicole Ghio is now warning that the person Trump has chosen to replace Ryan Zinke is a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry, David Bernhardt.
Ghio's statement on David Bernhardt:
Bernhardt’s history of lobbying for special interests, and his deep ties to fossil fuel companies, make him a walking conflict of interest. As the new Congress comes into session, Democrats must dig into the corruption at Trump’s Interior Department that exploits our lands and waters for the benefit of corporate profits instead of the American people.
Greenpeace USA Climate Campaigner Vicky Wyatt too raised concerns, stating that Bernhardt makes Zinke look like "a tree-hugging environmentalist."
Wyatt's statement:
The ethical questions surrounding David Bernhardt and his commitment to pandering to oil, coal, and gas executives make former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke look like a tree-hugging environmentalist in comparison. And Ryan Zinke was a disaster. We already let Bernhardt do enough damage to our federal lands and waters as deputy secretary – we have to stop him before he destroys some of this country’s best ideas including the Endangered Species Act. Our new leaders in Congress can demonstrate respect for our country’s most unique natural treasures by not only holding both Zinke and Bernhardt accountable for possible ethical violations, but by only confirming an Interior Secretary who wishes to strengthen and protect public lands and waters, not destroy them for corporate gain.
Public Citizen has pointed out that Donald Trump's decision to have someone like Bernhardt is par for the course for the kind of people you'll find "In the Trump swamp":
The corruption is so blatant and highlights how broken this system is, and shows just how much work we have to do in order to fix it.....
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