Washington, D.C. – In response to news reports that Trump is nominating Rep. Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski issued the following statement:

“By nominating Rep. Ryan Zinke for Secretary of the Interior, Trump is sending yet another message to Big Polluters that their profits will come first on our public lands. While Rep. Zinke on occasion has broken with his party’s congressional leadership on conservation, it remains to be seen whether as Secretary of the Interior he would truly challenge their anti-parks agenda.  His atrocious 3 percent score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard gives us little confidence that he will stand with the American people over polluters. Indeed, he is a climate denier who supports drilling in the Arctic and continuing outrageous subsidies for dirty energy development on public lands–positions that align with the oil and gas companies that have spent nearly $350,000 on his campaigns. The American people should be alarmed that someone with his anti-environmental record could be responsible for our national parks and wildlife refuges and could promote more dirty and dangerous drilling.

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