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Zinke Talks Climate Change, Trust At Confirmation Hearing

Rep. Ryan Zinke at his Interior Secretary confirmation hearing Tuesday
CSPAN
Rep. Ryan Zinke at his Interior Secretary confirmation hearing Tuesday

"It is an honor to appear before this esteemed Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources," Congressman Ryan Zinke said Tuesday, kicking off nearly four hours of testimony at his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Interior in the Donald Trump administration.

He answered questions from Democratic and Republican senators, and had this exchange with Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders:

Sanders: President-elect Trump has stated in his view that climate change is a, "hoax." Is President-elect Trump right? Is climate change a hoax? 

Zinke: The best answer is three things; first of all, the climate is changing, that's undisputable. I'm from Glacier National Park...

Sanders: You don't have any more glaciers there, huh? 

Zinke: I've seen glaciers over the period of my time recede. As a matter of fact,  when my family and I have eaten lunch on Grinnell Glacier, the glacier has receded during lunch. 

Sanders: Alright, but, if you could, is the President-elect right? Is climate change a hoax? 

Zinke: I'll make it short. The second thing is, man has  had an influence. I think that's undisputable as well. So, climate's changing, man is an influence. I think where there's debate on it is what that influence is? What can we do about it. And as (Secretary of) the Department of Interior, I will inherit, if confirmed, the USGS (US Geological Survey). We have great scientists there. I'm not a climate scientist expert, but I can tell you, I will become a lot more familiar with it, and it'll be based on objective science. I don't believe it's a hoax. 

Sanders: You do not believe it's a hoax? 

Zinke: No. I believe we should be prudent to be prudent. That means, I don't know definitively. There's a lot of debate on both sides of the aisle...

Sanders: Well, actually there's not a whole lot of debate now. The scientific community is virtually unanimous that climate change is real, and causing devastating problems. There is debate on this committee, but not in the scientific community. 

Zinke was asked about a vote earlier this monththat his critics say indicates that he might favor transferring federal public lands to the states. That vote was on a larger package of US House rules, and included a provision to change accounting practices so that federal-to-state land transfers would show no decrease in federal revenue, even if federal lands bring in revenue.

He was asked about that vote by Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander.

Zinke: One of the reasons why people want to sell or transfer public land is because there’s no trust, because they feel like they don't have a voice. They feel like they don't matter, and they should matter.

Alexander: Congressman, if  that rule wasn't part of a bigger package, if it stood alone, would you support it? 

Zinke: I would not. I think I voted 17 times against either transfer or sale of public land, or in favor of LWCF. 

LWCF is the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses revenue from federal energy development leases to protect public lands.

Congressman Zinke several times invoked the name of Theodore Roosevelt as a model for himself when it comes to conservation and public lands ethics. 

"I think we have to be bold," Zinke said, "and look at what Department of Interior should look like a hundred years from now, to better manage the problems that we have coming, and there’s a lot of problems. We need to make sure what we're doing is appropriate. We need to make sure (there is) clean air, clean water, those type of things. Again, so my daughter's children look back and say we did it right. I think that has to be a goal that we all share." 

Zinke said he thinks some public lands should be managed with a wilderness ethic modeled on the philosophies of John Muir, and that others should be managed for multiple use and to emphasize the production of natural resources like timber, coal and other fossil fuels, on the model of Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the U-S Forest Service.

Zinke also pledged to be a friend of Native Americans. The Interior Department oversees the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

And he said he would tackle an estimated $12 billion backlog in maintenance and repair at national parks, saying parks and other public lands should be a key part of Trump's infrastructure improvement plan.

Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, the top Democrat on the energy panel, asked Zinke about modernizing the federal coal program, saying it was important "to make sure American taxpayers aren't short-changed for the benefit of corporate interests."

Zinke promised to review the coal program and said he thinks taxpayers, "should always get fair value," whether it's coal, wind power or other energy sources.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee adjourned the hearing without voting on Congressman Zinke’s confirmation, but they are expected to recommend confirmation to the Senate as a whole. The full Senate is expected to confirm Zinke, there is no set timeline for doing so.

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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