He was horrible as Secretary of the Interior during Trump 1.0. I know because I worked for USFWS during his tenure. The budget cuts were outrageous and he certainly didn’t have any clue how to manage natural resource agencies under DOI. He opened up so much federal land to oil and gas exploration, and was a complete incompetent secretary because he had zero government experience. He just spent all of his time cozying up to the oil and gas industry. He was absolutely useless when it came to conservation. One of the first things he did was kill a bill that would replace lead in bullets. Conservationists had been working on this for so long, and it would finally stop lead from getting into the environment. But no, he killed it. He is no conservationist, he’s a fraud who never earned his position as Secretary of the Interior.
Rinella and TRCP’s penchant for platforming some of the worst people (Zinke, Tucker Carlson, Sheehy) for conservation work recognition as a supposed relations tactic doesn’t produce enough fruit to warrant the damage it causes.
That was a rad piece. I remember well the trash that was Z's thankfully short lived SoL term. Btw, is there a 'T' missing in headline, s/b 'trolling'?
Jc, as tRump wages war on free speech, attacking the principle on (I'm estimating) dozens of fronts, do you ever get concerned for your journalistic freedom or personal safety? It's a shame that Q would even occur to me or anyone but these are very crazy days.
Thanks for the information. I have been informing my friends and family that they are planning to authorize the sale of public lands to pay for the tax cuts. I urge everyone to contact their Senators and Representative and tell them you oppose the sale of public lands.
Thank you for all the details. I knew some, but not all of these. I have naturally thought about Teddy Roosevelt a lot lately, and we all know he’d be as horrified as we are by what’s happening.
That Ff314:info was interesting . Reminds me a bit of my old service awards, but no bronze, silver or even purple heart for me.
But the conservation award going to Zinke! What the heck! ZINKE!?? TRs not only rolling, he's spinning like a centrifuge. Ole' Z is as corrupt as they come and never saw a critter he didn't want to kill and eat whether it be on land air or water, except maybe cars, planes, and speed boats. What was that committee thinking of?
Again, just more greenwashing. Zinke can shout all he wants about it, safe the knowledge that it'll still pass without his vote. As described at length above.
Zinke created a racket for wild horse helicopter contractors. A major amount of cruelty went on during his time at Bureau of Land Management. He woukd not ho for using the dart injected fertility drug PZP. He's a very cruel & lying jackass.
Thank you for spotlighting the truth, it is in short supply right now.
Thanks for the information; I wondered if he had really become a conservationist and appreciate your work to confirm my suspicions.
Thank you for this info. I remember Zinke from awhile back but had no idea how really awful he is.
He was horrible as Secretary of the Interior during Trump 1.0. I know because I worked for USFWS during his tenure. The budget cuts were outrageous and he certainly didn’t have any clue how to manage natural resource agencies under DOI. He opened up so much federal land to oil and gas exploration, and was a complete incompetent secretary because he had zero government experience. He just spent all of his time cozying up to the oil and gas industry. He was absolutely useless when it came to conservation. One of the first things he did was kill a bill that would replace lead in bullets. Conservationists had been working on this for so long, and it would finally stop lead from getting into the environment. But no, he killed it. He is no conservationist, he’s a fraud who never earned his position as Secretary of the Interior.
Top notch stuff.
Rinella and TRCP’s penchant for platforming some of the worst people (Zinke, Tucker Carlson, Sheehy) for conservation work recognition as a supposed relations tactic doesn’t produce enough fruit to warrant the damage it causes.
DD 214 that is. Fat fingers here
That was a rad piece. I remember well the trash that was Z's thankfully short lived SoL term. Btw, is there a 'T' missing in headline, s/b 'trolling'?
Jc, as tRump wages war on free speech, attacking the principle on (I'm estimating) dozens of fronts, do you ever get concerned for your journalistic freedom or personal safety? It's a shame that Q would even occur to me or anyone but these are very crazy days.
I ask that Q given the scathing nature of this (excellent) piece.
Doh! No 'T' needed.
Thanks for the information. I have been informing my friends and family that they are planning to authorize the sale of public lands to pay for the tax cuts. I urge everyone to contact their Senators and Representative and tell them you oppose the sale of public lands.
Thank you for all the details. I knew some, but not all of these. I have naturally thought about Teddy Roosevelt a lot lately, and we all know he’d be as horrified as we are by what’s happening.
That Ff314:info was interesting . Reminds me a bit of my old service awards, but no bronze, silver or even purple heart for me.
But the conservation award going to Zinke! What the heck! ZINKE!?? TRs not only rolling, he's spinning like a centrifuge. Ole' Z is as corrupt as they come and never saw a critter he didn't want to kill and eat whether it be on land air or water, except maybe cars, planes, and speed boats. What was that committee thinking of?
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/05/07/congress/zinke-wants-public-land-sales-out-of-republican-megabill-00333229
Again, just more greenwashing. Zinke can shout all he wants about it, safe the knowledge that it'll still pass without his vote. As described at length above.
This is absurd
Zinke created a racket for wild horse helicopter contractors. A major amount of cruelty went on during his time at Bureau of Land Management. He woukd not ho for using the dart injected fertility drug PZP. He's a very cruel & lying jackass.
For more information: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-with-jon-tester-maritsa-georgiou/id1795326867?i=1000703889990
here's some original reporting around the issue: https://wessiler.substack.com/
Thank you
No problem. I don't think you'll find better reporting around this topic anywhere than you'll find right here. This is what I do.