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VICTORY: Ryan Zinke resigns as Interior Secretary
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10:22 AM (1 hour ago)
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Dear Peter,
Victory for the environment: Ryan Zinke resigns from the Department of the Interior after onslaught of scandals!
VICTORY! Ryan Zinke just stepped down as Secretary of the Interior, according to a tweet from Donald Trump. He will leave at the end of the year. This was largely thanks to people like you demanding he be held accountable for his corruption.
Every day Ryan Zinke was in office, he worked to destroy our public lands and waters -- with devastating impacts on our communities. He slashed protections for places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Bears Ears National Monument. And he did it all to help his fossil fuel industry friends.
The scandals surrounding Zinke have been building for months. The DOI Inspector General released a report showing that every time Zinke had a choice between benefiting taxpayers and himself, he chose himself. He even changed policies so taxpayers would cover travel for his wife, and wasted $25,000 on a romantic trip to Turkey with her.
His corruption was so severe that the DOI Inspector General referred an investigation to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution.
Friends of the Earth Action members like you spoke out on these scandals and made them impossible for Trump to ignore. Zinke resigned after you signed petitions, made phone calls, took to social media and took to the streets to demand that he be kicked out of the Department of Interior.
This shows that when people like you stand up to Trump and his Administration, you can make a difference. You can stop them from destroying our environment and endangering our communities.
Forcing Zinke out is a huge victory for people and the environment. Each day Zinke was Interior Secretary, he worked to advance his radical plan to slash national monuments, cut Indigenous communities out of the decision-making process, and ignore significant environmental, cultural, and scientific information. And he did it all in a mad dash to frack, mine and drill on America's public lands.
And until the scandals caught up to him, he was dangerously effective at it.
By kicking Zinke out of the Department of the Interior, you helped send a strong message that it’s unacceptable for our leaders to put the fossil fuel industry and other corporate interests ahead of people and the planet.
Trump is still trying to fill his government with corrupt extremists and climate deniers. Zinke’s likely replacement, David Bernhardt, is a walking conflict of interest. Before coming to Interior he was a high paid lobbyist representing the very industries that will profit from Trump’s plan to hand our public lands and waters over to polluters.
That’s why we’ll need you with us every step of the way as we work to stop these dangerous nominees and appointees. But Zinke’s ouster shows that when we all take action together, we win.
Thank you for helping build a better future for our country and our planet.
Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels program manager,
Friends of the Earth Action
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