Trump Chooses Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to Lead Interior
Former Navy SEAL commander does not get along too well with environmentalists.
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke as his Secretary of the Interior. The former U.S. Navy SEAL commander has often found himself at odds with environmentalists, which means he could possibly “reverse environmental policies the Obama administration has pursued over the past eight years.” The Washington Post reported:
Zinke recently criticized an Interior Department rule aimed at curbing inadvertent releases of methane from oil and gas operations on federal land as “duplicative and unnecessary.”
“Clean air and clean water are absolute top priorities when we talk about responsible energy development, however the final rule issued by the Obama administration does nothing to further protect our resources,” he said in a statement. “This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”
However, he has regularly opposed selling federal lands to the states, which is the same position as Trump:
“The federal government needs to do a much better job of managing our resources, but the sale or transfer of our land is an extreme proposal and I won’t tolerate it,” Mr. Zinke said at a June congressional hearing.
Zinke resigned his position as a “delegate to the RNC this summer because the party platform included language calling for the sale of public land.” Politico reports the times he has broken with Republicans and sided with Democrats:
He’s also partnered with Democrats on conservation issues: In October 2015 he was the only Republican to support a Democratic amendment to permanently authorize the so-called Land and Water Conservation Fund. He’s also received praise from conservation groups, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Teddy Roosevelt Conservancy Partnership, Friends of the East Rosebud and the Outdoor Industry Association.
Zinke would like a “prudent” approach to climate change “that does not do too much damage to the coal industry.” This makes sense since “Montana is the sixth-largest coal-producing state in the nation:”
“You know, if you go up to Glacier Park and you have your lunch on one of the glaciers, you will see the glacier recede while you eat lunch. So you know I have seen the change in my lifetime,” Zinke told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle last year, although he questioned the extent to which carbon emissions were to blame.
“So something’s going on, and so I think you need to be prudent. It doesn’t mean I think you need to be destructive on fossil fuels, but I think you need to be prudent and you need to invest in all-the-above energy,” he added. Zinke touted natural gas as the “easiest path forward,” but also boasted that Montana coal was cleaner than varieties mined in other countries and promoted coal exports.
Zinke has supported Trump since early in the primary and appeared with him on the campaign trail. His wife Lola works on the “transition team dealing with veterans issues.”
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I want to like this guy, but:
He’s carrying copies of his self-serving book so that it can be seen by all and included in any photos that happen to be taken, to ensure people knew he was a Navy Seal? Or is he just trying to juice sales?
People in Montana tell me that he is forever talking about having been a Seal.
Seems bush-league to me.
I am mildly ashamed to admit that I cannot name the current Sec of the Interior, nor can I name any that went before. I’ve never heard of Zinke till now. So, perfect match.
Another BIG GOVERNMENT enviro-wuss.
He’s also kind of an idiot. Keystone has ought to do with “flaring natural gas”.
“This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”
I don’t think he literally meant the keystone pipeline would reduce flaring, just investment in infrastructure (gas pipelines) which does reduce it.
Gas gathering just develops as a play develops. There’s no need for anyone in the public sector to “invest in infrastructure” because it just happens, due to market forces. Nobody flares off gas that can be marketed, and the gathering plant gets built very soon after wells are completed. You only flare off gas from a “gas-drive” well that’s producing oil very early in its life-cycle. You don’t want to shut in a producing well if you don’t have to, because they can be finicky and will never produce the volumes they were producing again after a shut-in. Also…$$$
The guy is a boob: Zinke would like a “prudent” approach to climate change “that does not do too much damage to the coal industry.”
So… Just enough damage?
Flaring gas has been an issue in the North Dakota fields, which is why it’s on his radar. The real problem is that the Bakken formation in N. D. has been developed so quickly and is producing so much is that there has been a huge delay in building pipelines that could carry the gas to market. Oil can be gathered and trucked, but gas has to have a pipeline. There are some, but their need to be more.
The high production Bakken wells typically produce large amounts of oil and gas combined. When oil prices was high, it was profitable to produce the oil and just flare off the gas as waste. In 2015, the last year for which data is available, about 25% of all the gas produced in N.D. was flared off as waste. (and that was a lot of natural gas that was just thrown away)
However, the State of N.D. has addressed this, showing (at least in my opinion) that the States are just as capable of dealing with production issues as the feds are, and they often do it better. The law now is that operators have a 1 year window after well completion in which they can flare off as much gas as they wish, but after that 1 year window any co-produced gas has got to be directed into a pipeline, or the well must be shut in. Gas flare rates appear to be dropping significantly in response to this, and I would rate this as a problem that has been solved.
…or a year after completion is adequate time to connect to a gathering system.
This is simply the process of developing a play to maturity. You’ll see it repeated all over the world.
Not to argue your point about how infrastructure is developed, or when, expansion of production in ND meant they were flaring about 1/3 of the gas production due to the pipelines not being available. This has gone down as infrastructure has been put in place.
Idiot or not, this is what I think he was referencing.
“This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”
So, what’s this “we” stuff, BIG GOVERNMENT man?
Remember, Rags’ preferred candidate defined tax cuts as “investments”, so getting government out of the way an thereby lowering development costs counts as investment to him.
Remember that you are a lying sack of filth, and that MY preferred candidate was considered too conservative by T-rump cultists.
“So, what’s this “we” stuff, BIG GOVERNMENT man?”
“We” often fund infrastructure investment for common use. I doubt you can get a pipeline over 10 miles without some government involvement.
You can scream “BIG GOVERNMENT man” all you want. You will not change the nature of things in this country overnight and neither would any of the people you voted for in the past, McCain, Romney, Dole, or Bush(2). In fact the Bush’s you already voted for had 12 total years to do it and did nothing, zero, nada, zip.
So preach to someone else. Your votes had nothing to do with small(er) government.
Trump has picked people that are very capable of making a dent in the big government era. It’s a start. It remains to be seen what will happen. The enemy of good enough is perfect, and the name of that is Rags. But only when it involves a Trump. You are just fine with advancing “BIG GOVERNMENT” if it involves a Bush.
Feeewwings, nothing more than feewwings.
Your tears are delicious.
That isn’t a cheek you’re licking, and those are not tears.
“He’s also kind of an idiot.”
“Zinke played college football at the University of Oregon and earned a bachelor’s degree in geology. He also has an MBA and MS. He was a Navy SEAL from 1986 until 2008, and retired with the rank of Commander.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Zinke
We need more “idiots” like Zinke and far fewer like Rags.
You must have LUUUURRRRRVED Jimmah Caaaarta, Annapolis grad, serving service warfare officer, and literal nuclear engineer.
Rags never made the thumpingly stupid observation that he could watch a glacier recede during lunch, doesn’t palliate gorebal climate thingy with “not doing too much damage to the coal industry”, and has never been awarded any kind of award by green wienies.
Rags also strongly advocates returning Western lands to the states and people who rightfully own them.
Rags is the kind of “idiot” who wants you to govern yourself to the maximum extent possible. Just the opposite of your Great God Cheeto. Who you slavishly suck.
“Rags is the kind of “idiot” who wants you to govern yourself to the maximum extent possible.”
Then, why did you vote for Bush and Romney? Cat got your tongue?
No. I despise Carter, the now 2nd worst president.
“and literal nuclear engineer” Nope, no he wasn’t.
Like I say, due to the TDS you suffer, only perfect people are now acceptable. Of course, Cruz is no longer perfect. So where you going now?
Just to be clear, 90+% of your “goals” for the way we govern are the same as mine. It’s probably 99% excepting some of the social BS. However, we will not get their overnight as we are too far down the slippery slope. Reality can be a tough nut. You start by defeating the lefts handmaidens, the GOPe. Then you work on the edges rolling back what can be rolled back. You get people working again with a future worth fighting for. They will then support further rollbacks of the socialist state.
You ride the horse going in the proper direction with a chance of winning. Sometimes the faster horse is going to be a loser at the end. Don’t ride that horse. Sometimes you just have to suck it up, ride the best horse and take what you can get, while waiting for a better horse to come along.
We have a horse going in the proper direction from all evidence available. Your intent is to cripple that horse because your first choice failed. It’s all personal with you. You lost sight of the larger picture a long time ago.
The Seals do not suffer idiots for 22 years, nor elevate them to commander positions.
1. you’re typically full of shit, and
2. you should read Chris Kyle’s book and several others; SEALS can be idiots just like any other population of humans, like this one, BASED ON HIS OWN WORDS.
You and I agree on almost nothing.
Yes, we agree on nothing. I said the “goals”.
So is Chris Kyle the last word? No. I stand by what I said, 22 years as a SEAL is reasonable proof you are not an idiot. Along with the degree in geology, the MS, and MBA that you always brag about.
He may have a position you don’t like, but that is not even remotely “idiocy”.
You prove every day that you are. TDS.
Let me remind of you Ragspierre’s theory of voluntary idiocy…
which you personify…
Any person of average or above native intelligence can elect to be an idiot by embracing “magic thinking”.
Zinke, by his own pronouncements, is an idiot, and dangerous one. He is cool with the imposition of government power to “save the glaciers”…if it isn’t too hard on the coal industry. But right up to what he considers that point is cool.
You’re a lying POS. But you should read up on SEALS. See Jesse Ventura. Obviously your kinda guy. Suck on that T-rump, cultist.
I can only name one previous SecInt. James Watt (and that’s only because the Left threw such a fit over him)
Bruce Babbitt, against whom the good Judge Lamberth struggled in vain for so long, whose brazen lawlessness eventually drove the judge to develop a clear prejudice against them, causing his removal from the case.
He was on the SOFREP podcast on 11/29. Good episode. This guy is definitely red meat to Trump’s base.
you will see the glacier recede while you eat lunch.
Huh?
“you will see the glacier recede while you eat lunch.
Huh?” Yeah seriously.
Here’s one: You can sit under the windmills above Maalea, Maui and watch the birds getting slaughtered while you eat lunch.
Glaciers have been forming and receding since before mankind. Windmills have been slaughtering birds BECAUSE of mankind. What kind of asinine observation is that vis-a-vis thinking we can do anything to stop the glacier from receding other than erecting a massive superstructure to encapsulate the glacier, reflect solar radiation and hooking up a massive air cooling system. Not that I’m saying that would work. But if we are in Asinine Dream Worlds, at least mine has a fighting chance.
“..erecting a massive superstructure to encapsulate the glacier, reflect solar radiation and hooking up a massive air cooling system.”
Will we need to isolate this glacier from geo-thermic heat from below? If so, it might stress the budget.
/sarc
Beats the he|| out of Sally Jewel, who essentially threatened all 70-thousand of her workforce that they’d be fired if they were global warming ‘deniers.’ She directly infringed their First Amendment rights. But what do you expect from the most fascist / tyrannical government this country has ever had!
Time to drain the swamp, and she was one of the bigger swamp dewllers.
Good riddance Sally! Ride Sally, ride.
I remember Wally Hickel , Nixon’s Interior Secretary that’s about it and Steward Udall before him
Zinke has a CR Liberty Score of 33%, or F.
Price has a C score, and was a big Boehner flack.