To: Editors and interested parties
From: Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities
Re: Behind closed doors, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tells oil companies government should work for industry
In a moment of candor during a closed-to-press speech to offshore oil drillers in Louisiana, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said, “Our government should work for you, the oil and gas industry.” The moment was captured by the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association:
This is the first time we’ve heard Secretary Zinke say the quiet part aloud: His operating principle at the Interior Department is to work on behalf of oil and gas drillers, even if it comes at the expense of the American public.
Seen through this lens, virtually every decision he has made as Interior secretary makes a lot more sense. In fact, just as Secretary Zinke was speaking, his agency was undercutting a rule requiring oil and gas companies to detect and fix natural gas leaks in drilling operations on public lands, and to reduce venting and flaring of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.
Although the Interior Department received more than 600,000 comments from the public, 99.8 percent of which asked them to leave the rule in place, Zinke’s mantra held firm—government worked for the oil and gas industry. Rescinding the Bureau of Land Management’s methane waste rule will now allow drillers to release methane into the air unchecked, instead of capturing and selling it. The resulting pollution will lead to more health-threatening ozone and deprive taxpayers of royalty revenue from gas that should have been sold.
Yesterday’s policy action was not nearly the first time Zinke’s Interior Department was caught giving handouts to oil and gas interests. That list is long and grows by the week. They have:
Eliminated national monument protections in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, opening up 2 million acres for oil and gas development.
Sold off leases over millions of acres of public lands to oil and gas companies, even in places with minimal interest in drilling.
Attempted to roll back sage-grouse protections at the behest of oil and gas interests, even if it means an endangered species listing for the imperiled bird.
Decimated common-sense safeguards to protect land, water, and communities from the impacts of drilling.
Undercut oil and gas planning reforms—known as Master Leasing Plans—that ensure land managers are striking a balance between drilling and competing uses.
Proposed opening up almost the entire U.S. coast to offshore oil drilling.
No matter one’s political leanings, we can all agree our government’s role is to work on behalf of the American public, not a single special interest. Realizing the gaffe, Secretary Zinke later tried to clean up the mess, tweeting out that “Government should work for you. Period.”
But now we know what Secretary Zinke means by that when he’s talking to his buddies behind closed doors.