Trump’s pick to head Interior vows to review Gold Butte designation
WASHINGTON — Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department, told a Senate hearing Tuesday he would review a recent controversial presidential declaration to create national monuments in Nevada and Utah.
But Zinke pledged to visit Nevada and speak with officials in the Silver State before making a recommendation on whether the incoming administration should try to rescind President Barack Obama’s declaration to designate the Gold Butte region, and Bears Ears in Utah, as monuments.
“Before I make a recommendation to the president, I’m going to talk to you,” Zinke said under questioning by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 on Dec. 28 to create the Gold Butte National Monument on 300,000 acres southeast of Las Vegas. In 2015, Obama created the Basin and Range National Monument on 704,000 acres in remote Lincoln and Nye counties.
“The vast majority of Nevadans support these designations,” Cortez Masto told Zinke during a confirmation hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Republicans on the committee, however, pressed Zinke to push for a rollback of Obama executive orders and presidential actions on federal lands.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the Bears Ears designation, placing 1.3 million acres under protection, would have a profound economic impact on one of the poorest regions in that state.
The national monument declarations by Obama prevents commercial use and prohibits drilling, logging and other private use of resources.
Zinke said that if confirmed, one of his goals as Interior Department secretary would be to restore trust by “working with, rather than against local communities and states.”
Zinke, a Montana native, said he believes there are public lands that need protection under wilderness designations, and other lands best suited for multiple use.
He said decisions on those lands are “best achieved through the approval and consent of Congress.”
Lawmakers grilled Zinke, 55, on a wide range of issues, but mostly on land use in Western states where the federal government manages and maintains nearly 30 percent of the acreage.
In Nevada, Cortez Masto said the federal government oversees 85 percent of the land.
Although Democrats have cheered the president’s use of the Antiquities Act to protect public lands from commercial use, Republicans in Congress have criticized Obama’s use of the law.
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has filed legislation that would curb its use in the future. Companion legislation has been filed in the House by U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.
Zinke told the committee he opposes the transfer or sale of public lands to states or commercial interests, a position that is shared by Trump. But Zinke also said he favors using resources available on some public lands, like coal and timber.
The at-large House member from Montana, Zinke voted with fellow Republicans on the first day of the 115th Congress to approve a rules package that would make it easier to transfer federal lands to states.
But Zinke, a hunter and angler, characterized that vote as symbolic, “a shot over the bow,” to the current administration, and noted he has voted 17 times against proposed land transfers from the federal government to states and other interests.
The hearing is the first of two planned this week by the committee on Trump’s selections to head departments under the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committees purview.
Former Gov. Rick Perry, chosen to head the Energy Department, is scheduled to appear before the panel on Thursday.
Trump doesn’t take office until Friday. But the Republican-led Senate, which confirms presidential nominations, is moving ahead with hearings on his Cabinet picks.
Zinke was quetioned on a number of issues. He di sagreed with Trump on climate change, telling the panel that there is a correlation between rising temperatures and human activity. Trump has claimed it “a hoax.”
Zinke pledged to work with the Senate on the Colorado River Compact, the law that governs the allocation of water rights among states in the Colorado River Basin.
He also said that Native American tribal leaders would be consulted on new policies on land use issues in Nevada.
And he vowed to review current Bureau of Land Management policies on wild horse populations, which he called “a disaster.”
Zinke is supported by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council, which said ranchers have become marginalized in the planned use process of federally controlled land.
Environmentalists, however, remain skeptical that Zinke would veer from positions on protecting federal lands to reduce coal extraction and continued use of energy sources linked to climate change.
Despite differences, Zinke, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, is expected to garner Democratic support in the Senate.
If he is confirmed as secretary, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said she would continue to advocate for an Interior Department that is committed to a multi-use philosophy “that does not jeopardize conservation efforts and public stewardship of federal lands.”
“I will work with Rep. Zinke to ensure that Gold Butte and Nevada’s other public lands receive the protections and support to which they are entitled,” she said.
The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave presidential authority to designate public lands as national monuments.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld previous actions by presidents, despite controversy over the use of the Antiquities Act to set aside public lands for conservation and to save artifacts.
No national monument declaration has been overturned by another president. Any repeal would take congressional action.
Zinke told the committee Tuesday that while states should have a say in designations, there is nothing in the law that gives presidential authority to rescind a previous designation.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.
