Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today addressed revelations about his use of charter and military flights while in office, lashing out at critics over what he called "a little B.S. on travel." Ahead of a scheduled policy address at the Heritage Foundation, Zinke spent several minutes defending his use of noncommercial airlines on three occasions since being sworn into office. "Before we get started, I'd just like to address, in the words of Gen. [Norman] Schwarzkopf, a little B.S. on travel," Zinke said. Climatewire reported today that Zinke took a charter flight from Las Vegas to Montana in late June after speaking to a political donor's professional hockey team in Nevada. Taxpayers were billed $12,375 for the flight on Choice Aviation LLC (Climatewire, Sept. 29). Zinke defended that flight, as well as two other charter flights involving travel in the Arctic with the Senate Natural Resources Committee and between St. Croix and St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands, noting the agency's ethics office had approved each of the trips. "I believe taxpayers absolutely have the right to know official travel costs: It's common sense, and at the department we make those documents and my travel schedule available to everyone," Zinke said. "Using tax dollars wisely and ethically is a great responsibility and is at the good heart of good government. "There are times, however, we have to utilize charter services because we often travel in areas and under circumstances that we don't have other flight options," added Zinke, who also defended his use of military flights to view wildfires in Montana with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue...more
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