Ryan Zinke Takes Credit For Obama-Era Fight To Protect Grand Canyon From Mining

Late last month, the Interior Department published a “comprehensive list of accomplishments” in its first year under Secretary Ryan Zinke’s leadership, including several actions it felt demonstrated “a conservation stewardship legacy, second only to Teddy Roosevelt.” In a summary of those accomplishments, Interior noted that it opened public access to the 16,000-acre Sabinoso Wilderness in New Mexico — even though that agreement was first announced in 2016, and made possible thanks to a sizable private donation. The agency also noted that it expanded hunting and fishing opportunities on 10 national wildlife refuges — an announcement that closely mirrored ones from the Obama administration in 2014, 2015 and 2016. But the most perplexing accomplishment listed on the summary was that DOI had “successfully defended a mineral withdrawal near the Grand Canyon.” Zinke’s first year was largely marked by efforts to boost mining and fossil fuel production, prioritizing energy development over conservation. There is also no evidence to support the claim that his agency did anything to protect the Grand Canyon area specifically, and a more detailed list linked to in the agency’s Dec. 28 press release curiously makes no mention of this issue. Instead, Zinke is taking credit for the government’s victory in a yearslong lawsuit over mining near the Grand Canyon, a legal fight that had already been argued in federal court a month before the Trump administration took office...more