Zinke’s heir apparent ready to step in

Like Scott Pruitt before him, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has an experienced deputy steeped in the world of bureaucratic infighting waiting on deck if scandal drives him from office. Zinke has long been expected to join a post-election exodus from the Trump administration, even before this week’s reports that Interior’s internal watchdog had referred at least one investigation into the secretary's ethical problems to the Justice Department. And he already has an heir apparent: Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, a longtime lobbyist for the oil and gas and water industries, who would be well placed to execute President Donald Trump's pro-fossil fuel, anti-regulatory policies. A department spokesperson said Zinke is not planning to step down soon. But he appears to be laying the groundwork to hand the reins to Bernhardt, who joined the Trump administration last year. “For the last month, if not longer, it has been a common reference, even from the secretary, that David needs to be ready,” said a source close to Interior’s senior staff, who requested anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters. “Not anything actionable [was said], but Bernhardt could be in charge in the future and the implication was sooner rather than later.” Bernhardt, a former lobbyist known as “a lawyer’s lawyer” in the industry who is despised by environmental groups, could wind up playing a role similar to the one that longtime Washington lobbyist Andrew Wheeler has played after becoming acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency this summer. In contrast to former EPA chief Pruitt, who had alienated even many Republican lawmakers with his cascade of personal scandals, Wheeler has kept a relatively low profile while continuing to methodically roll back environmental rules and promote coal and oil production. Bernhardt worked at Interior as solicitor during the George W. Bush administration, a time when the department had also been rocked by scandal over its division overseeing energy leases. He then went to lobbyist firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he worked for a client seeking to pump water from the Mojave Desert to Southern California. Many environmental activists fear Bernhardt would be more effective than Zinke in executing Trump’s agenda. In fact, they contend he’s already doing it, having taken meetings with appropriations staff and led policy on top-tier items like overhauling the Endangered Species Act and reorganizing the department...MORE