Success: Environmental Opponent Zinke Ousted as Interior Secretary

Target: Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club

Goal: Support successful effort to remove secretary who worked consistently against environmental interests.

Another Trump-appointed environmental assassin bites the dust. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will leave his position just a day before he would have likely faced widespread ethics investigations by the new Congress. President Trump tweeted about how Zinke had “accomplished much during his tenure”:…much in the way of destruction of the public lands and waters he was supposed to protect. This ForceChange petition and similar efforts highlight how increasingly unified outcries against government abuse can ultimately make a difference.

This much-welcomed resignation is two years in the making. These two trying years saw the unrestrained pillage and plunder of public lands by corporate fossil fuel conglomerates, the dismantling of beloved national parks, continued assaults on endangered species, and the dirtying up and divesting of public waterways. Zinke also enthusiastically carried out administration policies of ignoring climate change and devaluing science, often ‘reassigning’ or outright terminating professionals who had devoted their careers to conservation and environmental protection. Zinke’s hubris would ultimately be his undoing, as—by some estimates—he has compiled at least one ethics investigation for each month of his tenure. Among the charges are questionable land deals and alleged favors to corporate lobbyists at the expense of Native American and other public interests.

Much like many of his peers, Zinke is leaving office under a shroud of shame and potential criminal charges, accused of using his public office for personal profit. Sign this petition to applaud the work of groups like the Sierra Club, who have worked hard to get ride of so-called public servants who put themselves ahead of their country and their world.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Mr. Brune,

Thank you for pushing to get environmentally disastrous Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke out of office. As the steward of close to 30 percent of America’s lands, the captain of hundreds of national parks, and the guardian of our precious waterways and wildlife refuges, Zinke abdicated his duties at every opportunity. Callous greed and indifference drove his actions, and now his daily assaults against the very entities he should have been safeguarding have caught up with him. His personal flag will be unfurled and your name will go down, not kindly, in the annals of history.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore