In July, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took a delightful helicopter tour of Nevada. He tweeted that he was “hearing all sides” of the debate, presumably referencing the Trump administrations decision to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments and turn over some of the land to their Big Gas and Oil swamp buddies.
Turns out that faux listening tour cost taxpayers $40,000. Must’ve been some luxury helicopter! If that weren’t bad enough, they initially dipped into critical wildfire preparedness funds to pay for it. They were forced to find another coffer to dip into after the news became public. From Newsweek:
The Department of the Interior (DOI) says it made a mistake by trying to use wildfire preparedness funds to pay for an unrelated helicopter tour of Nevada taken by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke this summer.
Officials initially said Zinke’s July 30 helicopter trip could be covered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Interagency Fire Center, a hub for the organization of response to wildfires—even though the secretary did not visit any fire zones that day, according to internal emails obtained by Newsweek.
But after Newsweek questioned the line item, an Interior Department spokeswoman said this week that the chopper—listed in an accounting of Zinke’s travel as costing $39,295—“was charged to the account in error.” She added that the BLM would pay for the helicopter from “a more appropriate account.”
You know, for people who claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility, they sure know how to spend taxpayer money. Sec. Zinke easily could’ve taken commercial flights, rented a car.
In related news, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”) have filed a lawsuit against Sec. Zinke. After getting public criticism for wasting taxpayer dollars on private charter flights and helicopters, Zinke is hiding his travel records from the public.
On September 21, 2017, CREW sent a FOIA request to The Department of the Interior (DOI) requesting (1) copies of all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s use of noncommercial aircraft for any official travel since his confirmation on March, 2017, and (2) copies of all records sufficient to show the amount of money budgeted for the Secretary’s travel in 2016, 2017, and 2018. CREW explained the requested records likely will shed light on the extent to which Secretary Zinke has used government funds for travel and the justification for that use at a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget.
On November 21, 2017, CREW filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior (DOI) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) challenging the failure of the DOI to respond to its request for disclosure of records related to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s use of non-commercial aircraft for any official travel since his confirmation on March 1,2017, as well as records sufficient to show the amount of money budgeted foe Secretary Zinke’s travel.
This case seeks declaratory relief that the Interior Department is in violation of the FOIA for failing to respond fully to CREW’s request for records. This case also seeks injunctive relief ordering the defendant to process and release the requested records to CREW immediately in their entirety.
Zinke and the Trump administration really don’t want you to know how much of your money they are spending to meet with Big Oil and Gas representatives.