Advertisement Continue reading the main story“I think where there’s debate is what that influence is, what we can do about it,” Mr. Zinke said. “With a new administration, are these public lands going to face an unbelievable attack by those who would like to take these public lands away from us and turn them over back to states?” asked Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel’s top Democrat. Mr. Zinke said one of his priorities as interior secretary would be to address an estimated $12.5 billion backlog of maintenance and repairs in the national parks system. In one of his few references to the president-elect, Mr. Zinke said Mr. Trump supported moving toward energy independence. Mr. Zinke, who served with Ms. Duckworth in the House until recently, said he would have a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual harassment, which he said was “killing morale” at the agency.

Source: New York Times January 18, 2017 02:04 UTC