Should it roll back environmental regulations put in place by the Obama administration so that coal mining, oil and gas development and logging can expand? Should the government consider the impact on climate change when it makes decisions about whether to allow development on public land or, say, protect endangered species? may face later Tuesday when he goes before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for his confirmation hearing to be Interior secretary. Instead, Trump offered Zinke the job of running the Interior Department, which oversees the federal government’s vast holdings of public land, most of it in the West. Zinke has also broken ranks with some Western conservatives over proposals to turn over federal public lands to states, which he has opposed.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 17, 2017 18:21 UTC