Holding Zinke accountable through facts, not false attacks

Here at Western Values Project, we believe words matter. So when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke used this paper to misleadingly smear us as “attack dogs,” we took offense: We’re watchdogs, not attack dogs, focused on defending America’s public lands by holding policymakers and special interests accountable.

Zinke’s record at Interior so far shows he is well-accustomed to the doublespeak we often see from D.C. politicians. Despite claiming that he would run “the most transparent Interior … in my lifetime,” a part of his agency is seeking to restrict the public’s ability to submit Freedom of Information Act requests for public documents.

Though he said that he was “absolutely against [the] transfer or sale of public lands,” the administration’s budget and infrastructure proposals, which he supported, would authorize the sale of federal public lands.

And despite Zinke’s assertion that there “are no oil and gas resources” in the Bears Ears monument he just decimated, internal Interior documents show that Zinke was “was focused on the potential for oil and gas exploration” when deciding how to drastically reduce the monument’s boundaries.

Secretary Zinke clearly believes his words don’t need to match his actions. Zinke claims that we’re just a “mailbox” in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana. But unlike Zinke, who spends his time in D.C. and California, I live here. And I actually fish on the very rivers, streams and lakes and hike in the parks Zinke is supposed to protect and preserve.

At Western Values Project, we are passionate about protecting our public lands and holding those in power accountable — whoever they might be. We strive to uncover the meetings and lobbying influence that Zinke’s Interior has fought to keep hidden in the shadows. We represent the vast majority of Westerners, including Zinke’s former constituents, who oppose his anti-public lands agenda that threatens public land protections, parks and wildlife habitat that the secretary and his industry friends want to sell out to special interests. We aim for accountability, not cheap political points — and because of that, Western Values Project isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

Chris Saeger is the executive director of the Western Values Project, based in Whitefish, which says it “defends America’s public lands through research and public education in order to hold policymakers and elected leaders accountable for jeopardizing the West’s outdoor heritage.”