A week before the Interior Department is set to auction off parcels of land in Montana for oil and gas leases, Secretary Ryan Zinke pulled a cluster of parcels from the auction on Monday evening.
Zinke, who used to represent Montana in Congress, first made the announcement on Twitter.
After talking with residents and local, state and federal officials, we have decided to defer the oil and gas sale around Livingston #Montana @BLM_MTDKs
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) March 5, 2018
Zinke followed up in a statement to the Washington Post, saying that the department needed to study the area more before approving it for auction. Local environmental groups had protested the auction and warned that it could hurt the areas near the Yellowstone river, according to the Washington Post.
“Multiple use is about balance,” Zinke said in the statement. “I’ve always said there are places where it is appropriate to develop and where it’s not.”
Zinke also recently postponed the sale of land in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, the Post noted.
The secretary made headlines earlier in the year when he exempted Florida from an offshore drilling plan after meeting with Republican Gov. Rick Scott. The move was seen as a political maneuver by the Trump administration since Scott is looking at a Senate bid.
Zinke is Hinky!
He’s simply allowing the tens of millions of American homeowners and nature lovers who really, really want oil and drilling rigs in their backyards and parks to have their dreams fulfilled.
NIMBY Zinke!
So, none of his local cronies could put together a plausibly decent enough deal give cover for granting them the rights (with the obligatory Zinke kick-backs, of course). Best to buy those buds some time by pulling the land - until they are ready to pounce. No fun selling it off it it doesn’t include quiet kickbacks, after all.
The one’s he pulled in Paradise Valley and around the Yellowstone was for one reason: Arthur Blank has a ranch and private golf course in an area that will be impacted by fracking.
Oh…Arthur Blank is the owner of the Atl Falcons and co-founder of Home Depot and staunch right wing Republican. Basically an American Robber Baron that runs the US government with the likes of the Koch brothers…
Obviously Zinke got a call from Arthur Blanks messenger boy or lawyer with instructions…go drill on Indian Reservations and you won’t have to pay the leasing fees to the Dept of Interior as long as Trump is in power!
Obviously, Zinke’s bidders for the area had not yet gotten him his full bribe. Sad.