Federal Government Policy and Business

Interior secretary nominee Zinke: National parks repair list should be part of Trump infrastructure plan

The Washington Post: President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department told senators Tuesday that completing billions of dollars in backlogged projects at national parks should be a major part of the new president’s plans to revamp aging roads, bridges and transportation hubs.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who is nominated to serve as the next interior secretary, told the Senate Natural Resources Committee that Trump’s ambitious infrastructure spending plans should “prioritize the estimated $12.5 billion in backlog of maintenance and repair” at hundreds of national parks across the country.

Zinke also said publicly for the first time that unlike Trump, he doesn’t believe climate change is a hoax. Answering pointed questions on the issue from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Zinke said humans are almost certainly the drivers of climate change, but he said there’s a debate among scientists over how much.

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