Washington, D.C. — Today, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce the nomination of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) for secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Matt Lee-Ashley, Senior Fellow and Director of Public Lands at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Despite telling voters, in plain terms, that he will not get rid of America’s public lands, President-elect Trump is nominating an interior secretary with a history of trying to auction off America’s public lands. Unless Rep. McMorris Rodgers has had a change of heart and promises to disavow her own record and her own party-line support for the GOP platform, her nomination puts America’s national parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands at risk of being sold or privatized.
This nomination—which is sure to please the same special interests that President-elect Trump vowed to take on—raises fundamental questions about whether Rep. McMorris Rodgers will respect basic science, accept the reality of climate change, and be independent from the oil companies that have heavily bankrolled her campaigns.
For more information or to speak to an expert on this topic, please contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.