Zinke had been accused of using his position for personal gain<\/b>
\nDonald Trump\u2019s embattled interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, is stepping down, following a series of scandals in which he is accused of using his position for personal gain.
Trump tweeted that Zinke would \u201cbe leaving the administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years\u201d. Trump added that Zinke had \u201caccomplished much during his tenure\u201d and that a new secretary of the interior would be announced next week.
Zinke becomes the latest official to leave Trump\u2019s cabinet in an exodus following the November 6 midterm elections.
Under Zinke\u2019s leadership, the interior department has sought to advance oil and gas drilling and mining on or near public land, rolled back protections for threatened species and shrunk national monuments.
\u201cZinke\u2019s days of plundering our lands and enriching himself and his friends are over,\u201d said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels programme manager for Friends of the Earth.
\u201cWith an average of nearly one federal investigation opened into his conduct in office per month, Zinke\u2019s highly questionable ethics have finally caught up with him. Now, he is just another name on Trump\u2019s list of disgraced cabinet officials, which the Republican-led Congress has failed to hold accountable.\u201d
The Natural Resources Defence Council quipped in a press release that Zinke shouldn\u2019t \u201clet the US$139,000 door hit [him] on the way out\u201d. Zinke came under fire for the department\u2019s spending that much to upgrade three sets of double doors.
Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, called Zinke \u201cthe most scandal-plagued interior secretary in recent memory\u201d.
He said: \u201cThe damage done by this administration\u2019s anti-conservation policies will not be erased by his departure alone,\u201d noting that Zinke\u2019s replacement would continue to pursue policies friendly to the fossil-fuel industry.
Zinke\u2019s acting successor, David Bernhardt, until now the deputy secretary, is a former energy lobbyist who is expected to pursue fossil fuel development and downplay conservation. Bernhardt will take the role until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate, which could take months.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Centre for Biological Diversity, called Bernhardt the \u201cmastermind\u201d behind major efforts at the agency.
\u201cI don\u2019t think anything will change in terms of what\u2019s happening inside interior, although it\u2019s nice Zinke\u2019s gone,\u201d Hartl said.
Bernhardt has acknowledged the science behind climate change but said his job is to consider the administration\u2019s goal of ramping up energy production. Last year he rescinded policies meant to give more weight to climate change and conservation in decisions about public lands.
Joel Clement, a department climate scientist who resigned last year, said this week that Zinke and his staff \u201csidelined scientists and experts while handing the agency\u2019s keys over to oil, gas and mining interests\u201d.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, where Clement is now a fellow, compiled a report outlining what the group has seen as anti-science moves, many of which will continue under Zinke\u2019s successor.
The department\u2019s internal watchdog last month asked the justice department to investigate Zinke.
Zinke is linked to a real estate deal with the chairman of the oil-services company Halliburton and is accused of blocking Native American tribes from expanding a casino and of redrawing the boundaries of a national monument for political reasons. He also inappropriately allowed his wife to travel with him in official vehicles and invited campaign fundraisers on a government boat tour, according to the watchdog.
In Congress, Zinke would have been a top target of Democrats who won control of the House in the midterm elections and are planning oversight of Trump administration officials.
Representative Raul Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said he was hoping for a \u201cgenuine turning of the page\u201d.
\u201cSecretary Zinke\u2019s successor has a chance to move on from an unfortunate Trump administration record of environmental mismanagement and decline,\u201d Grijalva said.
Conservatives in Congress have largely supported Zinke. The Republican senator Steve Daines, who like Zinke is a Montanan, thanked Zinke \u201cfor restoring common sense management of our public lands, fighting to end the war on coal and for making the US energy dominant\u201d.<\/p>\n