tripp parks w e a

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">long doc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/industry-communications-with-interior-and-bureau-of-land-management-on-sage-grouse-overhaul/">https://westernvaluesproject.org/industry-communications-with-interior-and-bureau-of-land-management-on-sage-grouse-overhaul/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/western-values-project-opens-investigation-in-response-to-leaked-document-revealing-industry-influence-of-interiors-sage-grouse-review/">https://westernvaluesproject.org/western-values-project-opens-investigation-in-response-to-leaked-document-revealing-industry-influence-of-interiors-sage-grouse-review/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><div class="basic-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 50px 0px 26px;"><div class="basic-heading-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 40px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1080px;"><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 14px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> August 21, 2017 by <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/author/jayson/" title="Posts by Jayson O'Neill" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Jayson O'Neill</a></font></p></div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; max-width: 860px; letter-spacing: -0.02em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western Values Project opens investigation in response to leaked document revealing industry influence of Interior’s sage-grouse review</font></h1><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 35px; line-height: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; max-width: 860px; letter-spacing: -0.02em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">FOIA filed in preparation for litigation after documents show oil and gas lobbyists shaped recommendations from Secretary Zinke</font></h1></div></div><div class="basic-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 85px 40px 20px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 820px;"><p class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Western Values Project (WVP) <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WVP-DOI-FOIA-20170817-01-Sage-Grouse.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">filed</a> a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking correspondence between industry representatives and staff at the Department of the Interior who worked on Secretary Zinke’s sage-grouse review. The request comes after WVP obtained a leaked document showing that the Western Energy Alliance (WEA), an oil and gas industry trade group, was behind most of the recommendations that made it into the Secretary’s report.</font></p><p class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read the leaked document <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WEA_7-19-2017-1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">here.</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The memo from WEA is nothing short of an industry wish list, with 15 recommendations for the sage-grouse review team</b>. Analysis shows that 13 of those requests were granted by Secretary Zinke’s handpicked sage-grouse review team. A side-by-side comparison can be found <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WEA-Industry-report-comparison-chart.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">here.</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Despite pleas from Western governors, stakeholders, farmers, ranchers, scientists and conservationists, it appears Secretary Zinke was only listening to lobbyists from the oil and gas industry during his sage-grouse review. When you compare Secretary Zinke’s recommendations to the oil and gas industry’s wish list, it becomes clear that he is doing the bidding of these Washington, D.C. special interests,” said <b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jayson O’Neill, Deputy Director of the Western Values Project</b>. “This is a dangerous trend that is becoming a pattern for Secretary Zinke – offer lip-service to the West while granting private industry unfettered control of our public lands.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Western governors from both political parties <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/secretary-zinke-continues-to-give-handouts-to-industry-ignores-western-voices-with-sage-grouse-order/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">reached</a> out to Secretary Zinke urging him to preserve the plan they spent years developing, including a request that the department not move forward with population targets and captive breeding. Those requests were ignored.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">If the Department of the Interior fails to fulfill the FOIA request within a timely manner, WVP will file suit.</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref 1</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/todd-wynn-interior-ethics_us_5b23f523e4b0f9178a9cd1fc" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/todd-wynn-interior-ethics_us_5b23f523e4b0f9178a9cd1fc</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Ryan Zinke's information from outside organizations comes under the control of a political appointee whose ties to former employers have raised ethics questions.</font></p><div class="content-list-component text" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A top political appointee at the Interior Department repeatedly scheduled meetings with his former employers in an apparent violation of federal ethics rules,</b>HuffPost has learned.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Todd Wynn, director of the agency’s powerful Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, worked as the task force director at the American Legislative Exchange Council from 2011 to 2013</b>, overseeing the energy, environment and agriculture division, and organizing three national conferences a year, a copy of his </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4501461-Todd-Wynn-CV.html#document/p1/a428739" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">résumé</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> shows.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He then joined the utility trade group Edison Electric Institute, </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/greenpeace-confirms-six-utilities-quietly-dumped-alec/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">paying</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> to </span><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/07/12553/utility-trade-group-funds-alec-attack-americans-who-use-solar" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">participate</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> in the ALEC task force he previously led.</span></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">On Oct. 27, he planned a 30-minute video call with </span><a href="https://spn.org/landing_page/protect-providers/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Jennifer Butler</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">, a senior policy adviser at the ALEC-linked State Policy Network, according to calendars released under a Freedom of Information Act request. On Dec. 19, he scheduled another such call with </span><a href="https://www.alec.org/person/grant-kidwell/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Grant Kidwell</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">, the ALEC director in charge of his former task force. A spokeswoman for ALEC denied that the meeting occurred. </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Two days later, Wynn slotted 30 minutes for a call with </span><a href="http://www.csgwest.org/about/staff.aspx" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Rich Lindsey</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">, who heads the energy and environment committee at the </span><a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/council-of-state-governments/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">oil-funded</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> Council of State Governments ― where, according to his </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4501461-Todd-Wynn-CV.html#document/p1/a428739" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">CV</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> and </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4413551-Todd-Wynn-CV.html#document/p2/a419430" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">financial disclosures</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">, Wynn </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4501461-Todd-Wynn-CV.html#document/p1/a428739" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">also served</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> as a committee member from June 2015 until he joined the Interior Department.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s unclear what might have been discussed during the calls, and indeed, HuffPost could not confirm whether they definitely took place as scheduled ― but the calendars of agency officials are generally reliable. The Interior Department and the three political operatives did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment on Friday.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wynn’s meetings with ALEC and its affiliate did not violate the ethics pledge because his formal employment at the organization ended more than two years before he joined the agency, Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort argued Monday via email. She said Wynn was not employed by the Council of State Governments. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Vander Voort did not respond to questions about Wynn’s continued work with ALEC through the Edison Electric Institute, his role at the Council of State Governments, or provide examples of other agency appointees with similar arrangements. </font></p></div><figure class="content-list-component image" style="font-size: small; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 0; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="share-bar-image-wrapper" style="text-align: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix looks like a proud boy]</font></span><div class="imagemeta-wrapper" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="imagecredit" style="list-style: none; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; display: block; text-align: left; max-width: 100%; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE</font></span><figcaption class="image__caption" style="list-style: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1rem; text-align: left; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Todd Wynn appears in a video posted on YouTube by the conservative Cascade Policy Institute, one of his former employers.</font></figcaption></div></figure><div class="content-list-component text" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">But on Oct. 16, Wynn </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4358479-Ethics-Documents-DOI.html#document/p60/a399819" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">signed</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> President <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;">Donald Trump</a>’s </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-ethics-commitments-executive-branch-appointees/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">ethics pledge</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> prohibiting political appointees in the executive branch from participating “in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to [one’s] former employer or former clients.” Barred interactions include “any meeting or other communication relating to the performance of one’s official duties with a former employer or former client, unless the communication applies to a particular matter of general applicability and participation in the meeting or other event is open to all interested parties.”</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">The scheduled calls </span><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/2635.502" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="16" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">also appear to violate</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> the “government-wide regulatory standards of conduct” that “bar [Wynn] from meeting personally with any former client or employer he served in the year prior to the meeting,” Walter Shaub, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics, said in an email.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Apparent<b> conflicts of interest </b>are not new at the Interior Department. In March, </span><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lori-mashburn-interior-department-ethics-rules_us_5aa13ffae4b002df2c617609" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="17" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">HuffPost reported</span></a></span><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> that Lori Mashburn, the agency’s White House liaison, attended two private events hosted by her former employer, the conservative Heritage Foundation</span>. Her attendance violated the same ethics pledge Wynn signed. In May, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-bernhardt-mgm-lobbyists-ballard-partners_us_5aea362ae4b022f71a04ca40" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="18" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;">newly released calendars</a> showed <b>David Bernhardt, the Interior Department’s deputy secretary, met with a trio of lobbyists for MGM Resorts International, the casino-resort giant that his longtime former employer also represents.</b></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">Wynn has been a rising star in the influential network of fossil fuel-funded think tanks that push policies and produce pseudoscientific research to muddle the debate on climate change. He maintained those ties since taking over in a </span><a href="https://www.doi.gov/intergov" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="19" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">critical position</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> that controls the flow of information at the Interior Department, serving as a gatekeeper between Secretary Ryan Zinke and outside organizations.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; list-style: none; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><b>In November, Wynn attended an energy conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, </b>a former tobacco industry defender turned aggressive climate change denial outfit<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Later that month he met with Reaching America, a group that </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://reachingamerica.org/timeline/energy/" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="20" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">advocates</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> for increasing fossil fuel extraction as a means of reducing racial inequality. Throughout that month, he held four separate meetings with the Property and Environment Research Center, a Montana-based “free market” group </span><a href="https://spn.org/directory/#MT" target="blank" data-rapid-elm="context_link" data-ylk="elm:context_link" data-rapid-sec="{" entry-text="entry-text" data-rapid_p="21" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-out 0s, background-color 0.3s ease-out 0s;"><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;">associated</span></a><span style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"> with the State Policy Network.</span></span></font></p></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></b></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref2</font></b></p><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="1" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/interior-department" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Interior Department</a> advisory group relied on a top energy industry lobbyist to help draft a list of potential regulatory rollbacks,</span> documents obtained by HuffPost show.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At least one suggestion ― reducing the role that local environmental concerns play in leasing federal lands for oil and gas development ― quickly became a reality.</b></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Onshore Work Group, charged with recommending how Interior Secretary <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/ryan-zinke" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Ryan Zinke</a> ought to regulate federal lands available for fossil fuel development, already has deep ties to the energy industry.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Its chair is <b><a href="https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/alliance/who-we-are/staff" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Kathleen Sgamma</a>, the president of the oil and gas industry group <a href="https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Western Energy Alliance</a></b> and a vocal proponent of tearing down many Obama-era environmental protections.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But metadata from the working group’s first draft of recommendations further link the Interior Department with the industry it is tasked with regulating. According to the metadata, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Tripp Parks, the <b>Western Energy Alliance’s head of government affairs, was the initial author of the document.</b></span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The working group belongs to a growing cadre of industry-friendly advisory bodies Zinke has set up to guide his agenda</b>. In November, he assembled a wildlife conservation advisory group dominated by people with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/zinke-creates-new-outdoor-recreation-panel-made-up-entirely-of-industry-advisers/2018/03/26/04f3e960-2f9a-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.612ae7cf5ba9" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">links to trophy hunting</a>. Most members of a public lands advisory group have connections to the outdoor recreation industry.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s a huge concern,” said John DeCicco, a University of Michigan research professor who has worked for the environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund. Under previous administrations, DeCicco said, committees like these were usually composed of scientific experts. “What it really represents is that certain powerful interests, moneyed interests, they have the ear of policymakers who are running roughshod over due process and running roughshod over important checks and balances that are supposed to be there.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="7" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> working group was set up under the umbrella of the <a href="https://www.doi.gov/rpc" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:7;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Royalty Policy Committee</a>, a group tasked with recommending the royalty rates the federal government should charge for drilling. Many of the committee’s members <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/interior-panel-weighs-lower-royalty-payments-for-offshore-oil-gas-drilling/2018/02/25/85e0ec14-18cd-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.27f67240b38f" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:7;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">hail from the oil and gas sector</a> or have significant ties to it.</span> Whereas the same committee had a narrow, technical focus under previous administrations, under Zinke, it has been making <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/interior-panel-weighs-lower-royalty-payments-for-offshore-oil-gas-drilling/2018/02/25/85e0ec14-18cd-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.27f67240b38f" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:7;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">sweeping proposals</a> to roll back regulations on federal lands. The committee members who set up the working group have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/interior-panel-weighs-lower-royalty-payments-for-offshore-oil-gas-drilling/2018/02/25/85e0ec14-18cd-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.27f67240b38f" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:7;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">proposed</a> measures like charging bargain-basement royalties for deepwater drilling operations and have described their mandate as “looking at steps to be taken to make DOI a better business partner to its investors.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="8" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of those steps appear to have been come directly from the Western Energy Alliance. A document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that Parks created the draft recommendations one day before Sgamma circulated them to committee members overseeing the working group.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="9" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“It’s a very clear instance of regulatory capture,”</b> said Pat Gallagher, the Sierra Club’s legal director. Of the recommendations, he said, “There is no other object than to get drill bits in the ground as quickly as possible.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="10" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At best, Gallagher said, industry representatives are creating an echo chamber inside the Interior Department. Several of Parks’ recommendations mirror <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/interior_energy_actions_report_final.pdf" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">a report</a> the department released in October on “energy burdens.” Sgamma told HuffPost that Parks’ name appears in the document’s metadata because she asked him to pull out relevant sections of the report. This was “the full extent of my staff’s involvement,” she wrote in an email. W<span style="font-weight: bold;">hat it really represents is that certain powerful interests, moneyed interests, they have the ear of policy makers who are running roughshod over due process.</span></font></p></div><blockquote class="content-list-component js-sparkle pull-quote sparkle--none" style="font-size: small; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 5px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 40px; border: none; line-height: 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="attribution" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John DeCicco, University of Michigan research professor</font></span></blockquote><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="11" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The recommendations included items that had been on Western Energy Alliance’s wish list for years</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> like a proposal to abandon the practice of re-evaluating long-term leases instead of automatically renewing them, which allowed federal regulators to plan around major changes to the landscape, such as new suburban developments.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="12" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sgamma circulated the draft ― which she described as focusing on “increasing the competitiveness of federal lands” ― on <span tabindex="0" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Jan. 9</span>,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> inviting her fellow group members to make changes. Some of Parks’ initial recommendations were cut from later drafts, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">but the agency has already taken action on one recommendation that survived: The Interior Department quietly ceased the Obama-era practice of planning local drilling sites according to local environmental concerns on Jan. 31. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The industry had long argued that the practice created a redundant roadblock to new drilling projects.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="13" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“We’re very pleased,” Sgamma said at the time.</b></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="14" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A handful of the most influential oil and gas developers in the country fund the Western Energy Alliance. Although it does not currently publicize the names of its </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">members, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:14;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="17" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">alliance has included</a> Devon Energy, Halliburton, Anadarko Petroleum and Pioneer Natural Resources. Its political action committee donated $5,000 to Zinke’s campaigns while he served as Montana’s lone congressman.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="15" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Western Energy Alliance fiercely opposed the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate the oil and gas industry, </b>sometimes to the point of adopting a siege mentality. It <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:15;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="18" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">invited Rick Berman</a>, known for his ruthless, corporate-backed PR campaigns against environmentalists, to address its members in 2014. At the event, Berman framed the struggle against environmental groups<strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </strong>as “an endless war.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="16" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The draft recommendations are not the only example of the Western Energy Alliance having an outsized voice in the Trump administration. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Parks, who is not registered as a lobbyist, previously <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/western-values-project-opens-investigation-in-response-to-leaked-document-revealing-industry-influence-of-interiors-sage-grouse-review/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:16;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="19" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">presented</a> an Interior advisory group with 15 recommendations for scrapping protections for the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/sage-grouse" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:16;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="20" data-v9y="0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">greater sage-grouse</a>, which the industry felt impeded new energy projects; the advisory group adopted 13 of them.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="17" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department did not respond to HuffPost’s questions about Parks’ role in drafting the recommendations. Sgamma has defended her role in making policy recommendations to the Interior Department by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/interior-panel-weighs-lower-royalty-payments-for-offshore-oil-gas-drilling/2018/02/25/85e0ec14-18cd-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.5cc88870b736" target="_blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:17;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="21" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">noting</a> she has subject matter expertise. “I’m not an alternate member of the Royalty Policy Committee because of my sparkling personality,” she told HuffPost.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="18" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sgamma added that the Interior Department had considered scrapping several of the Western Energy Alliance’s least favorite regulations even before the formation of her working group. </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="19" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the alliance’s relationship with the Trump administration also stretches back many months. </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="20" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Entries in Zinke’s calendar show he met with representatives of the alliance in April 2017. A brief prepared for the secretary reminded him of a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-order-regulations_us_588f800ce4b02772c4e81d83" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:20;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="22" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Trump administration order</a> that for every new regulation created, agencies must place two old regulations on the chopping block.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="21" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The brief recommended that Zinke ask the alliance lobbyists which regulations he should scrap. </b>But it wasn’t a matter of urgency: The agency has already rolled back more than two regulations for every new rule, the brief made clear, with the result that it had “built [up] a credit.”</font></p></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></b></p></div>