Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke confronted and chided protesters who interrupted him Wednesday as he delivered a speech on the Trump administration’s commitment to cleaner fuels as part of its “energy dominance” agenda.
Two protesters stopped Zinke’s speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. recognizing National Clean Energy Week. One referenced Zinke’s ties to the fossil fuel industry. Another, off topic, complained about Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“That is so inappropriate. Please sit down,” Zinke said to the protesters, as he sighed at the disruption. “It is never nice to be rude.”
Zinke used the disruption to riff off-the-cuff against the polarization of politics.
“It’s amazing in our country now,” he said. “I am a kid who grew up in Montana. I am not Right or Left politically. But the debate in our country when people can’t have a conversation or debate, we as Americans have to wrestle with this. The strength of our country has been diversity of thought and debate. But when you have the anger and the lack of civility, what happens is decisions don’t get made and we won’t move forward as a country.”
After the protesters were quickly escorted away, Zinke boasted about the Trump administration’s work to promote clean energy, which has been overshadowed by its focus on helping coal plants and rolling back regulations meant to combat climate change.
“Clean energy is where we are all striving to be,” Zinke said, emphasizing his support for offshore wind. “We are in the process of delivering the largest offshore wind lease in the history of the country.”
Zinke also continued to downplay a proposed plan to from last year to open nearly all federal waters to oil and gas drilling. Zinke is likely to scale back the plan when he finalizes it, in response to complaints by coastal governors and lawmakers from both parties who worry about spills on their shores.
“The offshore oil and gas industry probably will remain steady and the begin to decline,” Zinke said.
He referred to offshore oil and gas drilling as “expensive” and “riskier.”
