This portion is just about 90 minutes. Good afternoon, everyone. Afternoon,ted, this i will give a lay of the land here this afternoon. I will first proceed with my Opening Statement, then i will call upon Ranking Member senator cantwell to make hers. After she have concluded with her remarks, we will hear from our colleagues. Is on theine committee here. Senator chester, it is good to have you join us as well. They will introduce the distinguished witness and the other member from the montana delegation, ryan zinke. I will then swear in the witness, as kim three questions that we addressed to all nominees at confirmation hearings. Will proceed this afternoon. I think it is important to us to recognize that we had a vote scheduled at about 4 15. That will cause a little bit of an interruption, but we do want expeditiously through the meeting. Before i proceed, i would like to recognize an individual who is well known to this committee room. That is the former chairman of the energy committee, former senator frank murkowski, who i happen to know well. A little bit of favoritism there. Good to have you as well. I would also like to welcome the new members to the committee. We have three new members, and we are pleased to have a new cortez,from nevada, ms. Welcome. As well as the junior senator from illinois, senator duckworth. And, senator sessions has also joined the committee. We know he is a little busy with other issues, but we do have three new members, and we welcome them. A new congress, a new ministry should, and i hope it will also be a new era for the department of the interior. Zinkek you, congressman for being here. Years has been a life of service. O our country of course, more recently, you have answered the call to continue your work as cabinet secretary for the next president. Knowd just begun to get to one another here is the president elect announced his intention to nominate you. I have appreciated the conversations we have had, and i look forward to continuing them in this more formal setting today. As you learn more about each of the state touched by the department of interior, i appreciate your effort to understand how and why alaska is unique among them. Alaska has had a difficult, or tenuous, relationship with the Outgoing Administration more than an understatement. Our Current Administration seems to see us as a broad expanse of wilderness with little value. We have lost access to land and water that even president carter promised would be open to us. We have had our right to manage wildlife in our borders be ripped away. Thatight years, it seemed this administration has taken the approach that alaska must be protected by alaskans, and they have reacted accordingly. Through the interior department, Obama Administration thousandsohn tens of of square miles of coverage in areas. It has attended to convert the area, and a coastal plain area, set aside by congress for its energy potential. It has closed leaves, and costly litigation. It goes on, and on. Though obama in ministries has repeatedly violated, or sought clause. Eyd be no more of an deprived us opportunity, but offered nothing in return, not even to a lack of native villages that are affected from Climate Change. Rejected a secretary single lane nonuse road necessary to protect the health and safety of alaskans. Without that road, we have been seen recently an elderly woman who was forced to wait more than 40 hours for help to arrive. The postera may be child, the reality is that our state is not alone in having suffered at the hands of the interior department. Localittle regard for landscape level planning, a term that he and reasonable, is a strategy that has been used to reduce the influence of local areas. Sitting ineone washington, d. C. Will determine what the life of someone in utah will look like. This is the interior department you are walking into. Antonin on you and, so are many americans, to come in and fix it. We know you are a navy man, so excuse the expression, but i hope the cavalry is on the way. We need the department to recognize that individuals such as john sturgeon, what they go through when they overreach into our lives. There will allow us to produce our resources and help us theore throughput in transalaskan pipeline. It will prioritize the cleanup of contaminated lands and legacies. Millionhich is 223 federal acres, and one quarter of its land in private ownership, one quarter of one percent in land of private ownership. Interior must recognize the importance of transfer and Land Transfer exchanges. Ngsa. Ses made pursuant to a promises made to our native veterans. Ensuring our federal government honors those commitments to americans remains one of my highest priorities. We need a department that will rely on the expertise of the to addresso more volcanic and mineral mapping. If you are confirmed, you will inherit an array of challenges much broader in scope. We are not rapidly taking care of what we already have. U. S. Affiliated islands and these territories range from worker visas that cannot be forgotten either. Then there is the bureau of Indian Affairs. ImproveWork Together to and empower our native communities. Legal requirement that the Outgoing Administration has often failed to see. I expect we will Work Together in a manner that is thoughtful and reflective of a true partnership. I hope that you will be able to show that the interior department is capable of working with, rather than against, local state cultures to achieve results. We have shared a division a vision of how your department will work. We know it will take hard work and close cooperation with this committee, but that work is well for all of us who care about public lands, who want to see it managed well, and who has access to them. I thank you for being here for your willingness to serve. I would like to turn to ranking level cant well for your comm ents. Welcome to the chair, the new members of the committee, particularly on our side3 of ofe aisle. Thank you for being willing to serve on this committee, and id maybe look forward to senator sessions on the comittee. And our two colleagues, thank you for coming to support the nomination of your colleague, who has been nominated by the president elect. I will give you my congratulations on that nomination when we get to the q a. Today we are here to discuss the office of the secretary of interior is what of the most important offices of the federal government. In overseas the park, wildlife refuge and it is responsible for protecting our nations sponsor ability to Indian Country and insular areas which gets little attention here and deserves more attention. The secretary is responsible for much of the onshore, offshore Mineral Resources and it manages the Water Resources in western states responsible for the nations hydro system, something that senator wyden and i are keen on. It is a farreaching portfolio. It is growing and it impacts our economy. Responsibilities is that the secretary of interior is overseeing our National Parks. Have an annual operating budget of more than 3 billion. It is also americas treasure. They drive an Outdoor Economy that provides over 6. 1 million 646 billion in annual revenue. Never underestimate the value of public land when it comes to recreation. A modesthave improvement to our National Park i believe our 100year celebration deserves more and i look forward to asking the nominee if he agrees with me on that. I know more americans want to invest in these crown jewels and fixing the maintenance backlog. One of the successes that the senate had was bypassing was passing Bipartisan Legislation through the Conservation Fund legislation. As an avidat sportsman he knows the value of our public land and was enthusiastic about trying to come up with Bipartisan Legislation to fix the bipartisan fund. With a new administration, are these public lands going to face an unbelievable attack by those who would like to take them away . Rom us are we going to continue to manage these resources for the incredible investment they are and continue to improve to get more economic return. A second digit responsibility of the department of the interior is the management of resources extraction. , outerlion o. C. S. Continental shelf. Todays hearing is about making sure the nominee would like to minimize environmental harm, a four cleanup and have one fundamental runcible which is that polluters principal, which is that polluters pay. We went these Public Policies to be getting a fair return for the american taxpayer. Provoke n over to problems in the fossil fuel program that could cost over 200 million per year in lost revenue. The open, administration took important steps to fix these problems. The deepwater horizon still exposed the consequences of failing to have these regulations and also caused us to put in major reforms to make sure that important oversight and regulations were not pushed aside and that we monitor these programs. I would say that the cold program is one that needs continued focus and attention. The Obama Administration has adopted rules to ensure a fair return to texas, required to taxes, requiring everyone clear accountability for what they pay. G. O. Found that coal mining alone gets special treatment in the ability to have bonding for recreation requirements. Everyone else, wind, solar, and hard rock miners, have to post a thirdparty bond to makes her they can clean up the financial a surety of the pollution that would be caused. This is something that would need to be addressed and i would hope our nominee can address it. This includes overseeing the bureau of Indian Affairs, indian education, and a 2. 5 million budget. Colleagues, many of whom serve on this committee, and also on Indian Affairs, will not have a chance a point these important issues out to nominee but clearly these issues of stewardship support for tribal education, social ,ervices, and infrastructure regardless of the side of the aisle use it on, you will hear many things for people on Indian Affairs and how important these issues are to the constituents whom would represent. Whom we represent. Also important to carry out our obligations in Insular Affairs and there are many issues we will get to in the q a, but i would like to bring up a few issues as it relates to the pacific northwest. There are issues where climate h issueste where climate hands caused there are collaborative issues to make sure that in both washington and oregon, we are doing all we can to plan for better Resource Management over water supply and build capacity for the future. And we have reached consensus here and in the senate as well. O stop fire borrowing ofould mention it particular importance to all of us in the pacific northwest, the important pending reauthorization or recommitment of the Columbia River treaty. It needs a lot of attention and direction. We hope we will have a chance to ask you questions about that as well. I congratulate the nominee and look forward to hearing from him and his wife and meeting his family as he makes his introduction. We will now turn to the montana senators for introduction of a nominee. Senator gains, we will turn to you and then we will hear from senator tester to hear from the nominee to be secretary of the interior. Honor totruly my great introduce a fellow montanan, an american hero, and a good friend of mine. In support of your confirmation as interior secretary to our new president , donald j. Trump. As you have the entire delegation before you today, we have both tennis senators, one who is a republican and one who is a democrat. 1979 when weyan in were both High School Students in montana. We were in dylan montana for boys. Ryan from whitefish high school. He was captain of the soontobe champion, state whitefish bulldogs team. After high school, ryan went to the university of oregon where he was a full scholarship, starting athlete for the oregon ducks, their football to where he would win numerous awards for outstanding academic and athletic performance. Majored in a subject matter that has served him well in serving the people of montana. Enlisted in the United States navy. Zinke was an ryan elite seal team commander. Part of his tenure was serving under general mattis, as commander of joint special usces in iraq, at the height of insurgent activity. I would like to highlight his service as a seal. Nevers ever quit. Quit. They dont know the definition of the work because they never do. Navy seals dont fail, they die trying. Ryan that work ethic that brings with him on every mission he takes other it is in the military, the United States congress, or the department of interior. During his 23 years of service as a seal, he conducted special operations. He trained and meant toward thousands of men and women and made sure that our troops were as prepared and safe as possible, when conducting these no failed missions around the globe. He was the guy the navy called upon to go into units, and see how they could be improved. Whether it was looking at new soancements in technology, special forces could invade new landscapes undetected by the enemy, or implement a new processes and policies that commanders could investigate more efficiently during combat, aan zinke has always been most trusted leader, and it will be no different in the department of interior. As the deputy and acting commander of joint special ledes in iraq in 2004, ryan a combined force of special operators through the streets of fallujah. He conducted special operations at the height of terrorist activity in what can only be described as a warehouse of death. He had to use a strategy of tens of thousands of personnel, military and civilian, to advance our mission. He coordinated with other agencies to achieve diplomatic and military missions. Two bronze stars and many other rewards for his service to our great nation. We should be thankful to his their children for their service. Apples do not fall far from the tree. Ryans daughter, sitting beside him, was a navy diver. His soninlaw is also a navy seal. Following his retirement from the navy, after 23 years of honorable service, ryan came back to montana and continued to serve. Senate,or the state and then as montanas sole representative to the United States its out United States house. He was the first navy seal ever elected to the United States congress. You see, ryan grew up 30 minutes from glacier National Park. I grew up 60 minutes from yellowstone National Park. We both understand the importance of National Parks. Ryan and i have shared a mckinsey vote together boat together, flyfishing on one of my 10s one of montanas many streams. Ryan has lived it. Hometownen his own suffered due to bad Government Policies that hurt Rural Communities like libby, like malta, and others, that depend on public land access. Ryan is a born and bred montanan. We have to strike that balance between conservation and responsible energy development. Onesizetands that a fits all policy, like from washington, d. C. , never works from rural america. Ryan zinke is smart. He has montana horse sense. He is the guy you want in your corner, whether you are fighting in fallujah for your life, or on the four of congress for your livelihood. He listens and fights for what he believes in. I have no doubt that he will be a fighter for america, and for our public lands as the next secretary of the interior. Senator, thank you for joining us here at the committee. Please proceed with your introductions. I want to thank you, chairwoman murkowski, and Ranking Member can well cantwell, for allowing me to be here. Introduce aor to decorated navy veteran and fellow public servant. Our time here, both congressmens inky and i had the pleasure of serving in the Montana Senate the not at the same time. I want to thank him for answering the call to serve our great nation. I believe it is very important for someone who knows the west to Service Interior secretary. It is incredibly important, americas today as public lands come under attack by those who want individual states to manage them which is the first step in selling of public lands to the highest bidder. It falls on this committee to ask congress and zinc he congressman zinke specific questions about how he will perform as interior secretary, and how he will push back against this administration with his montana perspective whenever necessary. Things like keeping public lands in public hands, an important issue at this time. Things like deferred maintenance and backlog wreaking havoc on our National Parks system. Things like the Conservation Fund. How to work with congress to ensure full and devoted funding like that Conservation Fund. As the chairwoman pointed out, things like conservation in Indian Country, for americas sovereign nations, and how to responsibly manage a glance for energy and resource developing, and how to balance that between clean water, clean air, and wildlife in the habitat that supports them. Im encouraged by the congressmans support for protecting the gateway to the yellowstone National Park. When a