"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent the Friday before last Christmas mingling with staffers and their dogs, then flew out of Washington for a 15-day holiday break.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt was erasing the departmental handbook's climate change chapter. One-fifth of all American land would no longer require climate science to inform decisions about water, wildlife and landscapes because, as Bernhardt's order said, it could "potentially burden" fossil fuel extraction.
As investigations push Zinke toward potentially exiting the secretary's suite, Bernhardt remains a steady force for rolling back environmental protections and boosting energy development. He's kept a low profile, but both allies and adversaries say little would change after Zinke leaves because so many policies already bear Bernhardt's imprint."
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