WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department\u2019s regulatory culture to be more business friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, \u201cI got 30 percent of the crew that\u2019s not loyal to the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a speech to an oil industry group, Zinke compared Interior to a pirate ship that captures \u201ca prized ship at sea and only the captain and the first mate row over\u201d to finish the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do have good people\u201d at Interior, he said, \u201cbut the direction has to be clear and you\u2019ve got to hold people accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zinke\u2019s comments echo complaints by some White House allies that a permanent, \u201cdeep state\u201d in Washington has sabotaged Trump\u2019s efforts to remake the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zinke did not go that far, but he lamented a government culture that prizes analysis over action, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s too many ways in the present process for someone who doesn\u2019t want to get (a regulatory action) done to put it a holding pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To remedy that, Zinke said he is pursuing a major reorganization that would push much of the agency\u2019s decision-making outside Washington and move several agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management, to undetermined Western states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moves follow military strategy, Zinke said: \u201cPush your generals where the fight is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While details remain largely under wraps, Zinke said he was excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be huge,\u201d he said in a speech to the National Petroleum Council, an advisory committee that includes leaders of the oil and gas industry. \u201cI really can\u2019t change the culture without changing the structure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides moving employees, Zinke said he wants to speed up permits for oil drilling, logging and other energy development that now can take years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe president wants it yesterday,\u201d Zinke said, referring to permits for energy development. \u201cWe have to do it by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On other topics, Zinke said the Endangered Species Act has been \u201cabused\u201d by bureaucrats and environmental groups and needs to be reformed to be less \u201carbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no off-ramp\u201d for species to be removed from protected status, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zinke also offered a quirky defense of hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique also known as fracking that has led to a years-long energy boom in the U.S., with sharply increased production of oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFracking is proof that God\u2019s got a good sense of humor and he loves us,\u201d Zinke said without explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, \u201cI got 30 percent of the crew that\u2019s not loyal to the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,15,68,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2924],"class_list":["post-22668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4IHSKXNSHJCR7B3CHPME2JVOUM","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/leadership\/2017\/09\/26\/zinke-one-third-of-interior-employees-not-loyal-to-trump\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n