Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden Wants Audit Of Ryan Zinke’s Use Of Wildfire Funds
Listen
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is calling for an investigation into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s misuse of wildfire preparedness funds after news reports revealed Zinke used the funds for unrelated travel.
In December, Newsweek reported that internal emails from the Interior Department showed officials OKd the use of the funds — which are used to coordinate national wildfire fighting efforts — even though Zinke did not visit fire-affected areas.
The department told Newsweek that Zinke’s travel costs were charged to the account in error.
Wyden wants clearer answers and, in a letter, called on the office of the inspector general to conduct an audit of Interior Department spending from the preparedness sub account since Zinke took office.
“Amidst the most expensive wildfire season in history, it is unequivocally intolerable that the Interior Department could be wasting scarce taxpayer resources that are meant to save lives,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall.
Copyright 2018 Oregon Public Broadcasting
Related Stories:
Spring killing: Smaller-than-a-penny Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture
SummaryAs spring wakes up in Oregon and Washington, so do invasive Japanese beetles. Larvae living among the roots of neighborhood lawns become adults and get up to the surface –… Continue Reading Spring killing: Smaller-than-a-penny Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture
Communities to receive $197 million in federal funding for wildfire preparation
A firefighter uses a drip torch to burn the edges of an area up to a fire break in Chelan, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) Listen (Runtime :50) Read The Biden… Continue Reading Communities to receive $197 million in federal funding for wildfire preparation
Western organizations push back on lawsuit seeking to restrict aerial fire retardant use
The use of aerial fire retardant to fight wildfires could be further restricted to protect the environment.
A handful of groups from western states filed a motion last week to intervene in a lawsuit brought by an Oregon environmental group against the U.S. Forest Service for inadvertently dumping fire retardant into streams.
Continue Reading Western organizations push back on lawsuit seeking to restrict aerial fire retardant use
