August 7, 2019 — Could anything make greens pine for the return of Ryan Zinke?
The former Interior secretary’s penchant for fossil fuels, along with a healthy string of scandals, made him an opponent of Democrats and environmentalists. But Zinke had one redeeming quality among those inclined toward cutting carbon: He loved offshore wind.
Now the success of the embryonic industry — and the state climate goals pinned to it — is being newly questioned under Zinke’s successor, Secretary David Bernhardt.
Zinke touted offshore wind at an industry conference and in newspaper op-eds. He wrote in The Boston Globe that offshore wind was part of the Trump administration’s strategy for “American energy dominance.” The collective sigh of relief in the Northeast, where a series of states have made offshore wind central to their climate plans, was nearly audible at the time.