Plans for Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s Bureau of Land Management just surfaced in Energy and Environment and the news isn’t good for anyone hoping the Bureau would take a truly balanced approach to public land management.

The plans are long on border security and fossil energy development, but short on conservation priorities that can maintain the health of the outdoor economy.

It promises to open even more land to oil and gas development and speed up permitting for all kinds of resource development.  It makes virtually no mention of the the billion dollar outdoor economy that depends on some public land from development.

That’s perhaps not surprising from an agency that is now led by an administration that is so connected to the oil and gas industry.  But it should be disappointing to anyone who expected Secretary Zinke to make good on his promise to live up to the legacy of conservation hero former President Teddy Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt cautioned against the overuse of natural resources and protected millions of acres of public lands.  Secretary Zinke has given us no reasons to believe he can meet that standard.