United States President-elect Donald Trump is expected to choose Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a five-term Republican who represents eastern Washington and is the chair of the House GOP Conference, as the head of the Interior Department in his administration.
Rodgers is a vocal advocate for increased oil and gas drilling on federal lands. The 47-year-old is currently the highest ranking woman from the Republican Party in the House of Representatives.
According to an official from Trump's transition team, under her position, Rodgers would head a 70,000-person agency which manages hundreds of millions of acres of federal lands. These lands also include the national parks system, CNN reported.
Trump has said that he wants to open up more lands for mining and drilling, so Rodgers will be essentially charged with rolling back many of the environmental restrictions placed by President Barack Obama on the federal lands and opening up mining on many.
Reports state that Rodgers has also expressed doubts about climate science and ever since she first got elected to the House 12 years ago, she has worked against most of the conservation measures taken by the federal government. She supported Trump during the presidential election campaign and shares his views that big energy firms should have more access to land under the federal government's guidance. She has also voted against environmental protections on several occasions.
An established Republican, Rodgers also backs opening the Atlantic Ocean for drilling. She has also voted to make it easy to drill lands in Native American lands. She also aligns with timber companies to expand cutting of more trees for logging.
Rodgers voting record in Congress has gained dismally low ratings from environmental and conservation organisation, where she earned a score of zero in 2015 from earning her a score of the League of Conservation Voters.
Chief Executive of Defenders of Wildlife Jamie Rappaport called Rodger's selection as "another signal from the Trump administration that environmental protections will likely be rolled back and that America's land, water and wildlife are up for sale."
In another statement, the Union of Concerned Scientists in a statement said that McMorris Rodgers has "attempted to interfere with the use of science in public policy and sponsored legislation that would erode the scientific foundation of the Endangered Species Act."
