"Wildlife takes a backseat during Brian Nesvik's first hearing to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service"
"On Wednesday, lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held the first hearing on President Trump’s nomination to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service. If confirmed, Brian Nesvik, a former game warden turned Wyoming Game and Fish director, would lead the federal agency whose primary charge is to protect the plants and animals most in need of conservation.
During the hearing, not one lawmaker asked Nesvik about a federally protected species.
“He's smart, he's capable, he's strategic,” Wyoming’s Republican Senator John Barrasso said during his opening remarks. “The US Fish and Wildlife Service plays a collaborative, supporting role, not the primary role,” added fellow Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis. “Brian Nesvik understands the difference, and he's the right guy at the right time.”
While brief, Nesvik’s testimony offered a window into how he’d lead the biodiversity-focused bureau. When asked about permitting, he agreed that energy projects need to be approved faster. He also committed to unleashing Alaska’s energy, as directed by President Trump, even though doing so has often come at the expense of endangered species like polar bears and puts migratory caribou at risk."
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