"Key Interior Department vacancies have lingered for an unusually long time, leaving Secretary Ryan Zinke's management team problematically short-handed.

By early November 2009, 12 top Interior nominees had cleared the Senate and were on the job for the Obama administration. During the same period in 2001, the Senate confirmed seven George W. Bush administration Interior nominees.

But this year, four Interior nominees, including Zinke, have been confirmed to date by the Republican-controlled Senate."

Michael Doyle reports for Greenwire November 7, 2017. [2]