Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke used a private plane owned by oil-and-gas executives to take a chartered flight from Las Vegas to get to his home in Montana over the summer, The Washington Post reports.
Zinke took the flight in June, from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Montana, using the private plane owned by executives in Wyoming-based oil-and-gas exploration firm Nielson & Associates at a cost of $12,375 to taxpayers, according to business records obtained by the paper.
Commercial flights from Las Vegas to that region of Montana run daily and cost around $300.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Dept. told the Post that Zinke's flights were approved by ethics officials and only used when commercial flights were unavailable, and the secretary needed to get from Las Vegas, where he had spoke at a dinner hosted by a conservative attorneys group supported by the Koch brothers, to Montana to speak at the annual Western Governors Association meeting.
Executive vice president of Nielson & Associates Jay Nielson, told the Post that although he co-owns the plane through a holding company, he was unaware of why Zinke flew on it, saying, "Part of why people charter planes is they like to remain somewhat private."
"Secretary Zinke's entire Nevada trip appears to be a flimsy excuse for a political event in Tahoe and a thank-you dinner with his biggest campaign bundler," Aaron Weiss of the conservative advocacy group Center for Western Priorities told the Post.
"There was no legitimate reason for the secretary to be there in the first place," he added. "Then he saddles taxpayers with the bill for a private plane when he could have easily flown commercial."
Zinke also used private flights while on a trip to the Virgin Islands in March.
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