Trump’s Interior Pick Consulted for Energy Company

Ryan Zinke was paid to make connections for struggling firm
After Zinke joined QS Energy it got contract for Keystone

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) arrives at Trump Tower, Dec. 12, 2016 in New York City.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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By Ari Natter

January 17, 2017 at 6:01 PM UTC

Corrected

January 18, 2017 at 11:40 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department earned $85,000 from a company that has a stock price of 8 cents and an accumulated deficit of more than $100 million.

Before he was elected to Congress from Montana, Ryan Zinke was a board member and consultant for Save the World Air, according to disclosure forms released by the Office of Government Ethics this month. The company, founded in 1998 and now called QS Energy Inc., is marketing a system that it says will boost the flow of oil in pipelines.