Congress.gov says the SENSE Act passed the House on March 15, 2016, 231-183. The CRS summary says it applied to electric plants converting coal refuse into energy and eased certain sulfur dioxide and hazardous-air-pollutant limits while retaining a statewide cap on sulfur dioxide allowances.
The bill supported coal-refuse energy production but weakened some emissions limits, so it is evidence of coal-production support, not a full environmental-safeguards delivery.
The Clerk recorded Roll Call 123 on H.R.3797 as passed, 231-183. Ryan Zinke, Republican of Montana, is listed as voting Aye.
Zinke took a concrete pro-coal vote for the SENSE Act, but the measure only partially matches the promise because it eased environmental limits rather than adding safeguards.
Congress.gov says H.J.Res.38 became Public Law 115-5 on February 16, 2017. The CRS summary says it nullified the Interior Department Stream Protection Rule, which addressed impacts of surface coal mining on surface water, groundwater, and mining-site productivity.
The enacted law removed a coal-mining environmental safeguard during the relevant House term; that supports a finding that the safeguards portion was not fulfilled by federal legislative action.
The Clerk recorded Roll Call 73 on H.J.Res.38 as passed, 228-194. Ryan Zinke, Republican of Montana, is listed as Not Voting.
Zinke did not cast a vote on the successful repeal of the Stream Protection Rule, so this does not count as his concrete effort; the outcome also ran against the environmental-safeguards part of the promise.
Congress.gov says H.R.1 passed the House on March 30, 2023. Its summary says Interior must advance pending BLM coal lease applications, grant needed approvals for previously awarded coal leases, and nullify Secretarial Order 3338, which paused certain coal leases during review of the federal coal program.
In later federal service, the House passed a bill supporting more federal coal leasing and mining approvals, but the bill did not establish new environmental safeguards and did not become law.
The Clerk recorded Roll Call 182 on H.R.1 as passed, 225-204. Ryan Zinke, Republican of Montana, is listed as voting Yea.
Zinke later took a concrete vote to advance expanded coal leasing and energy production provisions, but the action remained partial because it lacked clear environmental safeguards and did not become enacted law.
The Interior Department's Stream Protection Rule was a final OSMRE rule under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act addressing environmental effects of surface coal mining, including protection of streams, groundwater, and mine-site restoration.
This was the clearest contemporaneous federal environmental safeguard for coal mining; the subsequent congressional repeal means the safeguard element of the promise was not delivered through Zinke's House service.