from privatizing our national parks
Scott Socha has been nominated to lead the National Park Service. He's been at Delaware North since 1999, extracting profit from parks. His company sued the Park Service for $51 million. He has zero conservation experience.
His company held the names of America's most beloved places hostage for three years. Now he's been nominated to lead the agency they sued.
They even trademarked
“Yosemite National Park”
Delaware North trademarked the name of a national park and slapped it on merchandise. That's the company whose president would run the Park Service. Source
Taxpayers footed $3.84 million to buy back names that predated Delaware North by decades. KQED · NPS.gov
Delaware North is a $4 billion hospitality empire spanning casinos, stadiums, airports, and national parks on three continents. Socha's job since 1999 has been to grow their cut. More hotels near park gates. More tours. More retail. More revenue extracted from public land. His company's CEO was placed on Zinke's advisory committee that pushed to privatize park services. If confirmed, the fox doesn't just guard the henhouse. He owns it.
The agenda: getting Delaware North's CEO onto Zinke's recreation advisory committee, which would push park privatization. It worked.
The outcome: Zinke placed Delaware North's CEO on the advisory committee. The committee pushed privatization. In 2019, the lawsuit settled. Taxpayers paid $3.84 million.
Delaware North operates concessions, retail, lodging, and tours across the park system. Socha would oversee the agency that awards those contracts.
The NPS has lost 24% of its permanent workforce since January 2025. Socha's own company laid off 517 workers during the pandemic while its billionaire owners kept the Boston Bruins. He inherits an agency in crisis and a track record of cutting people to protect profit. Expect more of the same.
Socha's nomination goes first to the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee (11 Republicans, 9 Democrats). If all Democrats oppose, just two Republican defections kill it before it ever reaches the floor. The hearing hasn't been scheduled yet. There is still time.
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The more people who know about Sellout Scott, the harder it is for senators to look the other way.