Interesting thought, Hard to imagine a senior Senator resigning in a State that has an opposition party Govenor calling the shots on the replacement selection. On the other hand the race in the house is fairly close and if the elephant dies Young would probably be very interested in Interior. I can honestly say that Don is a scarey man I have had a lot of dealings with him as a constituent and supporter and finally as a high profile organizer of opposition forces to his re election,( I guess that makes me a looser).
I predict that if Don is appointed he will start hollering about the need to dam the Hanford Reach, Start logging in the Wilderness to keep them from burning in a fire, and dredge dam and defile any and all waters to maximize efficent commercial exploitation that are either in or out of his jurisdiction!
Will all of these take place? No but while everybody is fighting over "this threat" they won't be able to get anywhere on habitat protection, or
instream flows etc.
Don is one of those that always uses the policy of a best Defense is a good offense and Don is an extremely offensive man.