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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (280596)	3/17/2006 11:09:55 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576163

More doublespeak from the wonderful and incredible wizard of Oz! He outdoes himself this time. Bush picks Idaho governor for Interior ENVIRONMENTALISTS IMMEDIATELY CRITICAL OF PRO-DEVELOPMENT REPUBLICAN, EX-SENATOR By John Heilprin Associated Press In a move expected to have wide impacts across California and other Western states, President Bush picked a pro-development Republican, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, on Thursday to be America's new interior secretary. Kempthorne, 54, would replace departing Secretary Gale Norton if confirmed by the Senate, and he would take over managing areas as diverse as Yosemite National Park and the Gettysburg battlefield. Norton announced her resignation last week after five years of running a department that manages one-fifth of the nation's land. ``Dirk has had a long and abiding love for nature,'' Bush said. ``When he and his wife, Patricia, were married, they chose to hold the ceremony atop Idaho's Moscow Mountain at sunrise. Dirk said, `I don't think there's a more beautiful cathedral than the outdoors.' '' Wide experience Bush said Kempthorne has broad experience needed for managing the 388 sites of the National Park system, 544 wildlife refuges and more than 260 million acres of multiple-use lands located mainly in 12 Western states. ``Dirk understands that those who live closest to the land know how to manage it best, and he will work closely with state and local leaders to ensure wise stewardship of our resources,'' Bush said. Environmentalists immediately criticized the choice. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, based in San Francisco, said Kempthorne had ``consistently opposed protecting public health and public lands.'' ``American families deserve an interior secretary who actually values our natural heritage,'' Pope said. ``America deserves someone who will promote safe energy policies that protect sensitive lands and wildlife habitat, instead of giving over our public lands to developers and the oil and gas companies.'' Kempthorne, who is in his eighth year as governor, previously served six years in the Senate. The League of Conservation Voters gave him a rating of 6 (on a 0 to 100 scale, with 100 at the top) in his first year in the Senate, and a zero each subsequent year. `Roadless' rule Kempthorne has supported oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also filed suit to overturn former President Clinton's ``roadless rule,'' which banned new road building on 60 million acres of national forests. And he has sought changes in the Endangered Species Act that ranchers and property rights groups support but environmentalists have said would weaken it. Any interior secretary has wide influence in California. Almost 50 percent of the state's land is owned by the federal government. The interior secretary not only oversees all national parks, including places like Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, but also administers most water projects through the Bureau of Reclamation, and offshore oil drilling through the Minerals Management Service. Kempthorne said he appreciates and respects Bush's ``genuine enthusiasm for this great land of ours in all of its grandeur and its essence.'' He promised to be ``a responsible steward of the land and the natural resources with which our nation has been blessed.'' His chances of Senate confirmation are greatly increased by his six years in the Senate from 1993 through 1998. The Senate rarely turns down one of its former members for the Cabinet, and Republicans hold the majority with 55 of 100 seats. mercurynews.com