Interior nominee key for Nevada

Friday, Dec. 29, 2000 | 10:44 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- President-elect George W. Bush's naming of former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton as interior secretary today is important to Nevada because the Department of Interior manages much of the federal land in the state.

Bush said Norton would help him "find ways to develop our nation's resources in a balanced and environmentally friendly way," a likely reference to Bush's controversial desire to drill for oil in environmentally protected areas.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., today lauded Bush for choosing the first woman for the post. But Reid voiced concern about her commitment to the environment and to urban lands and water issues created by growth in and around Las Vegas and Reno.

"Just coming out and saying that you are for cowboys and miners isn't going to cut it," Reid said.

Reid also opposes Bush's plan to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a partial answer to looming energy problems in America.

Norton, who served in the Interior Department under President Reagan, declined to outline her position on the Alaska oil issue at a press conference today when Bush unveiled four cabinet choices.

"I do support the president-elect on positions he has taken during his campaign," Norton said.

While a lawyer at Interior, she worked to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Norton as a good choice. She is a consensus builder, he said.

"During the past several years she has been one of the very outspoken opponents to President Clinton's locking up public lands without talking to local officials and getting local input," Gibbons added.

Norton, 46, served as an associate solicitor for the Interior Department and as an assistant to the deputy secretary of agriculture in the Reagan administration.

Norton graduated from the University of Denver law school in 1975 and in 1979 was hired by James Watt at the Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver. Watt later served as her boss as a sometimes controversial interior secretary under Reagan. Watt often used his position not to further conservationist efforts but to develop national resources.

Some environmentalists criticized Bush's choice.

"I'm really disappointed," Southern Nevada environmentalist Jeff van Ee said, specifically citing Bush's desire to drill in Alaska.

"Anybody from the Reagan administration we're not going to like," said Craig Culp, a Washington, D.C., spokesman for Greenpeace.

Las Vegas Sierra Club spokeswoman Jane Feldman said she did not know Norton's background well but plans to "keep (Bush's) feet to the fire" on the issue of preserving endangered species.

The Denver Rocky Mountain News reported that Bush interviewed Norton on Thursday in Washington.

As Colorado attorney general, Norton helped negotiate the national tobacco settlement.

Norton, an advocate of term limits, left her attorney general's post in 1999 after two four-year terms. She was the state's first female attorney general. She served as chairwoman of the National Association of Attorneys General environment committee.

Norton ran for U.S. Senate in 1996 but lost in the Republican primary to Sen. Wayne Allard. She is now a partner in a Denver law firm.

Sun reporters Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning contributed to this report.