Conservation commitment is questioned

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001 | 8:54 a.m.

Las Vegas and Nevada environmentalists said Wednesday that they welcome Interior Secretary Gale Norton's stated commitment to conservation -- but they questioned whether the Bush administration official's commitment can be translated into reality.

Jane Feldman, a local activist for the Sierra Club, wondered whether Norton's primary goal is conservation and if the committee process Norton champions doesn't sometimes put economic interests over the interest of environmental protection.

"Those that work for conservation need to make sure conservation is the primary goal," Feldman said.

She said the Bush administration's definition of conservation doesn't always jibe with what environmentalists, or the general public, call environmental protection.

"Everybody says they are for conservation, yet thousands of acres are bulldozed every day," Feldman said.

Brian O'Donnell, an activist for the state's Wilderness Society, said the administration has had a bad first year: "They've been completely against virtually all visionary protection of public lands."

The new administration is rolling back environmental protections across the board, he said. O'Donnell singled out the administration's energy policy, which calls for increased development of energy resources nationwide.

Norton, in her talk at the Governor's Conference on Tourism, asked the crowd to support the plan, now stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

"They're certainly committed to drilling for oil in as many places as they can find," O'Donnell said, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "The priorities in the plan are drilling first, second and third."

He mocked Norton's references to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and the Desert National Wildlife Area, three protected areas under Interior's jurisdiction in Southern Nevada.

Norton praised the areas during a speech Tuesday.

"It's great that she stands for places that are already protected," O'Donnell said. "The question is: What are they going to do for places that need protection?"

Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, an environmental group that opposes the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, also blasted Norton's affiliation with an administration apparently committed to placing nuclear waste in Nevada.

If the administration is really committed to working with local people on environmental issues, "let's put a stop to the Yucca Mountain project," Tilges said.