Hodel Says He Hopes to Avoid ‘Foot’ Award

New Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel said today he hopes he doesn’t win any shot-himself-in-the-foot awards from President Reagan like his controversial predecessor, James G. Watt.

Referring to one of Watt’s most famous flaps, his exclusion of the Beach Boys musical group from the 1983 Fourth of July concert at the Washington Monument, Hodel said, “I hope we can have Fourth of July celebrations that are open and exciting to all kinds of people. . . . I hope that I do not get the award of a foot.”

The Beach Boys’ California sound was a favorite of many around President Reagan, including the President’s wife, and Reagan awarded Watt a plaster cast of a foot with a hole in it. Hodel had served as Watt’s undersecretary, but had left to become energy secretary before the Beach Boys brouhaha.

Hopes for Consensus

Speaking on the ABC television show “Good Morning America,” Hodel sounded many of the themes of his confirmation hearing earlier in the week, saying he hoped he could craft a consensus of environmental groups and others on the proper use of the nation’s public lands.

Watt left office in October, 1983, and was succeeded by William P. Clark, who left office to return to California.

“You know, I have to recognize that this department has things in it that will always engender controversy,” Hodel said.

“But I hope we can reach agreement that those areas such as parks and wilderness and wildlife refuges that have been set aside deserve and will be protected.

“And conversely, there are multiple-use lands in America that if we can reach agreement that . . . if they should be made available for those energy and mineral developments . . . hopefully we’ll be able to do that with some confidence that we’re on the right course for the country.”