Former Watt Aide Picked for Interior Post
Cy Jamison, a House subcommittee aide and former assistant to James G. Watt, was nominated Wednesday to head the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 300 million acres of federal lands in the West and Alaska.
Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. said that with 18 years of experience in natural resources policy making in Congress and in prior jobs with the Interior Department, “Cy Jamison has the qualifications need to skillfully guide the BLM in the task of managing one-eighth of our country’s land area.”
But environmentalists disagreed, saying Jamison has been aligned with forces opposed to creation of new wilderness areas and protection of public lands from development.
His nomination is subject to Senate confirmation, and environmentalists said they will oppose him.
For most of the last eight years, Jamison has worked for Rep. Ron Marlenee (R-Mont.) as an aide on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on national parks and federal lands.
“The long shadow of James Watt is casting a pall on President Bush’s claim to be an environmentalist,” said Peter Coppelman, vice president of The Wilderness Society.
“This appointment is just what we would expect from President Reagan,” he added.
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