Interior Nominee Norton Called ‘Judicious,’ but Environmentalists Wary

Nearly four years ago, Colorado’s then-Atty. Gen. Gale A. Norton strode into a staff meeting dead-set against filing a lawsuit that would take on the tobacco industry. By the time the session was over, she had completely changed her mind.

Supporters of President-elect George W. Bush’s choice to head the Interior Department cite the incident as evidence of Norton’s flexibility, her willingness to listen and make decisions based on the information presented to her.

“She is very bright and very judicious and very careful to make sure she knows exactly what the facts are,” said Marti Allbright, Norton’s former chief deputy attorney general and a participant in the tobacco discussion. “She does not ‘knee-jerk’ a position.”

But such assessments provide small comfort to environmental activists, some of whom reacted with dismay to Bush’s appointment.

They are particularly troubled by Norton’s past work as an attorney for the Mountain States Legal Foundation, an organization once headed by James G. Watt, the former Ronald Reagan administration Interior secretary who infuriated environmental groups with his pro-development stands.

The nomination “sends a very bad signal,” said Jay Watson, California/Nevada regional director for the Wilderness Society. “She is a bit of an enigma but we think she spells trouble.”

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest environmental group, characterized Norton as Watt’s “understudy.”

Norton’s record “sends shivers down our spines,” Pope said. “Her main experience is not in management of public lands . . . but in opposing and dismantling of regulations designed to protect the public lands.”

Environmentalists noted that Norton already has declared her support for several controversial positions taken by her new boss. They include opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration and questioning President Clinton’s designation of vast wilderness areas as national monuments, including the Giant Sequoia National Forest in Central California.

But Republican Colorado Gov. Bill Owens said that such fears are unfounded, calling Norton a “by-the-book attorney who will do what the law tells her to do.”

“She will enforce the law,” Owens said. “As attorney general she was very aggressive in terms of holding the federal government’s feet to the fire.” He cited as an example the cleanup of the Rocky Flats nuclear processing plant.

The nomination drew support from some advocacy organizations, including the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based recreation group that has opposed Clinton’s public land policies.

“I think she will be a refreshing change from the top-down, D.C.-based philosophy of the Clinton administration,” said Jack Welch, president of the coalition. “She will be a positive influence for multiuse of public lands.”

Norton, a Republican, is widely regarded as a skilled lawyer who tends toward the conservative side on environmental and economic issues but is for abortion rights.

Bush, in making the announcement, described her as having a reputation “for building consensus on divisive issues” and said she will have a “clear charge” as Interior secretary.

Norton called it an “awesome responsibility . . . to be asked to take on the job of managing a large portion of those beautiful and special places.”

The Interior Department has authority over many issues that affect California’s environment and economy. Included are allocation of scarce water supplies, expansion of offshore oil drilling and enforcement of the Endangered Species Act.

Decisions by the Interior Department are critical to determining what resources are protected and how land is developed in California. Orange and San Diego counties are especially affected because of their vast numbers of endangered birds and other species.

Norton will face a key decision over whether to expand drilling for oil off California. At stake are leases of 36 tracts off Central California between Port Hueneme and San Luis Obispo.

The volatile issue of water in the West is another sticky problem that Norton will face. In many cases, the disputes center on dividing water among urban areas, farms and wildlife. The Bush administration is likely to view the concerns of agriculture more favorably.

Norton also will be handed a controversial 10-year blueprint for managing Yosemite National Park. The plan would eliminate two-thirds of the day parking and remove some lodging from the crowded Yosemite Valley.

Throughout the West, disputes center on how to balance the public’s use of federal land for recreation with protection of its resources.

Norton, 46, a native of Wichita, Kan., graduated from the University of Denver in 1975 and received her law degree there three years later.

“She got perfect scores on the law school entrance exam,” said Allbright, who was her classmate in law school. “She loves being a lawyer.”

In 1984, Norton went to work for the Agriculture Department in Washington. A year later, she was named assistant solicitor for conservation and wildlife at the Interior Department, where she worked to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. In 1990, Norton made her first run for public office, beating Colorado Atty. Gen. Duane Woodard. She won reelection in 1994.

In 1996, she sought the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, losing to Wayne Allard, partly because of her support for abortion rights.

Norton served as Colorado’s attorney general until 1999. Since then, she has been practicing law with a private Denver firm.

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Cimons reported from Washington and Cone from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Alissa J. Rubin in Washington contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Gale A. Norton

* Born: March 11, 1954

* Education: Undergraduate degree, University of Denver, 1975; law degree, University of Denver, 1978

* Career highlights: associate solicitor, Department of Interior, 1985-90; assistant to deputy secretary of Agriculture, 1984-85; Mountain States Legal Foundation, 1979-83; Colorado attorney general, 1990-99

* Family: Husband, John G. Hughes

* Quote: “Companies are more likely to find out if they have environmental problems if there’s some hope regulators will work with them.”

Source: Associated Press