Norton supports Arctic oil drilling
Copyright 2000 MSNBC
December 29, 2000
Dec. 29 — Gale Norton, President-elect George W. Bush’s choice to head the Interior Department, considers herself an environmentalist, but don’t expect your typical environmental group to support her nomination. For one, Norton, like Bush, has long supported opening part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.
NORTON HAS WORKED before for the Interior Department, which is responsible for managing federal lands and resources. She was a lawyer under President Ronald Reagan’s first interior secretary, the controversial James Watt, and lobbied to open part of the wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, a proposal that has angered environmentalists.
Defenders of Wildlife said it would “hope for the best but prepare for the worst ... because Gale Norton’s record indicates that she has not been a moderate on environmental and conservation issues, but rather a right-wing extremist in the mold of her one-time mentor, James Watt.”
The National Parks Conservation Association had a similar view, saying its fears were based on Norton’s past work with the Political Economy Research Center, which “has taken disturbing environmental positions such as outlining methods for selling off national parks.”
HEADS COALITION
Norton also has been serving as national chairperson of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates, a group formed in 1998 with party support to overhaul the perception of Republicans as anti-environment.
The coalition preaches environmental solutions that jibe with free-market economic plans — “sound science over emotionalism, and common sense over extremism” — a stance that has drawn fire from traditional environmental advocates.
Those critics note the coalition is actually a political action committee, whose donors include several energy companies and associations representing mining, logging, chemicals and coal.
A rival group, Republicans for Environmental Protection, described the coalition of showing “no signs of being either grassroots or pro-environment. The word greenscam comes first to mind.”
Supporters, on the other hand, say Norton would strike a balance after what they claim were years of federal abuse. “She will be a refreshing change from the top-down, DC-based philosophy of the Clinton administration,” claimed Jack Welch, the head of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, which wants continued offroad vehicle access to public lands. “She will be a positive influence for multi-use of public lands ‘for’ the public instead of ‘from’ the public.”
‘WISE USE’ MOVEMENT
Norton’s critics also dislike her ties to the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Norton started her legal career at the foundation, whose first president was Watt.
Founded in part by Colorado beer baron Joseph Coors, the group is associated with the “wise use” movement, which advocates opening public lands to mineral and energy development. It also espouses “takings” legislation, which would extend to businesses the right that individuals have to challenge government restrictions on private property.
Much of Norton’s philosophy revolves around local rights and keeping federal intervention at bay.
Norton made it clear in 1998 she favored a change in federal law that would allow polluters to avoid legal trouble if they turned themselves in and cleaned up the mess. “Companies are more likely to find out if they have environmental problems if there’s some hope regulators will work with them,” she said.
She also backs Colorado’s self-audit law, which allows companies to determine on their own whether they have complied with environmental regulations, a process decried by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
OTHER BACKGROUND
As Colorado’s first female attorney general, Norton took a high profile in national litigation by states against tobacco companies. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996, but lost in the Republican primary to Rep. Wayne Allard, who went on to win the general race.
After leaving her post as state attorney general in 1998, Norton joined the Denver law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Strickland.
MSNBC.com’s Miguel Llanos and Jon Bonne as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.