Norton stepping down as interior secretary
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
Rocky Mountain News
March 10, 2006
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the former Colorado attorney general and one of President Bush's original cabinet members, is expected to announce her retirement today, ending a five-year run that included frequent clashes with environmentalists and Native American tribes.
Norton, the first woman ever to serve in the job, was expected to make the announcement this afternoon, according to a source who requested anonymity.
From the start, Norton was considered one of Bush's most loyal foot-soldiers, using the position overseeing vast tracts of federal land and tribal areas to streamline and increase energy exploration.
For that, she faced fierce opposition from environmentalists, and in the early days of the Bush Administration it looked as if she would be one of the most divisive figures in the cabinet.
During her confirmation fight in early 2001, critics tried to label her as "James Watt in a skirt" -- referring to the controversial Reagan Administration Interior Secretary who once worked with Norton at the Mountain States Legal Foundation.
Norton dismissed the critics and used a well-worn mantra about her "Four C's" for lands stewardship: "consultation, cooperation, communication -- all in the service of conservation."
That never convinced environmentalists, but over time her non-combative, soft-spoken speaking style caused her to slip into the background.
As Pete Kolbenschlag, West Slope field director for the Colorado Environmental Coalition put it in late 2004: "Our general feeling is it's administration policy that's pushing this. They can shuffle the players around. Until they change the attitude towards these types of issues in the administration, it's not likely to change."
Norton was drawn into a pair of national controversies involving the Native American tribes her agency oversees.
When she took the Interior Department post, she inherited the massive lawsuit over the department's alleged mismanagement of Native American trust account funds, which are supposed to compensate individual Indians for the use of their lands. The class action lawsuit seeks potentially billions of dollars in compensation over botched record-keeping and missing records for the trust accounts.
The plaintiffs often tried to sanction Norton during the court case, accusing her of intentionally thwarting the judge's orders over the massive accounting, or of cutting funds from other Indian programs to pay for fighting the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, in 2005, Norton's name was raised during an investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was accused of bilking Indian tribes out of millions of dollars while they sought favorable Interior Department decisions on tribal lands and casinos.
During an ongoing federal investigation, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee uncovered e-mails suggesting that a one-time Norton associate, Italia Federici, tried to act as a conduit for Abramoff, helping arrange meetings with Norton or her former top deputy, Steve Griles, and passing information back and forth.
Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain repeatedly told reporters that he had found no evidence that Norton had done anything wrong, but Norton still faced uncomfortable scrutiny as Federici and Griles were dragged before the committee.
Norton also had to face challenges none of her predecessors could have imagined. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when an Interior Department employee was among those killed, Norton had to shift some of her focus -- and budget resources -- to repairing a damaged national landmark in New York City, and to beefing up security at landmarks she oversees, including the Statue of Liberty.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged offshore oil platforms and other facilities the Interior Department manages along the Gulf Coast. Norton spent several weeks working with Energy Department officials to get the oil and gas flowing again.
But it's oil drilling where Norton's role will long be remembered.
She was among the most outspoken cheerleaders for controversial drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and she repeatedly raised the ire of environmentalists by making it easier -- and faster -- for companies to win permits to explore for resources in public lands, particularly throughout the west.
Environmentalists accused her of being in a rush to help industry, regardless of the long-term consequences for pristine places.
She once complained that among critics, "There seems to be an undercurrent of 'Why don't you get oil and gas from the same places you've always gotten oil and gas?'" But with traditional exploration sites being depleted, "You do need to keep looking at new areas to produce the same amount of energy."
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March 2006 Reports
Last updated on March 10, 2006