Statement of Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife, on Gale Norton Senate Confirmation

(01/30/2001) - Nearly a quarter of the Senate voted against Gale Norton for Interior secretary today, and many more expressed strong reservations about her appointment. That sends a strong message to the Bush administration that Americans won’t tolerate the opening of our public lands to the oil, timber and mining industries. Despite her confirmation, it is clear that any effort by Ms. Norton to pursue the anti-environmental agenda on which she has built her career will meet with stiff opposition by the Senate.

Ms. Norton’s ideology, actions and associations during her 20-year career have been at odds with the very laws, mission and values of the agency she will lead. On the road to the Cabinet, she would have us believe that she was miraculously converted to the cause of conservation.

The environmental community made her extremist views publicly known. And during her Senate confirmation hearings, she disavowed many of her more controversial positions and said she’s "fully committed" to enforcing the laws that protect our public lands. She’s on the record now, and we will hold her to her word on these matters.

But she didn’t entirely dispel the specter of her past. She stated she favors oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Despite overwhelming opposition by the American people, she would surrender the wildest place left in America to exploitation – all for an oil supply that would take 10 years or more to bring to market and then would satisfy only about six months of our national demand.

We will not allow this to happen.

In numerous responses to senators on other issues, Ms. Norton’s answers were vague, elusive and troubling. For example, she said that she supports the "goals of preserving and protecting endangered species" but also implied that she disagrees with the way the law is "structured and the kinds of mandates it puts onto a state."

Asked about her position on President Clinton’s use of the Antiquities Act to designate national monuments, she again vaguely replied that the goal of preserving lands is an "admirable" one, but that the process caused her "concern."

Asked whether there’s an implied federal water right that comes with wilderness designation, she responded that she would have to study the issue. And she left the door open on the issue of providing compensation to private property owners for land-use regulation.

We have just embarked on a new century and face numerous threats to our vanishing natural heritage. At this point in our nation’s conservation history, we need a steward who will passionately support protection of our natural resources. We fear Ms. Norton will, at best, grudgingly enforce our natural resource laws and, at worst, work to undermine them.

Defenders of Wildlife is known for its high-tech innovations. The organization’s Defenders Electronic Network (DEN) is an online environmental advocacy tool that includes a free e-mail newsletter called DENlines, plus email alerts when urgent action is needed.

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Contact(s):

Cat Lazaroff, (202) 772-3270