Idaho Gov. Kempthorne named to run Interior

WASHINGTON — President Bush nominated Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne on Thursday to be his new interior secretary.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kempthorne, 54, will replace Gale Norton, who resigned last week.

Bush said Kempthorne, a onetime mayor of Boise and a fellow mountain-bike enthusiast, has broad experience needed for managing the 388 parts of the National Park system, 544 wildlife refuges and more than 260 million acres of multiple-use lands located mainly in 12 Western states.

"Dirk understands that those who live closest to the land know how to manage it best, and he will work closely with state and local leaders to ensure wise stewardship of our resources," Bush said.

Kempthorne promised to be "a responsible steward of the land and the natural resources with which our nation has been blessed."

His chances of Senate confirmation are greatly increased by his six years in the Senate, starting in 1993. The Senate rarely turns down one of its former members for the Cabinet, and Republicans hold the majority with 55 of 100 seats.

"Dirk is a strong nominee," said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "I look forward to his swift confirmation by the Senate."

One Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, said she welcomed the appointment. "He understands the Northwest and a lot of Interior issues," she said.

As a senator, Kempthorne was deeply involved in debates over natural resources and chaired the Environment and Public Works Committee's subcommittee on drinking water, fisheries and wildlife.

As chairman of the Western Governors Association, he took the lead in calling for changes in the Endangered Species Act. Like many governors in the West, he has pushed for greater state control over management of endangered species and for greater payments to landowners facing losses brought by the law's restrictions.

He also sued the Bush administration over a decision initially made by the Clinton administration to reintroduce grizzly bears into Idaho's Bitterroot Mountain Range. Kempthorne's opposition led the Bush administration to withdraw the plan, according to statements from Interior Department officials.

He fought the Clinton administration's decision protecting federal wilderness from road builders and helped resolve one of the largest water-rights claims in the West, involving the Nez Perce Indian tribe, the state and the federal government.

His nomination drew quick criticism from some environmentalists.

Bill Arthur, the Sierra Club's Northwest regional director, said he was disappointed: "I have every confidence that he will be as poor and anti-environment an Interior secretary as his predecessor."

Barbara Miller, a citizen activist in northern Idaho who has fought for decades to get more health screening for local people affected by historic lead and zinc pollution from the Bunker Hill Mine, said Kempthorne has an interest in states rights, even at the expense of the environment.

For example, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to earmark hundreds of square miles downstream from Bunker Hill for toxic cleanup, Miller said, Kempthorne told a group of tourism and mining officials "he was so angry with EPA he was ready to throw the agency out of Idaho."

Kempthorne then successfully lobbied the White House to have his own chief legal counsel, L. Michael Bogert, appointed to head the EPA office that oversees Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.

Still, Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, said "it definitely could have been worse, and, given who he works for, it would not have been better."

And he said Kempthorne is not as ideologically tied to logging, mining or grazing as his predecessor.

Chris West, vice president of American Forest Resource Council, the Portland-based group that represents Northwest timber companies, said Kempthorne understands issues affecting the West, particularly as they affect property owners.

"We think he's a great fit," West said.

Seattle Times reporter Craig Welch contributed to this report. Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.