The skinny: "But we feel obligated to oppose her, and
we ask the public to do the same – by visiting this web site:
http://www.SayNoToNorton.org ."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brad DeVries
January 12, 2001 (202) 789-2844, ext. 237
COMMENTS ON GALE NORTON NOMINATION
1/12/01 - NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
RODGER SCHLICKEISEN
Good morning, I’m Rodger Schlickeisen, president of
Defenders of Wildlife, and I am here representing our more than
750,000 members and volunteer supporters. It is with no pleasure
that I stand here to oppose the nomination of Gale Norton to be
Secretary of the Interior. But we feel obligated to oppose her, and
we ask the public to do the same – by visiting this web site:
www.SayNoToNorton.org. Unfortunately, Gale Norton is about as
far to the right on resource stewardship issues as one can get.
History shows that only rarely have our groups opposed
presidential cabinet nominees; in fact, to my knowledge, this is the
first time for Defenders of Wildlife. We didn’t even oppose James
Watt when he was nominated to be Interior Secretary. Of course
we didn’t know then that James Watt was going to turn out to be
that JAMES WATT. Well, we do know that Gale Norton will be the
next James Watt, because she’s told us so.
Clearly, Ms. Norton’s nomination is intended to satisfy only the
extremist right-wing element of Mr. Bush’s party, which has been
salivating for years to open our public lands to massive resource
exploitation. And to make his position unambiguously clear to his
friends in the oil industry, President-elect Bush promised that he
would allow drilling in this country’s crown jewel among wildlife
sanctuaries, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
We already know what people think about this sceme. Indeed,
the League of Conservation Voters poll taken immediately after the
election, by a bipartisan polling team, found that American voters
oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge by a whopping 66% to 25%
margin; and this included Bush voters who oppose drilling by 52%
to 37%, a huge 15-point spread.
When her nomination was announced on December 30th, Ms.
Norton chose to use her few minutes before the TV cameras to
extol the incredible virtues of our public lands, citing of all things,
“the untamed wilderness of Alaska” which she identified as one of
those “beautiful and special places” that she looked forward to
having the “awesome responsibility” for preserving. What
hogwash. A couple of minutes later she was explaining how she
wholeheartedly supports drilling in the biological heart of Alaska’s
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, this nation’s greatest wildlife
sanctuary, and one that is incredibly vulnerable to being irreparably
damaged by oil drilling. Oil and wildlife don’t mix, and neither do
oil and wildlife refuges, especially in the fragile arctic tundra.
And of course it isn’t just the Arctic Refuge at risk here. If
George Bush and Gale Norton have no hesitancy drilling in the
crown jewel of our wildlife sanctuaries, why would they hesitate to
drill - or mine - or cut timber - in any of our public lands, save
perhaps Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Everglades and the Grand
Canyon? The answer is: They wouldn’t hesitate. That’s what
candidate Bush meant when he said he wants to put the public
lands to work. And that’s what Ms Norton meant when she said
she supports his positions on resource issues.
There is no reason for the country to pay the same high price
as paid by Colorado for Ms. Norton’s support of corporate polluters
and scofflaws. News accounts abound explaining how time and
again, she effectively told the people of her state “Tough Luck!”
when their lives and property were harmed by mining companies
that dumped cyanide in streams, by sawmills that illegally smoked
people out of their homes, or by nuclear waste dumps in the middle
of Denver. Not only did citizens have to fight the companies that
had harmed their health or property, but they had to take on their
own state attorney general to do it.
And so we feel we have no alternative but to oppose the
extremist Norton nomination. When John Kennedy was President,
he warned that “Each generation must deal anew with the ‘raiders’”
who would unsustainably exploit the “public resources for private
profit.” I’m sure he didn’t expect those raiders to actually try to
occupy the Department of the Interior and try to use it as a kind of
Trojan horse to conquer the public lands. But that is what Ms.
Norton’s nomination represents.
Time is very short. The public can send their message of
disapproval to their senators by simply going to this web site:
www.SayNoToNorton.org. In fact, that’s the best way to also send
a message to President-elect Bush that we want real stewardship
of our environment and public lands.
###
Rachael Reiss
Defenders of Wildlife
Media Coordinator
(202) 789-2844, ext. 284
--- end forwarded text
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rex L. Bavousett
Photographer
University of Iowa
University Communications & Outreach - Publications
100 OPL, Iowa City, IA 52242
http://www.uiowa.edu/~urpubs/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
voice: 319 384-0053
fax: 319 384-0055
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mitakuye Oyasin - We are all One People
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]