Forwarded by Jane Clark I missed this announcement about Griles ------------------------------- Bush's statement comes on the heels of a White House announcement that energy industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles will become the second in command at the Department of Interior, with broad authority over national parks, national monuments, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands. Griles, a former Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the Reagan Administration, was hailed by the oil, gas and coal industry, which ironically characterized the appointment as "a breath of fresh air." Another candidate, Conservation Fund President John Turner, had been widely expected to gain the job. But Interior Secretary Gale Norton pushed for Griles, and a major campaign mounted by property rights advocates succeeded in swaying the White House's decision. **************************** * WILD ALERT (from The Wilderness Society) * Friday, March 16, 2001 **************************** If you had any doubts about what will happen to your public lands under George Bush and Gale Norton, you only have to look at what they said in the last week: 1. GEORGE BUSH: "We'll be looking at all public lands" for oil and gas development. 2. GALE NORTON: Said she will consider rolling back protections for National Monuments designated by the Clinton Administration. Read all about it at http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/bush0316.htm, where you can send a message to the Administration that their policies to undo protections of our public lands are just plain wrong. *************************************************************** 1. BUSH SAYS ALL PUBLIC LANDS COULD BE OPENED TO DEVELOPMENT In an interview with several reporters this week, Pres. Bush made clear that his administration will consider oil and gas drilling on "all public lands." "We're dismayed that Pres. Bush wants to turn the oil and gas industry loose on virtually all the lands in our national forests, national wildlife refuges, and other public systems," said Wilderness Society Bill Meadows. "We're beginning to wonder if James Watt is whispering in his ear," he said, referring to the Reagan-era Interior Secretary who urged drilling in Wilderness areas. A phenomenal amount of federal land is already available to oil and gas drilling, including 95% of the lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. And under the Clinton Administration, oil and gas leases were granted on over 26 million acres of federal lands. In fact, there are nearly 50,000 producing oil and gas wells on public lands, and last year alone the BLM issued 3,400 new drilling permits for new wells on federal lands. Bush's statement comes on the heels of a White House announcement that energy industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles will become the second in command at the Department of Interior, with broad authority over national parks, national monuments, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands. Griles, a former Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the Reagan Administration, was hailed by the oil, gas and coal industry, which ironically characterized the appointment as "a breath of fresh air." Another candidate, Conservation Fund President John Turner, had been widely expected to gain the job. But Interior Secretary Gale Norton pushed for Griles, and a major campaign mounted by property rights advocates succeeded in swaying the White House's decision. *************************************************************** 2. GALE NORTON TAKES AIM AT NATIONAL MONUMENTS Interior Secretary Gale Norton last week said she intends to consider rolling back protections of national monuments designated by the Clinton Administration, in an apparent reversal of what Sec. Norton had led the American public to believe. Instead of seeking to undo national monument designations, which were very popular across the western U.S. where most of the monuments were designated, Sec. Norton appears to be focusing on eliminating protections for the new monuments, such as changing boundaries and allowing new destructive practices -- in effect, allowing the monuments to exist in name only. In response, the Denver Post editorialized against her on March 12th, stating: "Interior Secretary Norton should not undermine ... new national monuments. ... Unfortunately, the Bush team may be hearing only from a vocal faction opposed to any effort to update the stewardship of our public lands. Norton, who promised to administer her department as a moderate, should listen to many voices, not just a few die-hard whiners." Some of our greatest national parks were first protected as national monuments. If Gale Norton had been Interior Secretary 90 years ago, after many of those monuments were designated, national parks like Grand Canyon, Olympic, and Zion, among others, might be oil fields and mining pits, not the treasured places they are today. TAKE ACTION George Bush's and Gale Norton's strategy to undermine (literally!) our country's public lands is just plain wrong. Send them a message today from http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/bush0316.htm or tell them directly: - Rolling back protections of our national monuments and other public lands is not what the American people want from those who are supposed to be stewards of our natural heritage. I call on you to protect our public lands, including our newest national monuments. - 95% of BLM lands in the Rocky Mountain states are already open to oil and gas development. Opening up what little is left of our public lands will unnecessarily destroy the few remaining wild landscapes of our nation's natural resource heritage. Send your comments to: Interior Secretary Gale Norton U.S. Dept. of Interior, 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Email: [log in to unmask] and Pres. George W. Bush The White House, Wash, DC 20500 FAX: (202) 456-2461 Email: [log in to unmask] FOR MORE INFORMATION Latest from the Bush Administration: http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/ National Monuments: http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/national_monuments.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]