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Kempthorne's a Shoo-in for Interior Secretary: Kempthorne Has History of Seeking Compromises

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Rocky Barker, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Mar. 17--Dirk Kempthorne spent his career as a U.S. senator and Idaho governor seeking to make the federal Endangered Species Act work better for people and critters.

As President Bush's Interior secretary, Kempthorne would be the nation's top wildlife manager. Rewriting the Endangered Species Act will be one of the challenges where he can apply his collaborative style and instinct to let states solve their own problems.

"I think Dirk will look for continued opportunities to bring the federal mandate down to the state level," said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, a statewide environmental group.

As Interior secretary, Kempthorne would be federal landlord of more than 507 million acres of national parks, rangeland and wildlife refuges. He would manage more than 600 dams that bring water to 31 million Westerners and irrigate 60 percent of all the vegetables grown in the United States.

He would be in charge of the fate of 1,265 threatened or endangered species.

He would be responsible for 68 percent of the nation's oil and gas reserves and millions of acres of federal mining lands.

He also would sit on President Bush's Cabinet, discussing with his colleagues from such departments as state, energy and transportation the major issues that face the nation and the world.

"I think that's good for Idaho," said former Idaho Republican Sen. James McClure.

Kempthorne, 54, said Bush told him to reach out beyond traditional constituencies and to try to find bipartisan solutions.

"He wants me to find common ground and build consensus," Kempthorne told Idaho reporters Thursday.

Congress has been attempting to rewrite the Endangered Species Act since Kempthorne went to Washington as a U.S. senator from Idaho in 1992. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife subcommittee, Kempthorne introduced a bill that would have watered down the Endangered Species Act.

But then he worked with the Clinton administration and environmental groups, such as Environmental Defense on a compromise bill that won praise, although it ultimately died in the Senate.

Now the House has passed a bill that environmentalists strongly oppose. Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and others are seeking a compromise in the Senate.

"The people who are doing it now are standing on Dirk's shoulders," said Ted Hoffman, a Mountain Home rancher who has worked with Kempthorne on such endangered species issues as wolves, sage grouse and slickspot peppergrass.

As governor, Kempthorne forged a salmon agreement with three other Northwest governors -- including two Democrats -- in 2000. He aggressively used his Office of Species Conservation to develop state management plans for grizzly bears and wolves.

In January, Interior Secretary Gale Norton formally handed Idaho back day-to-day management of wolves under a plan Kempthorne pushed that allows ranchers and the state to kill wolves with fewer restrictions.

"I think that office has turned out to be a pretty good deal," said Bruce Mulkey, a rancher who worked on protection for salmon on the Lemhi River near Salmon. "It put the state between the landowners and the federal government, and I think we've made some progress."

But Kempthorne faces a skeptical national environmental community, which doubts that he will make any changes from the Bush policies they oppose, like oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opening parks to more tourism development.

"At a time when these controversial issues need a leader who can find common ground, the president could not have chosen a more divisive nominee," said Philip Clapp, president of the Washington D.C.-based National Environmental Trust.

Environmentalists point to Kempthorne's aggressive jousting with the Environmental Protection Agency over cleaning up the Silver Valley in North Idaho after a century of heavy metal mining contamination as a sign of his values. In his 2002 State of the State address, Kempthorne said about the EPA: "I am so frustrated with them that I am on the verge of inviting them to leave the state."

"President Bush nominated someone who has consistently opposed protecting public health and public lands," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director.

Hecla Mining's vice president of public affairs, Vicki Veltkamp, said the mining industry will welcome Kempthorne.

"Dirk knows the industry real well," Veltkamp said. "It's good to have someone knowledgeable on the issue."

Indian tribes have had a thorny relationship with the Bush administration, primarily over what a federal judge has called decades-long mismanagement of trust accounts.

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe in North Idaho voted unanimously Thursday to back Kempthorne for the post. Its chairman, Chief Allan, said Kempthorne can benefit from his relationships with all five tribes in Idaho.

"I think Gov. Kempthorne can look to us for some guidance," Allan said. "We think we can make it work."

One of Kempthorne's biggest accomplishments as governor was striking an agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe over its claims to the waters of the Snake River. He brought to a close a decade of talks that resolved the tribe's water rights, protected Idaho water rights and put in place rules and projects to protect endangered salmon and steelhead habitat.

Rebecca Miles, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said she looked forward to continuing the collaborative relationship forged in those talks in the larger tribal issues.

"We're hoping this will be an improved relationship," Miles said.

The Senate must confirm Kempthorne before he takes over the 70,000-employee department.

Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, said he would schedule confirmation hearings as soon as the paperwork arrived from the White House. Democrat Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada expressed concerns about Kempthorne similar to those of former Idaho governor and Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus.

"I'm not going to support him unless I have good long conversation about public land issues," Reid said. "We can't have an Interior secretary who's going to march lock-step with the president who wants to sell public land to the highest bidder."

The Idaho Conservation League's Johnson is skeptical that Kempthorne will change Bush administration policies much. But he thinks environmentalists back East don't have a full picture of Kempthorne.

"Dirk recognizes that the West is changing and our values are changing," Johnson said. "Dirk is an urban Westerner. His boots are polished."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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