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EDITORIAL: Environment Gets a Hearing Today

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 09:04 CDT

By The Idaho Statesman, Boise

May 4--Gov. Dirk Kempthorne takes center stage today.

More importantly, the future of 507 million acres of America takes center stage. So too does the fate of 1,272 species of scarce plants and animals.

When senators discuss Kempthorne's nomination as interior secretary today, they also will have an opportunity to examine the Bush administration's public lands and endangered species policies.

They will have a chance to hear what they can expect from Kempthorne, and from an administration with a troubling six-year environmental record.

What do we want to hear?

-- We want a strong, clear affirmation that public lands are a part of our cultural legacy -- not a liquid asset. We do not want public lands sold in bulk to pare down the deficit or pay for other federal programs.

We want a secretary who understands that, because we're not sure the administration does. The White House has proposed an ill-conceived plan to sell off more than 500,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management acreage over a decade, with 70 percent of the $350 million in proceeds going to deficit reduction. As concerned as we are with the deficit, we are more concerned with selling off chunks of Idaho's 12 million acres of BLM property, compromising Idahoans' access to open space. The interior secretary's job is to preserve lands, not pawn them.

-- We want a strong commitment to national parks. We want to hear the Kempthorne Idahoans heard four months ago, when he proposed a $34 million state parks makeover to legislators. "If I say names like Yellowstone or Yosemite, it evokes great images. So do names like Heyburn and Harriman. These are special places, but parks like these don't just happen. It takes vision and commitment."

No, Kempthorne didn't get the entire parks plan he wanted, even though the state's $214 million surplus would have covered it. And Kempthorne's parks advocacy would be severely tested by the realities of the federal deficit. However, a promise to the parks is a first step. Yellowstone, Yosemite and the nation's 388 other National Park Service properties face a maintenance backlog of $4.5 billion to $9.7 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.

-- We want an interior secretary who recognizes the value of the Endangered Species Act. Kempthorne has supported reform of the law since his time in the U.S. Senate -- and the House and Senate are now working on competing rewrites. We want a secretary who recognizes both the controversy of endangered species recovery and the incalculable value of saving rare species.

We want to hear the Kempthorne who related this anecdote during a November 2003 speech, marking the 30th anniversary of the passage of the law. "On occasion, I go to a place called Indian Riffle, along the Salmon River. In the fall the normally peaceful waters are alive with the thrashing motions as hundreds of chinook salmon labor to spawn in the gravel beneath the clear running water. It is incredible to think that a journey of a thousand miles begins and ends there. ... For me, there was no substitute for seeing and experiencing that miracle of nature."

Kempthorne has said little about interior issues since Bush announced his nomination March 16. Today, Kempthorne will have to answer direct questions that define an agenda. Starting today, the line blurs between Kempthorne's record and the administration's vision.

Kempthorne, a consummately smooth politician, is unlikely to say anything that distances himself from the administration. If we hear a clear commitment to core values -- protecting our lands and our wildlife -- we trust he would have the power to carry it out.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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