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The Fox Guarding the Hen House?

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Recently, President Bush announced his nomination of Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne to replace Gail Norton as Interior Secretary. The head of our Nation’s Interior Department oversees the management and protection of millions of acres of public forestlands and national parks, from coast to coast. Given Governor Kempthorne's own track record on the environment, his nomination to head this critical department is unsettling at best.

For example, Governor Kempthorne has:

  • Supported drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • Opposed the protection of 60 million acres of wild forests across the U.S.
  • Worked to weaken the Endangered Species Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.

As Senator and Governor, Mr. Kempthorne has proved hostile to a variety of environmental issues, earning an astounding one percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his environmental voting record! As a senator, Kempthorne co-sponsored a bill to take polluters off the hook for millions of tons of lead, zinc and other toxic metals dumped into Idaho’s Coeur D'Alene River Basin, leaving taxpayers with the clean-up bill.

Americans and their public lands deserve a leader someone who will protect sensitive lands and wildlife habitat and promote sustainable energy policies, rather than handing public wildlands to the highest bidders.

Please contact Senators Max Baucus, Conrad Burns and Representative Denny Rehberg and urge them to oppose the nomination of Governor Kempthorne as the head of the Interior Department.

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