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Welcome Home, Gale Norton

March 11, 2006

Interior Secretary Gale Norton is leaving office at the end of March and will return to the West. This is a good thing. Going back home will give Secretary Norton a chance to re-connect with the neighbors.

With ranchers who lay awake at night listening to noisy gas compressors and worrying about sloppy coalbed methane operators salting up scarce water supplies.

With hunters who wonder whether the great herds of game that they chase will be around years hence when migration trails are pockmarked with oil and gas drilling pads, pipelines, and waste pits.

With park rangers who fear the loss of America’s crown jewels to a mentality that measures their value only in how fast they can churn dollars and cents.

With landowners whose property, hiking trails, and favorite fishing or birdwatching spots are under siege by ever more powerful off-road vehicles driven by ever less disciplined thrill-seekers.

Yes, Secretary Norton should sit down, have coffee with the neighbors, and give them an account of her stewardship over America’s great commons.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Norton’s impending departure gives President Bush yet another chance to re-evaluate his administration’s environmental policies and return to a mainstream tradition of conservation and stewardship. As the shadows of unpopularity lengthen in the second term, there couldn’t be a better time for the president to give some deeper thought to leaving a positive conservation legacy.