May 10, 2001

Secretary Gale Norton
U.S. Dept. of the Interior
1849 C St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Secretary Norton,

I appreciate the time you took to write your letter of May 3rd, but found its central assertion, that somehow we share the same views on the environment, quite mystifying. In fact, as a 25 year Board member of the Natural Resources Defense Council, I enthusiastically opposed your nomination as Secretary of the Interior citing your career of opposition to the "fundamental mission" of the agency.

I believe that this position was amply justified. As Colorado's Attorney General, you asked the Supreme Court to overturn the Endangered Species Act as unconstitutional; supported a law to grant immunity to major industrial polluters; advocated corporate self-policing of environmental regulations; and repeatedly refused to take action against corporate polluters. Earlier, as an employee of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, one of the nation's most extreme right wing advocacy groups, you asked courts to set aside the Surface Mining Act, a law that serves to protect our water, our land and our public health from toxic mining waste.

Sadly, since assuming the Interior Secretary post, you have compiled an abysmal record of capitulating to big businesses at the expense of the nation's public health, public lands and wildlife. Among the most telling actions at the Interior Department in recent weeks :

• the indication that the Interior Department plans to weaken important environmental protections for hard rock mining;

• the open solicitation of suggestions for how to reduce the size of National Monuments and reduce the protections they afford;

• the brazen advocacy for a budget rider blocking the ability of citizens to have courts enforce key provisions to protect wildlife under the Endangered Species Act;

• your continuing efforts to open America's most spectacular wildlife refuge, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to oil and gas development;

• your support for off-shore oil exploration and development in ecologically important areas like the waters off Florida's West Coast;

• the rejection of plans to re-introduce grizzly bears into federal wild lands in Idaho and Montana;

• the virulent opposition to the appointment of environmental moderates to key Interior Department positions and;

• the diligent efforts to secure the nomination of industry advocates to key Interior Department posts, including the nomination of a lobbyist for the mining, oil, and gas industry as your second in command.

Taking all of this into consideration, I'm sure you might understand why your assertion that somehow we share the same environmental philosophy becomes for me, a disingenuous notion.

For my part, I thank you for your kind invitation to a condor release press event and I hope you understand that I am not inclined to join such an event. Rather, I intend to use what time I have to do what I can to focus on the devastating environmental repercussions of the agenda you and President Bush embrace, and the decisions you are now making in your current capacity at the Interior Department.

The decisions you will make over the next four years will affect each and every one of our lives, and the lives of our children and generations of children to come. I respectfully urge you to re-evaluate your approach and consider adoption of environmental policies, which truly represent the public interest over corporate interests.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford