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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Times>A<FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">rti</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#0e0488><FONT
size=4><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">cle
Launched: 3/10/2006 09:59 AM<BR><BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT size=6><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"><B>G</B></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT size=6><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"><B><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman">ale</FONT><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"> </FONT></B></SPAN></FONT><B><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Norton to resign from
Cabinet<BR><BR>By</SPAN></FONT></FONT></B><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">
M</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">ike Soraghan<BR>Denver Post Staff
Writer<BR>DenverPost.com<BR><BR>Wa</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">sh</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>ington -
G</B>ale Norton is announcing her resignation today after serving more than five
years as secretary of the Interior and overseeing a dramatic expansion of
drilling, logging and development on the public lands of the
West.<BR>But</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">the former Colorado attorney general is to leave office
at the end of the month without achieving her highest-profile political goal,
opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling.<BR><BR>A
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">s</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">ource who
requested anonymity said she is not leaving because of any problems, and is
expected to cite water issues and her push for "cooperative conservation" among
her accomplishments.<BR><BR>"</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">S</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">he wants to go
home for a while," the source said.<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=5><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">N</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">o successor has
been named, but the confirmation hearings could give Democrats an opening to
highlight their dissatisfaction with Bush on environmental issues. They could
also use it as a way to highlight administration connections to disgraced
lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who lobbied the department on Indian casino
issues.<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">Norton, who was
the first female Interior secretary, has served since the earliest days of the
Bush administration. Her background working with polarizing former Interior
Secretary James Watt for logging and mining interests made her one of Bush's
most controversial cabinet nominees.<BR><BR>A much more careful speaker, she
proved less fiery than Watt, but achieved more in the way of opening up public
lands for development. Under her watch, the department stripped protection from
areas previously managed as wilderness, opened up forests to increased logging,
sent snowmobiles back into Yellowstone and pressed federal land managers to
speed up drilling for gas on public lands</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">.<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px"><BR>While natural
gas supplies increased, the environment suffered, according to environmentalists
and government auditors. A report by the Government Accountability Office last
year found that the focus on processing drilling permits for gas companies often
left environmental monitoring undon</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">e</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">.<BR><BR>Norton,
however, stressed that she was working toward "cooperative conservation," a way
to achieve environmental results by partnering with landowners and developers
rather than regulating th</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">e</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">m.<BR><BR>Norton's tenure was also marked by repeated
ethical controversies. Norton cleared her top deputy, former lobbyist J. Steven
Griles, after her inspector general said his conduct showed that the
department's ethics system was "a train w</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">r</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">eck<BR><BR>waiting to happen." Griles is now under
investigation for allegations that he did the bidding of convicted Indian casino
lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Norton is still supporting</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=5><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">him.<BR><BR>Abramoff also funneled more than $500,000 to
one of Norton's former political aides, Italia Federici, to gain access to her
department, which makes key decisions about which tribes can open casinos.
Norton said she had no qualms about Federici's activ</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=5><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">i</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">ties.<BR><BR>Norton's BLM director Kathleen Clarke
remained after apparently violating her recusals from a Utah land-swap that
investigators said would have shortchanged the federal government. Republican
Sen. Chuck Grassley said the deal involved a "jaw-dropping ... apparent
cover-up" within Norton's depa</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">r</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">tment.<BR><BR>She
also suffered bad publicity when the head of the National Park Service police
was fired after talking to a reporter and congressional staff about budget
sho</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">r</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">tfalls.<BR><BR>Norton was also the first Bush cabinet
official to be held in contempt, though the ruling regarding Indian trust issues
was later overruled by an appea</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">l</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">s
court.<BR><BR>The Indian trust case metastasized from an obscure bookkeeping
mess to a drain on Norton's entire department. She once said the issue occupied
her top staff more than any ot</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">h</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">er
issue.<BR><BR>In the National Journal Political Insider's Poll last year, she
was voted the second-most underrated Bush cabinet secretary by Republican
operatives who credited her with pursuing Bush's pro-development agenda with a
minimum of bad</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT
face="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"> p</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">ublicity.<BR><BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>