Gail Norton defends her record

As secretary of the interior, Gale Norton was criticized by environmentalists for allowing the energy development that is booming in the Rockies.

In front of an audience of mostly Colorado College students Monday night, Norton defended her environmental record and that of the Bush administration, and said the successes of her "cooperative conservation" policy were not widely reported because of a lack of conflict.

"It was intensely frustrating when we did things that I was very proud of and got no coverage," she said. "There's no conflict. It's only when people criticize that you get conflict."

Norton was the keynote speaker for the 2008 State of the Rockies conference, an annual report and conference led by students that focuses on social, economic and environmental issues affecting the region.

Two-term attorney general for Colorado before she became secretary of the interior in 2000, Norton oversaw decisions that gave greater access on federal lands to many of the factors identified as threats in the State of the Rockies - mining, oil and gas drilling and offroad vehicles.

She resigned in March 2006, and now works for Royal Dutch Shell PLC, in research on oil shale development in western Colorado, another endeavor criticized by environmentalists.

Students quizzed her about this job, and her perceived coziness with the energy industry while in office.

"Shell has a very strong policy of consulting with people in local communities and trying to find the best way of doing things," she said.

Oil shale was nearly developed on the Western Slope in the late 1970s, but a bust left many communities in economic ruin.

"This is just a research project at this point. We're just in a research and development phase and trying to find a lot of the answers we didn't know in the 1970s and '80s," she said.

As for managing public lands, she said her approach was to consider multiple uses, bring all groups together and find ways to accommodate them all.

And one thing she had to consider was the energy crisis, including high natural gas prices during her time in office.

She said many environmental laws are unbending and counterproductive, none more so than the Endangered Species Act.

While in office, Norton was criticized for many decisions to remove species from protections under the act, including the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, a tiny mouse that lives only on the Front Range of Colorado and in Wyoming.

She told a story of two hypothetical tree farmers, "Farmer Friendly" and "Farmer Grumpy," who have endangered woodpeckers in their trees.

Farmer Grumpy kills the birds while young and is able to harvest his trees, while Farmer Friendly takes care of them and lets them thrive.

"Farmer Friendly can't harvest his trees because it's full of woodpeckers," Norton said. "That produces exactly the wrong incentives."

She touted grants, incentives and conservation plans, rather than the Endangered Species Act restrictions, as "ways of allowing people to benefit by having endangered species on their property."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com