When it comes to managing the nation’s mineral resources, no one does it better than the leadership from Wyoming. At least that seems to be the White House’s opinion. On Monday, Dept. of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne named Randall Luthi, former speaker and majority leader for the Wyoming House of Representatives and most recently deputy director for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, as the new director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
The previous director, “Johnnie” Burton, was also from Wyoming and in addition to working for an oil and gas company there, had also served as director of the state’s Dept. of Revenue. She resigned from her post at MMS in May after facing a mountain of criticisms for failing to effectively manage the nation’s oil and gas leases.
Luthi is perhaps most well-known (read “notorious”) for his efforts to de-list Wyoming wildlife thus allowing them to be hunted. Two of Luthi’s main targets were grizzlies and wolves and, after becoming deputy director for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, he had to recuse himself from the issue due to pending legislation. The Billings Gazette summed up Luthi’s perspective on the Endangered Species Act:
During the Clinton administration, Fish and Wildlife was run from the "top down" with government officials in Washington telling states what to do with their land, Luthi said.
The Bush administration has been more open to listening to the states, he said.
Republicans should do all they can to prevent animals from being listed as endangered, because once they are, it is hard to get them delisted, he said. Listing animals as endangered is the "death nail," he added.
And landowners should be allowed to have whatever species they want on their land, Luthi said.
So was it Luthi’s fine stewardship of natural resources that made him eligible to be MMS director? To be sure, he’s certainly qualified for the position, having served in a leadership role in one of the largest mineral-rich states and two posts at Dept. of Interior. Yet In the final count, VP Dick Cheney’s name on your resume can’t hurt either.
-- John Pruett
Comments