Word: watt
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Watch my record, not my rhetoric," James Watt told conservationists who were skeptical, even downright panicked, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior. So they did. Now the Cabinet's most controversial member is under attack not only by environmental groups but also by the state of California, staffers in his own department's Office of Surface Mining, and even Congress. Said California Democrat Alan Cranston, in an impassioned speech to the Senate: "The clamor for his removal grows more persistent every day. I want Mr. Watt stopped...
...House last week made one striking attempt to stop Watt. By a 358-46 margin (including 142 Republicans), it passed a version of the $11.2 billion Interior Department appropriation bill containing provisions that would forbid some of the Secretary's proposals. Among them is Watt's plan to streamline the Office of Surface Mining, which has already led to intradepartmental mutiny. In May Watt decided to shut down the Denver office of OSM, which supervises strip-mining operations in eight Western states, and ordered 113 of its 133 employees to move, most of them to somewhat less cosmopolitan...
...Watt has proposed "unlocking" many of the more than 500 million federal acres under his protection for mining, timbering and grazing, despite evidence that those lands now available for development are not being properly used. The Secretary supports proposed legislation that would make it easier for oil and timber interests to prevent the designation, by Congress, of new wilderness areas in national forests...
...Finally, over the opposition of environmentalists and local residents-not to mention Governor Edmund Brown Jr., who last week filed suit against the Federal Government-Watt wants to open four areas off the California coast to oil and gas exploration. According to some opponents, no more than 194 million bbl of oil lie under these areas, which are located near such scenic spots as Point Reyes and Big Sur. Those 194 million bbl. would meet U.S. needs for about twelve days. But Watt insists: "We must inventory our lands ... the only way to determine the quantities...
Environmental groups are getting ready for the fight of their lives in a variety of ways. The 200,000-member Sierra Club has chosen direct attack. It is circulating a petition demanding that Watt be fired. "We're trying to provide a way for an outraged public to express itself to the federal officials closest to them," explains Executive Director Michael McCloskey. Other groups disagree with this tactic. "We've got to go after specific programs," says Jack Lorenz, executive director of the 50,000-member Izaak Walton League of America. "If we can't go after...