Bush names Idaho gov. Interior Secretary

WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush named Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to succeed Gale Norton as secretary of the interior Thursday.

In a brief White House appearance with the nominee, the president said Kempthorne would build on environmental progress made by Norton.

"As governor of Idaho, he worked closely with Gale on a variety of important initiatives," Bush said. "They worked together to resolve a longstanding water rights issue, to return responsibility to Idaho for managing the local wolf population and to make the Healthy Forests Initiative a reality in Idaho."

A native of California, Kempthorne graduated from the University of Idaho and worked in the state department of land management before running for mayor of Boise. He served one term in the U.S. Senate before being elected governor.

If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, as seems likely, Kempthorne will be the second Idaho governor to head the Interior Department.

Environmentalists, who are not enthusiastic about Norton's record, are unlikely to be enthusiastic about Kempthorne. In 2003, when Kempthorne was tipped as a possible head of the Environmental Protection Administration, liberal columnist Timothy Noah wrote in Slate that he would be a "comically anti-environmental choice."