rocky Mountain Media Grok

Henry Paulson and the Nature Conservancy

By Jonathan Weber, 5-31-06

President Bush's nomination of Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson Jr. to be the next Secretary of the Treasury drew quick opposition from some anti-environmentalists, who object to the banker's work as chairman of the Nature Conservancy. The Competitive Enterprise Institute rants that the Nature Conservancy is actually a "strong-arm real estate agent for the Federal government," and that Paulson's association with it means that he's likely to "neglect his job in order to promote the Kyoto global warming treaty and other radical environmental causes.” Wow. The Washington Post, on the other hand, whose investigative reporting spotlighted serious abuses of the conservation easement system by the Nature Conservancy and others, characterizes Paulson's handling of the the resulting scandal as an example of his take-charge style and shrewd crisis management. Meanwhile, one of Paulson's best buddies is Walter C. Minnick, CEO of Boise-based Summerwinds Garden Centers. Minnick recounts to the New York Times how Paulson beat him out for a job in the Nixon White House: "I was the top of my class at Harvard Business School and I was magna cum laude at the law school, and they picked the football player from Dartmouth."

An eight-year-old boy was found in good shape near Canyon City, Colorado after getting lost and wandering alone for four days in the wild...in other outdoor survival news, a Salt Lake City man fell half-a-mile down Mt. McKinley while trying to ski the Alaskan peak, but suffered only a good battering.

New Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says settlement of a $130 billion lawsuit brought by Indian tribes is a top priority, reports Rocky Barker in the Idaho Statesman. The lawsuit, led by Montana Blackfoot tribemember Elouise Cobell, says the tribes were for many decades systematically cheated out of money from natural resource leases on tribal lands.

Kempthorne's successor as governor of Idaho, Jim Risch, says he'll focus on constituent service during his brief 7-month term of office. But he will tackle some policy matters - including the highly sensitive question of what the state will recommend be done with its 9.3 million acres of roadless National Forest land.

Utah will revisit recently issued oil-and-gas leases on almost 120,000 acres of the Great Salt Lake as part of a settlement with environmental groups.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.