a little background on Steve Griles

[YellowSub1962]

<FONT COLOR="yellow">After making that other post, I realized that some people might not be aware of who Griles is. Here is some info on him. I have only modified the following text in such a way as to remove syntax errors (example: 's were showing up as =B9s )</FONT c>
CLEAR SPECIAL ALERT

CLEAR Profile -- J. Steven Griles


**INDUSTRY LOBBYIST NOMINATED FOR INTERIOR SECOND IN COMMAND**

J. Steven Griles chosen for Deputy Secretary, still must meet Senate
approval.


"Here is someone ready to carry out Gale Norton's agenda on property rights
and recreational access to public lands."
--Wise use lobbyist Mike Hardiman of the American Land Rights Alliance


Interior Secretary Gale Norton's choice for Deputy Secretary of Interior,
the department's top deputy position, is J. Steve Griles, a mining industry
lobbyist who worked with her in the 1980s in the Reagan Interior Department.

According to the Denver Post, "Norton's announcement that J. Steven Griles
will be her deputy interior secretary made it clear that champions of
industry will be running the department that oversees most of the nation's
public lands."

Griles was chosen over the candidate favored by Vice President Dick Cheney,
conservationist John Turner, a former Wyoming state lawmaker. Turner was
the target of an intense campaign by "wise use" advocates who claimed he was
a "land grabber" who would not be friendly enough to industry, western
landowners and public land users.

"Here is someone ready to carry out Gale Norton's agenda on property rights
and recreational access to public lands," said Mike Hardiman of the American
Land Rights Alliance [Denver Post, 3-9-01]. The American Land Rights
Alliance is a "wise use" group headed by Chuck Cushman.


ABOUT J. STEVEN GRILES:

**Griles serves as Vice President for National Environmental Strategies, a
Washington DC-based lobbying firm [Washington Representatives, 1999 p. 127].

According to the most recently available lobbying registrations posted by
the Center for Responsive Politics, Griles' clients include utility, coal
and oil interests. Among them are Sun Co, Pennsylvania Power and Light,
Occidental Petroleum, National Mining Association, Edison Electric, and the
Aluminum Association. Past clients have included Integrated Waste Services
Ass'n, National Food Processors Ass'n, The Southern Company, Air
Implementation Reform Coalition, National Ass'n of Metal Finishers, and
Shell Oil.

**Through his own firm, J. Steven Griles and Associates, Griles represented
the Coal bed Methane Ad Hoc committee and Dominion Resources. [CRP database]

** Griles is a former Senior Vice President of environment and public
affairs at the United Company, a Virginia-based company in coal, oil and gas
development and gold mining, and real estate development. [Denver Post,
March 9, 2001 and The Complete Marquis Who's Who Biographies, May 21, 1990]

**Griles served as Assistant Secretary. of the Interior for Land and
Minerals Management 1985-89, as Deputy Assistant Secretary to the same
department between 1983-85, and as Deputy Director of the Office Surface
Mining during James Watt's time as Secretary, 1981-83. [The Complete Marquis
Who's Who Biographies, May 21, 1990]

**Griles has known Interior Secretary Gale Norton since they served together
in the Interior department during the Reagan administration. [Greenwire,
March 9, 2001]

**Before joining the Reagan administration, Griles served at the Virginia
Department of Conservation, in Richmond between1968 and 1981. [Who's Who]

GRILES CONSIDERED FRIEND OF INDUSTRY

**Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-OH) once told Griles, ''There's
considerable evidence that under your stewardship Office of Surface Mining
carried out a campaign to gut the Federal strip mining laws." Metzenbaum
voiced these concerns during committee-level confirmation hearings for
Griles' promotion to Assistant Secretary. Metzenbaum was questioning
Griles' record during his tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary and his time
as acting Assistant Secretary. [The New York Times, December 6, 1985 and The
Oil Daily December 5, 1985]

**When Griles was made acting Assistant Secretary in 1994, the off-shore oil
industry considered Griles the "ideal choice head up the agency as programs
in coal and offshore oil and gas leasing enter critical phases in the next
six months." [The Oil Daily, November 27, 1984]

** According to the Oil Daily, Griles was not an effective leader. The
paper wrote, "The federal district court here has overturned most of the
regulatory revisions attempted by the [Office of Surface Mining] agency when
Griles was its deputy director." The Oil Daily also reported that "a House
Government Operations Committee report said the program was so badly
administered that Congress should consider transferring it to another
agency." [The Oil Daily December 5, 1985]

**"He's an ally of the industry," said National Mining Association spokesman
John Grasser. "This hopefully will be a breath of fresh air. We just hope
there's a return to balance." [Denver Post, March 9, 2001]

** The Denver Post wrote, "Norton's announcement that J. Steven Griles will
be her deputy interior secretary made it clear that champions of industry
will be running the department that oversees most of the nation's public
lands." [Denver Post, March 9, 2001]


*****

Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research
2100 "L" Street NW Suite 210
Washington, DC 20037

Contact: Dan Barry 202-785-1206 or Emily Headen, 503-236-8788


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<FONT COLOR="yellow">"Its a Wheelbase Thing, Your Jeep Wouldn't Understand"</FONT c>

Peter S. Di Primo
V.P. - Ventura County Axle Snappers 4WDC
www.axlesnappers.com
Yellowsub1962@aol.com