Bruce Babbitt

In an otherwise upbeat speech Thursday about the future of water supplies in the West, U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt sternly warned Southern California's water-rich Imperial Valley to reduce its use of the resource or face federal action. "I believe the time has come for me as the [Colorado] River master to play a more active role," Babbitt told a convention of the Colorado River Water Users Assn., officials from seven states that depend on the 1,400-mile waterway.

The environment has never faced greater political peril in America than it does today, says former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "History, however, instructs us that the trajectory of environmental protection is moving ever upward over time, even as the trend line occasionally breaks downward," Babbitt asserts in his new book "Cities in the Wilderness."

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is headed to Capitol Hill for a hearing on a mining bill, explaining why he told reporters in 1988 that he would love to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. "I have always been interested in foreign policy," the former Arizona governor is saying, seated in the back seat of his government-chauffeured car. "And I saw the end of the Cold War coming and talked about the end of Marxism.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, reversing an earlier decision, announced Saturday that the San Diego Zoo will be permitted to import two giant pandas from China and that a plan will soon be unveiled allowing other American zoos to import the charismatic but endangered mammals.

Saying the state's recently approved Indian gambling measure violates the U.S. Constitution, four Northern California card clubs are urging Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to reject the state-tribal agreements permitting expanded Indian casinos. The card rooms' action is a likely first step toward a lawsuit to have Proposition 1A declared invalid on the grounds that it gives an unfair advantage to Indian tribes. The compacts were signed by Gov.

The rumbling began in November, the popping noises around Christmas. By mid-January, the "Babbitt media boomlet" was on. And for the next three weeks, Democratic presidential candidate Bruce Babbitt, dead last in the polls, enjoyed a rare crush of rave notices from the nation's press corps. In the past week, the first polls following all the publicity were published, and they challenge the axiom that the press is the dominant shaper of public opinion in presidential politics.

Bruce Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona who grew up on one of the state's largest cattle ranches, listened politely as yet another scowling stockman rose to question his Western sympathies. "What I want to know is, as a rancher yourself, are you with us or are you against us?" asked Britt Lay, the hefty foreman of the White Horse ranch in southeastern Oregon who met with Babbitt last week.

In a sentimental farewell speech to 750 water officials from states that depend on and bicker over the Colorado River, U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Thursday announced a truce in a decades-long fight that has pitted California against six other states. Babbitt told the annual gathering of the Colorado River Water Users Assn.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt killed a proposal Wednesday for an open-pit gold mine in Southern California that he said would irreparably damage Indian cultural and religious sites near the Arizona border. Mining advocates expressed outrage at the decision and the company, Glamis Gold Ltd. of Reno, threatened to fight it in court. Babbitt's decision blocked Glamis from starting the 1,571-acre mine on Bureau of Land Management property about 45 miles northeast of El Centro.

Re "Shred the Roadmap to Salmon Extinction," Commentary, Dec. 30: Thanks to Bruce Babbitt for his lucid explanation of the implications of the Bush administration's so-called plan for the salmon habitat in Washington state. No matter how many times it is pointed out, it seems to be difficult to make the Bush team (and the American public) understand that the loss of a species is another link in the chain of environmental destruction, and that lost species, clean air and clean water can never be replaced.

The environment has never faced greater political peril in America than it does today, says former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "History, however, instructs us that the trajectory of environmental protection is moving ever upward over time, even as the trend line occasionally breaks downward," Babbitt asserts in his new book "Cities in the Wilderness."

Re "Shred the Roadmap to Salmon Extinction," Commentary, Dec. 30: Thanks to Bruce Babbitt for his lucid explanation of the implications of the Bush administration's so-called plan for the salmon habitat in Washington state. No matter how many times it is pointed out, it seems to be difficult to make the Bush team (and the American public) understand that the loss of a species is another link in the chain of environmental destruction, and that lost species, clean air and clean water can never be replaced.

Starting with the hiring of Lenora Kirby [as director of the Ahmanson Ranch-based Las Virgenes Institute for Resource Management], who likes to kick people off the ranch, and [former Interior Secretary] Bruce Babbitt, who was once a hero to environmentalists, it's clear that Washington Mutual's lobbyists and PR spin doctors don't like being perceived as on the wrong side of an environmental issue. But the fact is, their report to Heal the Bay documents what many community leaders have been saying all along: The project Washington Mutual has in mind for Ahmanson Ranch is a disaster for the environment, and the damage will be so extensive it really can't be mitigated.

Alexander Cockburn's claim (Commentary, July 27) that the Interior Department under Bruce Babbitt could have impeded Ahmanson Ranch development plans if only it had rated rare species discovered on the site as "requiring critical habitat" is simply wrong. The California red-legged frog was listed as threatened and proposed for critical habitat designation on none other than Babbitt's watch. The Ahmanson Ranch has always treated the red-legged frog and the San Fernando Valley spineflower as threatened species that must be saved and should be listed.

No better case for cynicism about politics is currently available than the career of Bruce Babbitt, the Interior secretary in Clinton time--an era now bodied forth by major green groups in their fund-raising material as a time when stewardship of the nation's natural resources can contrast finely with the pillage supposedly ushered in by the Cheney-Bush crowd.

In his first comments as environmental liaison for the Ahmanson Ranch project in eastern Ventura County, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt hailed the development as a model solution for Southern California's housing needs. Under fire from environmentalists and slow-growth activists who oppose the 3,050-home mini-city and have accused Babbitt of selling out his legacy as a conservationist, the former Cabinet member also defended his involvement with developer Washington Mutual.

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, in his first prominent role since leaving government, is helping the Hearst Corp. broker a deal worth $200 million or more that will determine the fate of Hearst's fabled seaside ranch at San Simeon. Babbitt also has been hired by a developer hoping to jump-start stalled plans to build a mini-city of 3,050 homes on Ahmanson Ranch in rural Ventura County, just northwest of Calabasas.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt killed a proposal Wednesday for an open-pit gold mine in Southern California that he said would irreparably damage Indian cultural and religious sites near the Arizona border. Mining advocates expressed outrage at the decision and the company, Glamis Gold Ltd. of Reno, threatened to fight it in court. Babbitt's decision blocked Glamis from starting the 1,571-acre mine on Bureau of Land Management property about 45 miles northeast of El Centro.

Bruce Babbitt nursed a chardonnay and perched uncomfortably on an ottoman, wincing occasionally as a parade of his soon-to-be former employees dredged up embarrassing stories. One after another, wildlife biologists, wolf experts, park rangers and conservation activists spun out anecdotes collected from the Interior secretary's eight years in office. The setting, a gathering over the weekend at Yellowstone National Park, was weighted with symbolism.

A grassy plain in California, two coral reef areas in the Virgin Islands and landmarks of the Lewis and Clark expedition in Montana would become national monuments under recommendations Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt sent Friday to President Clinton. Monument designations would give greater protection to the five areas, which are owned by the federal government. The new protections would likely include bans or restrictions on vehicle use and prohibitions on mining and oil drilling.