Manuel Lujan: The Stealth Secretary

GIVEN WHAT GEORGE BUSH WAS looking for, Manuel Lujan Jr. was the ideal choice for Secretary of the Interior. During 20 years in Congress, the New Mexico Republican had remained largely invisible despite a dismal record on environmental issues. A gracious man, Lujan always kept his door open, even when his mind was closed. He was wary of environmentalists and the Endangered Species Act and eager to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His pro-business credentials were impeccable: he would fend off any serious challenge to sweetheart deals on public lands for oil, mining, timber and ranching interests. And though he had so little interest in Interior's affairs that he at first declined the job, he could not resist a personal appeal from Bush.

So it came to be more than three years ago that Lujan was made steward of the nation's natural treasures, overseeing some 440 million acres of precious wilderness, wetlands, parks and open expanses -- one-quarter of the U.S. landmass. By action and inaction, he has already left his imprint upon the American landscape while remaining largely unknown to the public -- a kind of Stealth Secretary. In speeches, Lujan has appealed for "balance" -- his favorite word -- between environmentalism and economic development. "I am not going to let anyone rape the earth," he insists. But in actuality, his policies distinctly tilt toward industry. "He is not the ideologue that James Watt was, but he certainly is advancing much of the same agenda," asserts James Leape, senior vice president of the World Wildlife Fund. "He is a serious threat to conservation."

Last week Lujan again revealed his priorities. The so-called God Squad, a Cabinet-level committee of which he is chairman, announced its intention to exempt from the Endangered Species Act timber sales on various federal lands in Oregon -- despite warnings from biologists that the sales pose a threat to the northern spotted owl. It is only the second time in the act's 19-year history that an exemption has been granted. (The previous case involved the whooping crane and a Wyoming dam project.)

As required by law, Lujan also released a long-awaited recovery plan for the owl, which would add new restrictions on harvesting lumber in areas of Oregon, Washington and Northern California where the birds build their nests. The plan's economic impact, says Lujan, would be very high: 32,000 jobs lost. Shrewdly, the Secretary also offered an alternative plan that he says would cost just 15,000 jobs. That plan, however, would violate the Endangered Species Act by reducing critical habitat for the endangered bird; it would therefore require congressional approval. In effect, Lujan once again fulfilled his role as friend of industry and handed off the tough choice to Capitol Hill.