Department of the Interior

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is the government agency responsible for managing 507 million acres of federal land (roughly one-fifth of the land area of the United States).  The DOI has eight bureaus: the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Minerals Management Service, the Office of Surface Mining, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  Under the oversight of these bureaus are all 387 national parks, 540 national wildlife refuges, 262 million acres of BLM land, 406 hydroelectric facilities and reservoirs, and 69 national fish hatcheries.

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Secretary of the Interior

 

	Dirk Kempthorne was confirmed as the 49th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 26, 2006, in a voice vote by the U.S. Senate.  He took the oath of office on the same day. Prior to his confirmation as Secretary, Mr. Kempthorne served nearly two terms as Governor of Idaho, elected first in 1998 and reelected in 2002, and was a U.S. Senator for one term.
	Unfortunately, during his time in the Senate, Secretary Kempthorne earned an appalling lifetime average of just 1% on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard. As Governor, he supported mining for gravel in the middle of a state park along the Boise River, and also led the charge against the 2001 Roadless Rule to protect the last third of our national forests from logging and road-building.