Interior Secretary Norton resigning

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Gale A. Norton, the first female secretary of the interior, yesterday announced she is stepping down from her Cabinet post after more than five years to pursue private-sector opportunities.

Mrs. Norton was the White House's key official on the environment and natural resources and played a prominent role in opening additional government lands in the West for oil and gas drilling.

"There will never be a perfect time to leave. There is always more work to do. My leaving now gives you the opportunity to appoint a new secretary to accomplish the goals you set for the rest of your administration," said Mrs. Norton, who is celebrating her 52nd birthday today.

President Bush, in accepting her departure, praised Mrs. Norton for "her vision for cooperative conservation, protection and improvement of our national parks and public lands."

"When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region, she played a leading role in ... efforts to restore badly needed offshore energy production to avoid further supply disruption and higher energy costs for consumers."

A source close to Mrs. Norton, who served as Colorado's Attorney General from 1991 to 1999, told the Denver Post that she maintains good relations with the administration but longs to return to her native state.

The White House gave no indication of a possible replacement for Mrs. Norton, who officially resigns at the end of the month.

Environmentalists criticized Mrs. Norton for exploiting public lands, especially for her effort to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for energy exploration, and for her purported ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted of bribing public officials.

"As interior secretary, Gale Norton was an unpopular symbol of unpopular policies," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "Americans do not believe their public lands should be sold to the highest bidder, and they don't believe in privatizing their parks, forests, monuments."

Mrs. Norton also was criticized for her ties to Abramoff's lobbying firm. In the 1990s, Grover G. Norquist and Mrs. Norton founded the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA). Abramoff directed his tribal casino clients to donate $225,000 to CREA.