A Watt That Produces Steam

By WALTER ISAACSON

More storms from the Interior

Watch my record, not my rhetoric," James Watt told conservationists who were skeptical, even downright panicked, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior. So they did. Now the Cabinet's most controversial member is under attack not only by environmental groups but also by the state of California, staffers in his own department's Office of Surface Mining, and even Congress. Said California Democrat Alan Cranston, in an impassioned speech to the Senate: "The clamor for his removal grows more persistent every day. I want Mr. Watt stopped. Now."

The House last week made one striking attempt to stop Watt. By a 358-46 margin (including 142 Republicans), it passed a version of the $11.2 billion Interior Department appropriation bill containing provisions that would forbid some of the Secretary's proposals. Among them is Watt's plan to streamline the Office of Surface Mining, which has already led to intradepartmental mutiny. In May Watt decided to shut down the Denver office of OSM, which supervises strip-mining operations in eight Western states, and ordered 113 of its 133 employees to move, most of them to somewhat less cosmopolitan Casper, Wyo. So far, 26 have quit, and 72 filed suit in federal court to block the transfer. The House appropriation bill would bar funds for the reorganization.

The House bill also contains a proviso that would halt Watt's tentative plan to sell the oil and gas rights to four oceanic basins off the northern California coast. The tracts are in the middle of rich commercial fishing grounds and are home to several species of threatened marine life. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the basins contain only about 300 million bbl. of crude, or roughly twelve days' worth of the nation's oil needs. Environmentalists have been joined in the battle to prevent sale by some conservative Republicans, who feel that the auction would be contrary to President Reagan's pledges to share federal power with the states because Watt did not consult officials in Sacramento. California Republican Chairman Dr. Tirso del Junco wrote Watt that pushing the "extremely sensitive" sales would hurt the party in the state, which plans to file suit to block the auction, if it is scheduled.

Watt's long-range plans call for the leasing of 1 billion acres of offshore tracts within five years. Aside from the ecological damage this might cause, Edwin Rothschild, director of the liberal Washington-based group Energy Action, argues that the leasing is "a dumb business move." Reason: it would quadruple the area opened each year for exploration at a time when oil companies are finding it difficult enough to develop profitably the tracts already available. Watt's answer is that he expects the oil companies to determine which tracts should be developed. Says he: "I don't believe government should stand in the way of the free market, and I'm here to do what I can to make sure it doesn't."

At the time of his appointment, Watt was head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a Denver-based "public interest" law firm that took a prodevelopment stance in various environmental disputes. Conservationists thought then that he was a poor choice to head Interior, and still do. The Environmental Defense Fund, a legal action group, announced last week that it will sue Watt for delaying the addition of 44 species, most of them Hawaiian snails, to the endangered species list. The San Francisco-based Sierra Club, one of Watt's most vocal opponents, is continuing to circulate impeachment petitions. And Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group, has sold 1,200 DUMP WATT T shirts (some of them to Interior Department employees) at up to $7.50 apiece.

The most significant attack on Watt has been made by the 4.7 million-member National Wildlife Federation, by far the largest conservation group and a bastion of conservative Republicanism. Two weeks ago, the federation sent a letter to the President calling for Watt's dismissal. Said Executive Vice President Jay D. Hair: "Evidence of Mr. Watt's unsuitability has become so overwhelming that the sooner he is relieved of his duties, the better it will be for the country and its resources."

White House Chief of Staff James Baker insists that the President has "absolute faith" in his Secretary. But one senior adviser admitted that the federation's condemnation was "disturbing," and Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese asked to meet with Hair soon. Watt's difficulty, White House aides believe, stems more from style than substance. Says a Reagan aide: "He's just too confrontational. If he could soften the edges slightly, it would make a big difference." Watt has been told to clear major policy announcements with the White House so that image-conscious aides can try to mute any potential public outcry.

Watt insists that his abrasive approach was necessary to change entrenched attitudes in the Interior Department's bureaucracy. He told TIME last week: "I had to come in and yell commands that would be heard and obeyed. So I yelled, and the change came faster than I thought it would." Having forcefully made clear his intentions and goals, Watt says that he can settle down to manage the department: "Now I can change my style, my rhetoric and my mode of operation. I'm mellower."

Perhaps. But Watt in a lower key is unlikely to stop the controversy; he is a true believer in what he sees as Reagan's mandate to restrain the intrusive federal bureaucracy. Watt's explanation of why environmentalists oppose him may be right on the mark: "They were quite surprised and upset when we did not consult them on decisions. But we didn't need to. We knew exactly what we wanted to do."

--By Walter Isaacson. Reported by Gary Lee/Washington

With reporting by Gary Lee/Washington

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