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Obama Chooses REI Executive to Lead Interior Dept. Obama Chooses REI Executive to Lead Interior Dept.
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama has selected Sally Jewell, the chief executive of Recreational Equipment Inc., to lead the Interior Department, White House officials said Wednesday. WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday nominated Sally Jewell, the chief executive of Recreational Equipment Inc., to lead the Interior Department, with a vow that she will balance the agency’s sometimes conflicting mandates to promote resource development and preserve the nation’s natural heritage.
If confirmed, Ms. Jewell, a former oil company official and longtime advocate for conservation and outdoor recreation, will take over a department that has been embroiled in controversy over regulation of oil and gas on public lands and waters in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic Ocean. She also will assume responsibility for the stewardship of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, from the Everglades of Florida to the Cascades of Washington State. If confirmed, Ms. Jewell, a former oil company engineer and longtime advocate for conservation and outdoor recreation, will take over a department that has been embroiled in controversy over the regulation of oil and gas on public lands and in the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Ocean. She also will assume responsibility for the stewardship of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, from the Everglades of Florida to the Cascades of Washington State.
Ms. Jewell, who also worked as a banker, took over REI in 2005, when the company was one of the most successful outdoor outfitters in the country. The company has grown rapidly under her tenure and now boasts roughly $2 billion a year in sales. Ms. Jewell, 56, who also had a 19-year career as a commercial banker, took over as chief executive of REI in 2005. The company, which is based in Kent, Wash., just south of Seattle, has since grown to nearly $2 billion a year in sales.
She will replace Ken Salazar, who has led the department since the beginning of the Obama administration. Mr. Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, was elected to the Senate in 2004, the same year as Mr. Obama. She is in line to replace Ken Salazar, who has led the department since the beginning of the Obama administration.
The president must also fill vacancies at other major departments that deal with energy and environmental issues — Energy, Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The White House gave no indication on Wednesday that any of those appointments are imminent.
While introducing Ms. Jewell at the White House, Mr. Obama alluded to the tensions that have divided the Interior Department’s mission for decades. He said that she is an expert on energy and climate change issues as well as an avid outdoorswoman and a former oil company worker in Oklahoma and Colorado.
“She knows the link between conservation and good jobs,” the president said. “She knows that there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress, that, in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand.”
Ms. Jewell spoke briefly, saying she was humbled and energized by the appointment and looked forward to meeting the senators who will vote on her confirmation.
She can expect sharp questioning during those hearings about her approach to resource development — oil, gas and minerals, but also solar and wind power — on public lands. Republicans in Congress have criticized the Obama administration for holding back public lands from oil and gas leasing and for imposing overly restrictive regulations on hydraulic fracturing and other extraction methods.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the senior Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she was not yet ready to judge Ms. Jewell’s credentials.
“I look forward to hearing about the qualifications Ms. Jewell has that make her a suitable candidate to run such an important agency, and how she plans to restore balance to the Interior Department,” Ms. Murkowski said in a statement.
Ms. Jewell will also face scrutiny from environmental and conservation advocates who will want to know about her approach to preservation of public lands.
Ms. Jewell, a native of the Seattle area and a graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering, has been a lifelong outdoors enthusiast. As a child she sailed in Puget Sound and camped throughout the Pacific Northwest, according to a 2005 profile in the Seattle Times.Ms. Jewell, a native of the Seattle area and a graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering, has been a lifelong outdoors enthusiast. As a child she sailed in Puget Sound and camped throughout the Pacific Northwest, according to a 2005 profile in the Seattle Times.
In 2011, she introduced President Obama at the White House conference on “America’s Great Outdoor Initiative,” noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry is the source of 6.5 million jobs.In 2011, she introduced President Obama at the White House conference on “America’s Great Outdoor Initiative,” noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry is the source of 6.5 million jobs.
She received the 2009 Rachel Carson Award for environmental conservation from the Audubon Society; the 2008 Nonprofit Director of the Year award from the National Association of Corporate Directors, and The Green Globe — Environmental Catalyst Award from King County, Wash., among others. Ms. Jewell and her husband, Warren, have made political contributions of nearly $100,000 since the mid-1990s, almost exclusively to Democratic candidates and causes. She contributed to two groups that supported the successful 2012 effort to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington State.
She is expected to face vigorous questioning during confirmation hearings about her approach to resource development on public lands. Republicans in Congress have criticized the Obama administration for holding back public lands from oil and gas leasing and from imposing overly restrictive regulations on hydraulic fracturing and other extraction methods. The Interior Department post has traditionally gone to a politician from the Western United States, like Mr. Salazar and Mr. Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona. Under President George W. Bush, Gale A. Norton, a former attorney general of Colorado, and Dirk Kempthorne, a former governor and senator from Idaho, served in the position.
White House aides said that Ms. Jewell’s engineering background and experience as a Mobil Oil executive could help blunt some of that criticism. Ms. Jewell, if confirmed, would represent a different model, a corporate executive with experience in both resource exploitation and conservation.
Ms. Jewell will also face scrutiny from environmental and conservation advocates who will want to know her approach to preservation of public lands. Just Tuesday, Bruce Babbitt, the interior secretary under President Bill Clinton, criticized Mr. Obama as favoring oil and gas leasing over protection of government-owned lands. Douglas W. Walker, a former chairman of the board at REI and a climbing partner of Ms. Jewell’s, said she is an avid climber, kayaker and sailor who has climbed mountains from Mount Rainier in Washington State to Mount Vinson in Antarctica.
“So far under President Obama, industry has been winning the race as it obtains more and more land for oil and gas,” Mr. Babbitt said. “Over the past four years, the industry has leased more than 6 million acres, compared with only 2.6 million acres permanently protected.” “She’s getting around and doing a lot of pretty intrepid mountaineering,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had, at least in recent times, a secretary of the interior that has walked the talk to that extent.”
“This lopsided public land administration in favor of the oil and gas industry cannot continue,” he said. Mr. Obama referred to her South Pole adventures.
The Interior Department post has traditionally gone to a politician from the Western United States, like Mr. Salazar and Mr. Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona. Under President George W. Bush Gale A. Norton, a former attorney general of Colorado, and Dirk Kempthorne, a former governor and senator from Idaho, served in the position. Ms. Jewell, if confirmed, would represent a different model, a corporate executive with experience in two of the major missions of the department, resource development and conservation. “And when Sally is confirmed, I’m willing to bet that she will be the first secretary of the interior who frequently hikes Mailbox Peak in her native Washington State and who once spent a month climbing mountains in Antarctica,” he said, “which is just not something I’d think of doing, because it seems like it’d be cold, and I was born in Hawaii.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Stephanie Clifford contributed reporting from New York.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 6, 2013Correction: February 6, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the year that Ken Salazar and Barack Obama entered the Senate. It was 2005, not 2004.  (They were elected in 2004.)

An earlier version of this article misstated the year that Ken Salazar and Barack Obama entered the Senate. It was 2005, not 2004.  (They were elected in 2004.)