Sally Jewell as Interior Secretary: A Potential Job Killer

Sally Jewell as Interior Secretary: A Potential Job Killer

Opinion writer and member of the editorial board Kimberley A. Strassel wrote an opinion piece titled "A Jewell Who's Rough on Jobs" published in the Wall Street Journal on February 7, 2013. With the recent surprise naming of Sally Jewell as interior secretary, the Obama administration lauded the appointment of the REI corporations CEO. Strassel points out the in her article, the colorful appointment of Jewell looks good on the outside but, shows a darker picture inside. Strassel appeals to her readers by pointing out Jewells' radical green activism, and her job killing proposals in her past.

The article begins with President Obama praising the recent appointment of Sally Jewell as interior secretary. Sally Jewell is the current CEO of REI; the President describes her as a woman who "knows the link between conservation and good jobs."(para1) Strassel conveys that Jewell is an avid supporter of the Obama administration so much that she personally donated $10,000 to the 2012 re-election campaign. Strassel points out that Jewell is not a creative choice but, she is a loyal ideologue to follow Obama's liberal policies. Obama feels he can count on Jewell to do what she has done at an activist level and now for the federal government. Strassel goes into an example of an 80 year old oyster business that has recently lost its lease. The business also received an eviction notice because of it location. That region was locked into a federal park decades ago. The National Parks Conservation Association, in which Ms. Jewell is the vice-chairman, is directly responsible according to Strassel. Her article goes into several details about Jewell's accomplishments of locking up federal land, targeting industries, and destroying traditional jobs. Jewell was a supporter of the 2001 Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule in which closed up a third of all national forest land. This closed off 58 million acres from logging and mining ultimately making that land useable for only walking trails. Another one of Jewell's radical groups according to Strassel is the Conservation Alliance.

The Conservation Alliance is one of REI's bigger influences they have been known to maintain a list of "successes." In recent years the Alliance has halted 77 oil and gas leases in Utah, closed 55,000 acres in Colorado, called for the destruction of functioning dams, and helped to removed millions of new acres from any business pursuit according to Strassel. One of the Alliance's crowing moments Strassel comments on is when the Alliance teamed up with the Obama administration to lock up Alaska's National petroleum Reserve. Strassel notes, that land was set aside 90 years ago specifically for oil and gas exploration, it is also one of the key economic drivers for the Inupiat Eskimos in that region.

Strassel's final point was to mention that the NPCA that Jewell has been a board member for since 2004 has been waging attacks on power plants, campaigning to ban off-road vehicles, snow mobiles in park lands, to kill jobs, and restrict park use to those the NPCA approves of. These will be the very parks that Jewell will be in charge of as interior secretary.

Before reading Strassel's side of the appointment of Jewell as interior secretary I did not really have an opinion in the matter. After reading her arguments that she raises I tend to agree with what she is saying. Strassel's readers have been following her for years so