donald_hodel_former_interior_secretary_to_speak_at_cu_boulder_jan_19

News Jan 05, 2006

Donald Hodel, Former Interior Secretary, To Speak At CU-Boulder Jan. 19

Boulder Flatirons from the south

Donald Hodel, who held two cabinet posts in the Reagan administration including secretary of the interior, will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Jan. 19.

Hodel will speak at 6 p.m. in the Eaton Humanities Building, room 150, in a conversation with CU-Boulder professors Patricia Limerick, of history and environmental studies, and Charles Wilkinson, distinguished professor of law. The talk is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

The event is part of the Wren and Tim Wirth Forum on the American West, which has brought six former secretaries of the interior, and current Secretary Gale Norton, to campus to discuss their roles in shaping the West. Hodel was secretary of the interior from 1985 to 1989 and secretary of energy from 1982 to 1985.

The series is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West, The Nature Conservancy and the Denver law firms of Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber, and McKenna, Long and Aldridge.

As interior secretary, Hodel focused on energy issues and pushed to increase domestic energy production through the expansion of drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His emphasis on domestic oil production and his belief that energy matters are best left to the free market often brought Hodel into disagreement with coastal states such as California and with environmental preservationists.

But Hodel also supported the restoration of the flooded Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. A Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial series in the Sacramento Bee newspaper in 2004 gave Hodel, along with a team of scientists who studied the issue, credit for figuring out the science of restoring the valley. The issue is still actively debated today.

"Donald Hodel is a thoughtful man, well worth our close attention," said Limerick, faculty director of the Center of the American West. "We are very grateful for his willingness to join in this conversation and to enrich our understanding of the crucial role of the Department of the Interior in the history of the West."

Hodel was born in Portland, Ore., and earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a law degree from the University of Oregon. After serving as interior secretary, he worked in the energy consulting business. He also served two years as president and CEO of Focus on the Family until February 2005 and was president of the Christian Coalition from 1997 to 1999.

Hodel's appearance is part of a series of events in 2006 celebrating the CU-Boulder Center of the American West's 20th anniversary.

For more information on the lecture series, contact the CU-Boulder Center of the American West at (303) 492-4879 or visit www.centerwest.org or The Nature Conservancy at (303) 444-2950 or http://www.nature.org/

Contact: Patricia Nelson Limerick, (303) 735-0104 Audrey Wolk, (720) 974-7011 Ashley Lowe, (303) 492-4067 Peter Caughey, (303) 492-4007

News Source: CU-Boulder News Center

ENVS Faculty: Patricia Limerick

ENVS News Category: Announcement

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