[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[June 7, 2006]
[Pages 1096-1098]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Swearing-In Ceremony for Dirk Kempthorne as Secretary of the Interior
June 7, 2006

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. 
Laura and I are thrilled you are here to witness 
the swearing-in of Dirk Kempthorne as our Nation's 49th Secretary of the 
Interior.
    We welcome Dirk's family, particularly his wife, 
Patricia, and his children, 
Heather and Jeff. Thank you all for being here. I'm really happy Dirk's 
dad, Jim, is with us. I sure appreciate 
you being here, Mr. Kempthorne. I want to thank all the other friends of 
the Kempthorne family and members of the family who have joined us here 
today.
    I found it interesting that when Dirk and Patricia were married, they chose a wedding ceremony at 
sunrise high atop Idaho's Moscow Mountain. It's an interesting 
commitment to make, isn't it? [Laughter] And

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an interesting place to make the commitment. It shows a love of--Dirk's 
love for his wife and their mutual love for nature. And one of the 
reasons I picked Dirk Kempthorne is because of his love of the beautiful 
country that we are fortunate to call America. That's why I picked him.
    I want to appreciate the Vice President 
joining us today. Mr. Vice President, welcome. Thank you for being here, 
sir. I want to thank Justice Scalia for 
joining us, to administer the oath of office.
    Dirk, you must be given a lot of these, kind of, swearing-in 
ceremonies, and we generally don't have a man of such esteem join us in a situation like this. [Laughter]
    I appreciate Lynn Scarlett, the Deputy 
Secretary of the Interior, joining us, as well as all those who work for 
the Secretary of the Interior. I want to thank members of my Cabinet for 
being here. Thank you all for coming. Appreciate you taking time out of 
your day to be here, and I know Dirk does as well. I appreciate Members 
of the United States Senate who join us, starting with the Senate 
President pro tem, Ted Stevens. Thank 
you, Senator, proud you're here--as well as the two Senators from Idaho, 
Larry Craig and Mike Crapo. Thank you both for joining us. We have the House majority 
whip with us, Roy Blunt. I see former colleagues 
of Dirk Kempthorne have joined us as well. Thank you all for coming.
    We have the privilege of living in a land of unparalleled beauty. 
We've got vast mountain ranges and mighty rivers and open plains and 
spectacular coastlines. These open spaces are shared--are the shared 
heritage of everybody. They just don't belong to a few people; they 
belong to all of us. It's the job of the Secretary of the Interior to 
manage these natural resources in such a way that we can pass them on to 
future generations, in good shape. That's Dirk's job. There's no doubt 
in my mind he'll be able to do it well.
    Dirk Kempthorne is uniquely qualified for this important position. 
He is the first Secretary of the Interior to serve as a Governor, a 
Senator, and a mayor. And each of these positions prepared Dirk well for 
his new responsibilities.
    As Governor of Idaho, Dirk was responsible for managing Idaho's 30 
State parks and recreational trails. He proved himself to be an 
outstanding steward of his State's open spaces. He launched a statewide 
initiative to fund improvements in the State's parks and public spaces. 
He created the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. He established 
the Governor's Office of Species Conservation. He's a true 
conservationist, with a track record to prove it.
    As a United States Senator, Dirk chaired the Subcommittee on 
Drinking Water, Fisheries, and Wildlife, and built bipartisan support to 
enact comprehensive reforms to the Safe Drinking Water Act.
    As a former mayor of Boise, Dirk understands that those who live 
closest to the land know how to manage it best. He understands that 
while people here in Washington may care deeply about the land, it's the 
people that's closest to the land that we're going to rely upon to 
manage those resources. We're going to work closely with local and State 
leaders to ensure our natural resources are managed wisely.
    Dirk takes up his new responsibilities at an important time in our 
Nation's history, and he follows an outstanding Secretary of the 
Interior in Gale Norton. Gale was 
instrumental in establishing the Healthy Forests Initiative to safeguard 
our forests and woodlands against fire damage. And thanks to her 
leadership, our administration has reduced the danger of fires by 
treating or removing hazardous fields from 11 million acres of Federal 
land so far. Gale also led the effort in Washington to improve our 
national parks and reduce the park maintenance backlog that we found 
when we came into office. Dirk is going to continue focusing on our 
national parks.
    After Hurricane Katrina devastated our Nation's gulf coast, 
Gale helped lead the

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effort to restore offshore energy production. She worked tirelessly to 
prevent a massive energy disruption that could have crippled our 
economy. America is a better place because of Gale Norton's leadership.
    Dirk Kempthorne is going to build upon the strong foundation left by 
Gale Norton. He's going to continue my 
administration's effort to conserve our land and water and air 
resources. He's going to work to improve our national parks. He's going 
to preserve our Nation's historic and cultural sites. He'll carry 
forward our approach of cooperative conservation by encouraging 
conservation on both public and private lands in close collaboration 
with local communities. As we work to reduce our dependence on foreign 
sources of energy, he will make sure that any exploration on Federal 
lands and in Federal waters is done in an environmentally sensitive way. 
As the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne will make certain that 
our Nation's natural spaces are cleaner and safer and more productive.
    I want to thank Dirk for agreeing to serve our country again. I want 
to thank his family for supporting him. And now it's my honor to witness 
the swearing-in of Dirk Kempthorne.

Note: The President spoke at 3 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also 
included the remarks of Justice Antonin Scalia and Secretary Kempthorne.