Klee is a Washington veteran with a long history representing
conservative interests on environmental issues. After working as
a lawyer in Washington for several years, Klee became
environmental counsel to Senator Dirk Kempthorne, R-ID, in 1995.
Now governor of Idaho, Kempthorne is an outspoken opponent of
many federal environmental laws and programs.[1]

In 1997, Klee joined the staff of the powerful Senate
Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPW), where she was a
central figure in a 1998 attempt to rewrite (i.e. weaken) the
Endangered Species Act. Klee became chief counsel of EPW in
1999, and went on to lead the Bush Department of Interior
transition team after the 2000 election. In 2001 she was
appointed to her current post at Interior.

Klee's name surfaces in connection with controversial actions by
the Bush administration.

-In 2001, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) named
Klee and several other Interior staffers in a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) filing related to Vice President Dick
Cheney's Energy Task Force. NRDC sought appointment calendars,
correspondence, notes and minutes of meetings between Interior
officials and energy industry representatives. The FOIA was
denied. NRDC again named Klee when it appealed the decision in
2002.

-That same year, Interior Secretary Gale Norton delivered
misleading testimony to a Senate committee about the impact on
caribou if drilling were to occur in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. It turned out that Klee and a colleague had
edited out scientific data provided by the Department of Fish
and Wildlife.[2]

-In October 2002, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), requested an
investigation into possible conflicts of interest amongst
Interior officials after Secretary Norton approved the Glamis
Imperial Project -- an open-pit gold mine in southeastern
California that had been blocked by Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of
the Interior under President Clinton.[2] Boxer's request to DOI
Inspector General Earl Devaney noted that "Counsel to the
Secretary Ann Klee worked for the American Mining Congress and
is married to a partner in the law firm that represents Glamis
Gold Ltd."[3] However, Devaney cleared the officials in 2003.

Klee's most public role to date has been as chair of the South
Florida Task Force working on Everglades restoration, where she
earned praise from Florida Audubon's April Gromnicki. "As an
environmental advocate I wouldn't say we've always agreed, but
under her leadership we've seen a consistent commitment to
Everglades restoration."

On the other hand, "Klee appears personally responsible for
several "no jeopardy" decisions under section 7 of the
Endangered Species Act [official Interior Department opinions
which allow industrial development in habitats crucial to
endangered species] that put animals such as the Florida
panther, the woodland caribou, and the Sonoran pronghorn
antelope at the brink of extinction," William Snape, general
counsel for Defenders of Wildlife, told BushGreenwatch.

Jaime Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of
Wildlife and former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service
under President Clinton, encountered Klee often during the late
1990s. "Ann Klee is bright, she listens, and she can navigate
politics and push direction," Clark told BushGreenwatch. "It's
hard to remember or imagine any time when I've agreed with Ann
on a conservation issue. But I can't say she's unqualified for
the job at the EPA, under the current administration."

Klee's appointment to EPA is currently up for confirmation by
the Senate. But Vermont Independent Jim Jeffords and several
Democratic senators plan to block hers and other pending EPA
nominations. The senators are concerned that more than two
years' worth of information requests to EPA regarding various
Bush administration environmental policies have gone largely
unanswered.[4]

###

SOURCES:
[1] “Dirk Kempthorne, the Dems’ Godsend,” Slate, Aug. 5, 2003.
[2] “Norton's ANWR portrait faulted,” Washington Post, Oct. 21, 2001.
[3] “Boxer Calls For Probe of Mine Permit,” Washington Post, Oct. 5, 2002.
[4] “Bush’s New Assault on Sacred Lands,” Christopher McLeod, Earth Island Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2, Summer 2003.
[5] “Wyden to block EPA nominee; Dems consider more holds,” Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire, Mar. 11, 2004.