As Interior secretary during the Bush administration, Dirk Kempthorne sought to shift more land management authority to states, while bucking the White House on the decision to give polar bears federal protections.
Diagnosed with colon cancer last year, the personable former Idaho governor died Friday. He was 74.
Favored by industry and disapproved of by environmentalists, Kempthorne helmed the Interior Department at a time when the Bush administration sought to expand oil and gas drilling and energy development on federal lands.
Major policies during his tenure included listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — the first species listed whose primary threat was climate change. Interior also tried to give states more say in land management decisions.
