Obama picks Babbitt aide to run BLM

Bob Abbey, who helped former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt complete a Utah wilderness inventory 10 years ago, is President Barack Obama's nominee to head up the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the nomination Tuesday evening, calling Abbey a "consummate, professional natural-resource manager." Abbey has more than 32 years in state and federal public service, including eight years at the helm of the Nevada state BLM office until his retirement in 2005. Early reactions indicated general approval of Abbey's nomination from conservationists, off-roaders and oil and gas officials. "I think he'd be a good director," said Brian Hawthorne, public-lands policy director for the BlueRibbon Coalition, an OHV interest group. "He seemed to be well-liked by the [BLM] line officers and staff." Heidi McIntosh, an attorney and conservation director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Abbey was known as "a good guy" and not ideological in any direction. "He's willing to listen. I think he's a good choice," McIntosh said. If the Senate confirms Abbey, she said, he ought to restore a balance to managing public lands after the Bush administration's eight years of focusing on oil and gas development...SaltLakeTribune