After nearly two months on the job, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Pat Shea was formally sworn into his position Thursday by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
Babbitt said Shea faces a tough job trying to work with competing groups in the West to seek a balance between resource conservation and development on public lands.But Babbitt noted that as a Catholic Democrat from Utah, Shea did legal and other work for such diverse groups there as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Nature Conservancy and Kennecott Corp. - and is praised by all, including Republicans.
"If you can get along with everyone in Utah, at least there's an odds-on chance of success for you here," Babbitt told Shea.
Shea's appointment by Clinton was seen by many as a move to calm Westerners upset by his surprise creation last year of the 1.7- million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
Since taking office, Shea has told Westerners in meetings that he will spring no such surprises and has vowed to work with all concerned groups to try to resolve public lands disputes.
Shea said after he was sworn in that his job "is full of challenge," and that he will measure success by how his sons, Michael and Paul, would judge his work after 30 years.
"The real challenge is how things will be in 2027 and beyond," he said.
Some of the people attending the private swearing-in in Babbitt's office included Shea's family; Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah; Rep. Merrill Cook, R-Utah; and former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, D-Mont., whom Shea said was one of his mentors in previous years when he worked as a Senate aid.
Shea is well-known in Utah for his work as a lawyer and his runs for political office. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994 and for governor in 1992. He was the Utah Democratic state chairman from 1983 to 1985.