News In Brief
| Washington
Clark puts personal stamp on Department of Interior
Interior Secretary William Clark has replaced three top officials who had served under James Watt, including the department's No. 2 man and the head of a controversial offshore oil and gas leasing program.
The shakeup followed strong pressure from environmental groups that had urged Clark to remove Watt's assistants, whom they viewed as the architects of his policies favoring development over conservation.
Those dismissed were Undersecretary J.J. Simmons, replaced by Ann McLaughlin, currently assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy and Minerals Perry Pendley, replaced by Robert Broadbent, currently reclamations commissioner; and Minerals Management Services director David Russell, replaced by William Bettenberg, a high-ranking career official in the department.
