Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: April 7, 2000

Contact: Mike Gauldin 202/208-6416

Babbitt Announces Management Changes at Interior

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today announced senior management changes at the Department of the Interior. "These changes will ensure continuity and effectiveness in our day-to-day operations," Babbitt said.

Effective Monday, April 10, Kathy Karpan, the current director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) will become Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Kathrine L. Henry, the Department's associate solicitor, Division of Minerals Resources, will be Acting Director of OSM. Both positions report to Sylvia V. Baca, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.

Karpan has served as director of OSM since August 4, 1997. As Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, she will be responsible for non-mining issues involving the Bureau of Land Management and the Minerals Management Service.

Karpan recently recused herself from most OSM issues and took vacation time to consider an offer of employment from a non-government entity associated with the mining industry. Because those discussions are still on-going, she and Secretary Babbitt have agreed that she can best serve the Department in another position.

"Kathy Karpan has done a solid job at OSM," said Babbitt. "She is a true professional and has done everything humanly possible to protect the integrity of the agency in her charge."

Kay Henry is no stranger to OSM issues. She joined the Interior Department as associate solicitor for Surface Mining in 1993. She served as OSM's Acting Director from September 15, 1996, after the resignation of Robert Uram, until Ms. Karpan was named to the position. She is a native of Georgia and a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Upon graduation from law school she was a Federal District Court law clerk for two years, and later served as Assistant U.S. Attorney. Ms. Henry also served a stint as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Energy from 1979 to1984. She worked in private practice from 1984-1993.

"Kay Henry has a fine legal mind and she is a savvy manager," said Babbitt. "She brings outstanding credentials to this position."

Before joining the Interior Department in 1997, Kathy Karpan served as the manager of Karpan & White Law Offices, and President of the Karpan & White Corporate Services. She was elected in 1986 and

reelected in 1990 to serve as Wyoming's Secretary of State, the second highest office after Governor. Prior to that she spent two years on the Wyoming Attorney General's staff and two years (1984-86) as Director of the Wyoming's Department of Health and Social Services, one of the largest agencies in state government. She resigned in 1986 to run for the job of Secretary of State.

Her other work experience includes serving as Deputy Director, Office of Congressional Relations and later as Legal Counsel in the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce (1978-81), during the Carter Administration. She spent six years on the staff of U.S. Representative Teno Roncalio, as Press Secretary and later as Chief of Staff. Ms. Karpan also worked as a journalist for newspapers in Cody and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and for the Canberra Times in Canberra, Australia.

A native of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and the daughter of a coal miner, Ms. Karpan earned both a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in American Studies from the University of Wyoming, and a J.D. from the University of Oregon.

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