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administration, is the favorite to head the Environment and Natural Resources Section of <br /> the Justice Department. <br /> Sansonetti, 51 served as solicitor for the Interior Department from 1990 to 1992. Since <br /> then, he has been active in Republican politics,both nationally and in his home state of <br /> Wyoming, currently serving as general counsel to the Republican National Committee. <br /> He also is a partner in Denver-based Holland &Hart, where he has done legal work for <br /> coal and other energy industries. <br /> A well-known figure in his home state, he has known Cheney, a former congressman <br /> from Wyoming, since 1978. President of the state's Republican Party in the 1980s, <br /> Sansonetti chaired the George W. Bush presidential campaign there last year. After the <br /> election, he served as the transition adviser for the Interior Department, where he helped <br /> prepare Interior Secretary Gale Norton for her Senate confirmation hearings. <br /> While at Interior, Sansonetti helped negotiate the $1 billion settlement in 1991 over the <br /> wreck of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska. <br /> (Source: "VP's Pal Tops List for DOJ Enviro Chief," The Legal Times of Washington, <br /> March 26, 2001) <br /> 4. ALLARD ASKS SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO REVERSE <br /> "BYPASS" FLOW POLICY <br /> U.S. Senator Wayne Allard(R-CO) has sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ann <br /> Veneman requesting that she reinstate the historic policy of the Department of <br /> Agriculture of not imposing water "bypass flows" upon the current holders of land use <br /> authorizations for existing ditches, reservoirs, and other pipeline facilities. The request <br /> was made necessary by a last minute decision by the Clinton Administration to impose a <br /> new "bypass flow" requirement. "This issue is of great importance to Colorado and to the <br /> West, as bypass requirements are used to take water that is owned by cities and farmers <br /> without compensation," wrote Allard. <br /> In the closing months of the Clinton Administration, the Forest Service announced their <br /> intent to require water "bypass flows" for all existing water facilities. This decision was <br /> made despite the fact the Federal Water Rights Task Force found that Congress had not <br /> delegated this authority to the Forest Service. <br /> "The current policy allows the Forest Service to extort water rights from Colorado's <br /> citizens without compensation," said Allard. "This policy is outrageous and needs to be <br /> reversed immediately." <br /> Allard said he is optimistic the new administration will look favorably on his request. <br />