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A change in environment
With the 2006 election results, Patty Beneke's environment has changed.
- Patty Beneke can't pinpoint the exact moment that the environment became
such a defining part of her life.
Maybe it was her political work as a political science major at Iowa State.
Or when the Iowa State Legislature passed the bottle deposit bill. Or when
she worked in the environmental collection at the Iowa State University
Library.
"I sort of fell into environmental issues," Beneke says. "I
think it was part happenstance and part growing up in a beautiful state
like Iowa."
Whatever it was after she graduated from Harvard Law School, the environment
became and still remains an important part of both her professional and
personal lives, from her time serving as Assistant Secretary for Water and
Science in the Department of the Interior or as a lawyer in the U.S. Department
of Justice working on environmental litigation.
For the past several years, Beneke (B.S., 1976, political science) has served
as Democratic Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources. After the Democrats regained a majority in the Senate,
Beneke's job changed a little.
Now her boss, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), is the Committee Chairman
and oversees the legislation that passes through the committee. In the short
time that the Democrats have been the majority party, Beneke has seen changes.
And she expects a different approach to the environment.
"Over the next two years I think you'll see the Democrats work for
greater stewardship and protection of the environment," she said.
In her role with the committee, part of Beneke's job is oversight of the
Department of the Interior. It's a different role than she had during the
Clinton Administration when she was an assistant secretary in that same
Cabinet department.
Then Beneke focused on issues involving water resources.
"It was a great experience," she said. "We had a chance to
work on the restoration of watersheds and ecosystems."
That included restoring the habitat and landscape of the Everglades, the
Platte River ecosystem in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, and the Bay Delta
Area in northern California.
"Each of these areas is very important for fish and wildlife as well
as water resources," she said.
She also worked on preservation efforts in the Loess Hills during the Clinton
Administration, subsequent to its designation by the U.S. Department of
Transportation as a scenic byway.
"The Loess Hills area has a very unique quality to it both geologically
as well as in terms of its prairie habitat. It was a very special project
for me because Iowa is still home," Beneke said.
It's still such a home to her that Beneke and her family, including her
two daughters and husband Robert Waters, a Washington, D.C., attorney and
Carroll native, travel back to Iowa regularly for the Iowa Caucuses and
Election Day activities. Waters is also a political science graduate and
former chief-of-staff to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.
"Election Day is a holiday in our house," Beneke said. "I
grew up appreciating what Iowa has to offer the country through the caucuses.
"I run into Iowans all the time out here," the Ames native continued.
"To me Washington seems very much like a small town. There are lots
of people with good Iowa roots here."
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