Business
& Labor
Rinne
Named Bureau of Reclamation's Acting Chief
(enr.construction.com - 04/17/06)
By Tom
Ichniowski
William E. Rinne, a 28-year Bureau of
Reclamation veteran, has been named the bureau's acting commissioner.
Rinne's appointment was announced on April 14, on the retirement
of Commissioner John W. Keys. Rinne will be in charge of the
bureau until a permanent successor to Keys is nominated and
confirmed.
Rinne, a Nebraska native, has been
Reclamation's deputy commissioner and director of operations
since 2003. Before that, he was deputy director of its Lower
Colorado Region, based in Nevada. He has spent his entire federal
career at the bureau.
Keys, who had announced his departure
in March, had an even longer tenure than Rinne at Reclamation,
serving 39 years there, including five as commissioner. Keys
is returning to Utah to spend time with his family, bureau
officials said.
Rinne has a bachelor's degree in biology
from Peru State College in Peru, Neb. and a master's degree
in zoology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Reclamation is part of the Interior
Dept., Rinne was named to his new post by Acting Secretary
P. Lynn Scarlett. Scarlett, the deputy secretary, has been
the department's acting chief since March 31, when Gale Norton
left the post.
President Bush has nominated Idaho Gov.
Dirk Kempthorne to succeed Norton as secretary, but Kempthorne
has not yet had a Senate confirmation hearing.
