Idaho Governor Dick Kempthorne, a former U.S. senator, will be on the other side of the table come Thursday when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee begins confirmation hearings on his nomination to succeed Gale Norton as Interior secretary.
    Energy issues are expected to dominate the hearings, as various members of Congress prod and poke Kempthorne to see if he'll sign on to various proposals to theoretically energize domestic energy exploration and production. For sure you can expect to hear questions about whether he endorses the short-sighted attempt to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
    At the same time, at least one Democrat -- Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado -- will ask Kempthorne to reject efforts to rewrite the National Park Service's Management Policies.
    "My hope is he would stop it because there's no explanation given to change it," Sen. Salazar told Greenwire.
    Bottom line? Expect Kempthorne to be pro-pro-pro energy and so-so on most everything else.