Summary
Today, [Mike Noel] is wearing jeans, a blue button-up shirt and a black baseball cap emblazoned with the words "Cowboy Caucus" for the group of conservative rural Utah lawmakers he leads. When he shows this journalist around the office - Noel runs a water consulting company, his main client the Kane County Water Conservancy District - he tells his staff, "(This reporter) wants to know why the enviros don't like me." An employee answers: "It's because Mike gets things done."
Now, as a Utah representative, Noel is not afraid of conflict. "If you can't take the heat," he says, "get out of the game, get out of the kitchen." And he believes in calling it how he sees it: "The strategy is to just keep standing for what we believe is right and if it's a gray area try to seek reasonable compromises."Nonetheless, his anger over the Escalante has mellowed some over the years. "I don't have as much animosity as I used to," says Noel. "I don't like it, probably never will. It'll just eat you up if you keep worrying about it. I'd rather focus on my grandkids."See the full content of this document
Extract
Fightin' Against the Feds
Mike Noel leans back and folds his hands behind his head, speaking easily. But his words are not so relaxed: "Once you decide to fight, you're going to be in for the fight of your life. You got to have b...
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