The following editorial appeared Tuesday in the Vancouver Columbian.

Unfortunately, but predictably, President Bush did not capitalize on a vacancy in his Cabinet to signal that he has seen the light on environmentalism.

But that is not to say that Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, whom Bush nominated to run the Department of the Interior, won’t turn out to be an improvement over Gale Norton. The 54-year-old Kempthorne might pleasantly surprise those now sounding the alarm.

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, said Monday he isn’t a party to environmentalists’ rush to judgment against Kempthorne. As a Northwesterner who is intimately aware of environmental issues and their importance to residents and has a collaborative style, Kempthorne deserves a wait-and-see approach, Baird said.

We agree, but with caution.

The Interior Department’s umbrella covers, among other federal operations, national parks, monuments and historic sites (such as Fort Vancouver), the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey (Mount St. Helens scientists), the Bureau of Land Management, the Office of Surface Mining and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

President Bush could have replaced Norton with someone to oversee all this whose credentials would clearly have indicated that, finally, in the sixth year of his presidency, he wants to polish his environmental legacy. But, Bush passed up that opportunity, and the announcement of Kempthorne drew criticism.

Philip Clapp of the National Environmental Trust said that at a time when the Endangered Species Act, federal roadless areas, preservation vs. commercialization of national parks and other “controversial issues need a leader who can find common ground, the president could not have chosen a more divisive nominee.”

The National Environmental Trust asked rhetorically, “What happens when you put a develop-at-all-costs secretary in charge of an agency sworn to ‘protect America’s treasures for future generations’? Unfortunately, we already know the answer far too well.”

But all that criticism, and more from other groups, is premature, and we hope it turns out to be wrong.

The Idaho Statesman in Boise said that when he was a U.S. senator, Kempthorne, a Republican, “worked with the Clinton administration and environmental groups on a compromise (of the Endangered Species Act) that won praise, although it ultimately died in the Senate.”

As governor, the newspaper said, “Kempthorne forged a salmon agreement with three other Northwest governors, two of them Democrats, in 2000.”

According to the National Parks Conservation Association, Kempthorne, as governor, lobbied for more money to go into the state’s parks. “That’s something we obviously are hoping will carry into his efforts in Washington, D.C.,” said Craig Obey of the association.

We’re hoping for that and more from Kempthorne and will be among those watching closely. He deserves a chance to improve the administration’s marginal-to-sorry environmental record.