PORTLAND – Members of the Sierra Club on Wednesday urged Mainers to call on their senators to vote against Interior secretary nominee Gale Norton’s confirmation.

The Maine chapter also announced an advertising campaign against Norton, which included radio and television ads that began airing in the state on Tuesday. Ads have also been launched in Arkansas, Florida, Rhode Island, Oregon, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

“Her history of consistently siding with polluters indicates she would not uphold our environmental laws and regulations nor the strong conservation values that Maine people and all America have,” said Karen Woodsum of the Maine chapter of the environmental group.

The ads call Norton an “anti-environmental extremist” chosen by President-elect Bush. The ads criticize Norton for favoring oil drilling and mining on public lands and arguing that there is a “right to pollute.” They urge the audience to call U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and ask them to vote against Norton.

“Barring some unforeseen revelations, Sen. Snowe intends to support the president’s nominees, including Gale Norton,” said the Republican’s spokesman, Dave Lackey.

A spokeswoman for Collins, also a Republican, said she was neutral on Norton’s nomination and needed to further review her background and record. The Sierra Club said Norton, as an attorney, sued the Environmental Protection Agency to overturn clean air standards and, in the Reagan administration, worked to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It also said that as a lobbyist for NL Industries of Houston, maker of half the lead paint used in the country, Norton worked to dissuade state attorneys general from filing lawsuits to hold the lead industry accountable for widespread public harm.

Norton’s staunch support of property rights and ties to industry has prompted opposition from environmentalists, who argue she is ill-suited to head the agency charged with stewardship of 500 million acres of federal land, rescuing endangered species and managing the nation’s parks.

Her allies praise her support of more local, state and private involvement in crafting the nation’s environmental programs.