WASHINGTON, D.C. A Chico State University graduate has been named to a high position in the Interior Department

Interior Secretary Gale Norton has appointed Jason Peltier as deputy assistant secretary for Water and Science. Peltier will assist assistant secretary Bennett Raley and principal deputy assistant Tom Weimer in management oversight and policy direction for the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

For the past two years Peltier was an adviser to the assistant secretary.

He helped with policies that affected 31 million urban customers and farmers on 10 million acres of farmland served by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Peltier has recently worked with the California Bay-Delta Authority and served in a federal leadership role in coordinating and managing the participation of the 10 federal agencies engaged with the CalFed process.

In addition he fills a lead role for the assistant secretary in managing the work to complete construction of the Central Utah Project.

As manager of the California's Central Valley Project Water Association from 1998 through 2001, Peltier directed the education and advocacy efforts of the organization.

Peltier is a fourth generation Californian where he graduated from Chico State University with a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1979.

While a student, Peltier was the founding president of Sigma Nu fraternity, Associated Students vice president, Associated Students president, student faculty representative to the faculty senate, and student trustee representative to the California State University Board of Trustees.

He is also a graduate of the Agricultural Leadership Program.

He currently lives in Great Falls, Va., with his wife, Jean-Mari, and their two children. His wife formerly worked at the Environmental Protection Agency and recently became the executive director of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.