NEW YORK - Alanis Morissette, Beastie Boy Mike D and producer Rick Rubin have joined environmental groups in an effort to oust the federal government's national parks czar.

In a letter posted on Morissette's Web site, the artists claim that Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles is failing to properly oversee such national parks as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.

"He has been leading the efforts to drill for oil and gas on these public lands, and he's been working to weaken the laws that protect the air," the letter reads.

It asks fans to sign a petition demanding the dismissal of Griles at firegriles.com, a site and movement spearheaded by such organizations as Greenpeace and Americans for Energy Freedom.

Prior to joining the Department of the Interior, Griles was an oil, gas and coal lobbyist. The letter claims that he is still being paid $284,000 per year by an "old lobbying company ... which we feel is a pretty big conflict of interest." Firegriles.com names that company as National Environmental Strategies.

"His job of overseeing our national parks is at odds with his working hard to help oil companies flourish," the letter continues.

Department of the Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle describes the comments of Morissette and others as "discarded talking points from partisan special-interest groups." He stresses that Griles has instead worked to advance the administration's initiatives to make the land clearer, the air cleaner and the water safer than when he entered office.

He adds, "To borrow a line from Alanis, isn't it ironic that a Canadian citizen who is not registered to vote in the U.S. is leading" the effort, which he calls "misinformed."

Pfeifle says that while Griles did serve as a lobbyist for oil companies and electric utilities, he also lobbied for the nation's largest renewable energy company, New York state-based Caithness Energy.

The $284,000, he says, was approved by the government ethics office and in a bipartisan manner in the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee before Griles appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing.

"It's fairly standard when somebody gives up his or her practice that they receive payment for it," Pfeifle says. "He worked many years at something; you don't just give it away for free."

Morissette is a supporter of numerous environmental, political action and human-rights groups, including Amnesty International. She is to receive the Missions in Music Award Nov. 5 at the 13th Annual Environmental Media Awards in Los Angeles.

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