Norton, who stepped down from Interior in March, is a longtime Colorado resident who served two terms as state attorney general in the 1990s. During her tenure at Interior, she drew fire from environmentalists and praise from industry groups.

Shell said in a statement Wednesday that Norton, 52, will “provide and coordinate legal services” for its unconventional-resources unit, which is developing and testing proprietary technology to recover oil from shale and extra-heavy oils.

What’s really remarkable about this is that she’s going from a Cabinet job where she reported directly to the President of the United States and was in the line of succession, to a non-management job in a minor subsidiary of Shell. Hard to tell, but looks like she’s at least three layers down.

That tells us where Shell thinks the US government ranks in the big scheme of things….