President-elect Obama’s choice for Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, has incited strong feelings of both support and anger from environmental organizations like the National Parks Conservation Association and the Center for Biological Diversity. Salazar is a Colorado senator and former attorney.
Salazar is set to step into a role that oversees the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Mineral Management Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Endangered Species Act, giving him the responsibility of protecting America’s land, water and wildlife.
Salazar has been praised for his opposition to drilling in picturesque areas of the American West, his expertise in water issues and his support for national park protection. The National Parks Conservation Association said in a press release Tuesday,
“Sen. Salazar has been an outstanding leader in national park protection in the U.S. Senate. He has championed the strengthening of the parks’ management policies, advocated to address the parks’ chronic funding needs, led the introduction of the National Park Centennial Challenge, and worked to harness the educational power of our national parks for our children and grandchildren. He has also championed appropriate expansion of the National Park System.
Our national parks will be in great hands with Ken Salazar.”
Salazar will likely put the brakes on the frenzied oil and gas development of public lands in the West currently being carried out by the Bush administration. That will be a huge relief for national parks directors in states like Utah who have been struggling to fight the sale of land near scenic natural treasures to oil and gas companies.
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity had harsh words about the pick, however, saying Salazar supported Gale Norton for Interior Secretary under Bush and has made a series of disappointing decisions as a Senator.
From the National Parks Traveler:
Among Sen. Salazar’s record that Mr. Suckling cited as disappointing were the senator’s vote against increased fuel efficiency standards for the U.S. automobile fleet; vote to allow offshore oil drilling along Florida’s coast; vote to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to ignore global warming impacts in their water development projects; vote against the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil; vote to support subsidies to ranchers and other users of public forest and range lands; a threat to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when its scientists determined the black-tailed prairie dog may be endangered, and; opposition to increased protection for endangered species and the environment in the Farm Bill.
“(President-elect) Obama’s choices for Secretary of Energy and his Climate Change Czar indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming,” added Mr. Suckling. “That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken Salazar, who has fought against federal action on global warming, against higher fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil drilling and oil subsidies.”
Salazar, who has been described as a ‘centrist’, does have a mixed record when it comes to environmental issues. He’s not most environmentalists’ and conservationists’ first choice by any means, but he’ll undoubtedly be a huge step forward from the likes of Gale Norton and Dirk Kempthorne, Interior Secretaries who have served under Bush and have done more harm than good to America’s land, natural resources and wildlife.
Link [LA Times] + [NPCA] + [National Parks Traveler]
