Citizen Power

Ken Salazar was a one-term senator from Colorado when he was nominated to be the  Interior Secretary by President Obama.  I remember at the time there was a lot of trepidation from people on the left that he wouldn’t be “progressive” enough as the new secretary.   It doesn’t make any difference to me whether he’s a “conservative” Democrat or not as long as he does a good job protecting the environment.

The Interior Department secretary is a very important job for the environment — it oversees energy resources, natural resources, drilling for fossil fuels on public lands, and oversees the country’s parks and wilderness areas.   Salazar has turned out to be very good so far, protecting a lot of wilderness in many states and showing he cares very much for the environment, as someone in this position should.  There is a good article in Rolling Stone about the accomplishments and viewpoints of Salazar so far that is definitely worth reading.  He’s not afraid to stand up to the big energy companies either, something that was completely lacking during the Bush administration.

Shortly after taking the job, Salazar canceled  77 oil and gas leases Bush authorized near Utah’s national parks, including ones that would have put oil wells in eyesight of major landmarks in the parks.  Can you imagine going to a national park and seeing oil wells nearby?  I would much rather see windmills in the distance, if anything.  Salazar also delayed the rush into offshore drilling and he said a big “NO”  to Bush’s plan for oil-shale mining in the Rocky Mountains.  Salazar’s already proven himself to be worthy of the job of Interior Secretary.

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