Report: Salazar Has Accepted Interior Secretary Position

By Jeralyn, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 07:16:00 PM EST
Tags: Ken Salazar (all tags)

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Bump and update: Our local news is reporting Sen. Salazar has been offered and accepted the cabinet position of Secretary of the Interior.

The speculation now turns to who Gov. Ritter will name to replace him. Top names mentioned: Reps. Ed Perlmutter and Diana DeGette , Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Colorado House speaker Andrew Romanoff. My choices: Diana DeGette, followed by Ed Perlmutter. [More...]

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Reports of Sen. Ken Salazar for Interior Secretary

Both the Denver Post and Reuters are reporting that unnamed sources advise that Colorado Senator Ken Salazar is among the top choices for the Secretary of the Interior.

Salazar just held a fundraiser for his 2010 Senate re-election and raised $400,000. I wonder what happens to that money if he takes a cabinet position?

I think Salazar has more power as a Senator given his tendency to compromise with Republicans. With his bipartisan nature, he can probably be of more use to Obama in the Senate as well.

I have my doubts Salazar would accept the position, but if he does, I think he'll make a fine Interior Secretary. And I won't mind his absence in the Senate when it comes to voting on judicial appointments and crime bills. He's been too much of a conservative in those areas.

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Report: Salazar Has Accepted Interior Secretary Position | 30 comments (30 topical)

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Whoever the next Interior (5.00 / 3) (#2)
by Blowback on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 12:37:35 PM EST

Secretary is, he(she) will have to deal with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The patch is characterised by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Not Interior's Problem (5.00 / 1) (#26)
by jsj20002 on Tue Dec 16, 2008 at 07:27:15 AM EST

The problem of deep ocean pollution is not under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department until the debris washes up on land they administer such as the Northern Hawaiian Islands Wildlife Sanctuary or the debris originates from lands or rivers under DOI control. The primary responsibility lies with the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. NOAA has several programs that attempt to address ocean debris and State is active in international negotiations to stop other countries to from polluting the high seas.


Deal with? (none / 0) (#4)
by Fabian on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 12:44:19 PM EST

I've read about it. The best way to deal with it is to engineer some plastic eating microbes. The problem is too vast to deal with mechanically. We can use it to chart changing winds and currents though.


That silver lining :) (none / 0) (#7)
by Militarytracy on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 01:07:24 PM EST

: Climate Change is a'coming! (none / 0) (#8)
by Fabian on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 01:13:38 PM EST

Some things will be hard to measure(deep ocean currents) but other things (anything on the surface) are much easier to measure.

I think he'll take it (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Militarytracy on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 01:06:14 PM EST

It's the sort of job he does best therefore he must enjoy it. And right now, with the economy folding like a church luncheon chair it is the perfect time for Colorado to take a crack at getting someone to represent them that isn't a DINO.

Looking at environmental group ratings (5.00 / 1) (#10)
by magster on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 01:30:32 PM EST

... Salazar is mediocre compared to other Democrats, and I'd prefer a stronger environmentalist. Having Ritter replace Salazar with a better Democrat is an upside though, as long as Ritter would actually do that (Denver Post says Salazar's folks would push for Ken's brother and Blue Dog, John Salazar as a replacement).

: Yes. Thank you. (5.00 / 2) (#16)
by Plutonium Page on Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 04:45:45 PM EST

What I find worrying is exemplified by his editorial in the Washington Post from this summer.
A few excerpts:

Heedless Rush to Oil Shale
By Ken Salazar
Tuesday, July 15, 2008; A19
To hear Bush touting Western oil shale as the answer to $4 per gallon gasoline, as he did again yesterday in the Rose Garden, you would think it was 1908 . . . or 1920 . . . or 1945 . . . or 1974. Every couple of decades over the past century, the immense reserves of the oily rock under Colorado and Utah reemerge as the great hope for our energy future.
Bush and his fellow oil shale boosters claim that if only Western communities would stand aside, energy companies could begin extracting more than 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil from domestic shale deposits. If only the federal government immediately offered even more public lands for development, the technology to extract oil from rock would suddenly ripen, oil supplies would rise and gas prices would fall.
If only.
Ok, that sounds good. Looking forward to an editorial that discusses the folly of gas prices being lowered by oil shale exploration, as well as the devastating environmental impacts.
Oh, wait. No. He doesn't say a word about the environmental impact.
I'd expect him to be a little concerned about that.
He discusses careful development... the fact that he's discussing development AT ALL is alarming to me.
But hey, oh well, whatever. Pardon my cynicism, but we're bound for all sorts of unnecessary environmental destruction no matter who is chosen. Look at what all the Dems were saying during their c