WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama plans to name Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) to lead the Interior Department -- an appointment that could put the brakes on several controversial energy development projects across the West.
Two senior Democrats said Monday that Obama would name Salazar, a Latino, to the post, rounding out an energy and environmental policy team announced at a Chicago news conference.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, December 18, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
Interior secretary: An article in Tuesday's Section A about President-elect Barack Obama's plan to select Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) as Interior secretary said Karen Schambach, the California coordinator for the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, supported Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) for the position. She supported Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
If confirmed, Salazar would head a department with a broad portfolio, including managing the troubled Bureau of Indian Affairs. Salazar, 53, would also oversee the nation's national parks and other large swaths of public lands, making him the country's foremost landlord. And he would be responsible for the Bureau of Land Management, which sets policy for oil and gas drilling, mining and other resource extraction on public land.
Earlier this year, Salazar criticized the department for decisions to open Colorado's picturesque Roan Plateau for drilling. Salazar said the regulations to begin opening land for oil shale development would "sell Colorado short."
Salazar was not the first choice of some environmental groups, who had favored Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.). A coalition of 141 environmental groups, biologists and other scientists launched an e-mail and letter-writing campaign in support of Grijalva.
Grijalva last month compiled a scathing report on what he considered President Bush's environmental legacy on public lands. The list of Bush's missteps mirrored complaints from conservation groups that the administration -- through the Department of Interior -- was damaging the West's resources.
Karen Schambach, the California coordinator for the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, described Salazar as more of a centrist. Still, she expected he would be a "sympathetic soul" in a department that had offered a cold shoulder to the environmental community.
"The past eight years with the Bush administration have felt like a battle, then it became total despair," she said. "To have a battle, you have to feel like you were somewhat engaged. We were not."
Schambach said that even though she supported Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) to be the next Interior secretary, she is optimistic that Salazar, a Westerner, will understand the region's issues.
Salazar's family helped settle what is now New Mexico in the 1500s. He was raised on a ranch in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, and became an attorney with expertise in water law.
