Salazar, Vilsack nominations give voice to rural America
The majority of conservationists and rural interest groups say that in making these choices, Obama has taken a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise of revitalizing rural economies.
Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington — Every stream tells a story on the half-day drive from Denver to the Salazar family ranch, every culvert a tale of water and politics. Ken Salazar knows them all, a font of knowledge tapped by President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday when he introduced the Democratic senator from Colorado, whose ancestors farmed and ranched the American Southwest for more than 400 years, as his choice to lead the Interior Department.
Some environmentalists call Salazar too centrist and too friendly to drilling and mining interests to run the department: "His overall record is decidedly mixed, and is especially weak in the arenas most important to the next secretary of the Interior: protecting scientific integrity, combating global warming, reforming energy development and protecting endangered species," said the Center for Biological Diversity in Arizona. A letter opposing his nomination was signed by about 50 wildlife biologists and members of environmental groups.
But in Salazar and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack -- a longtime chief executive of a major farm state, nominated Wednesday for Agriculture secretary -- Obama is adding two rural-tuned voices to the Cabinet of the most urban president in at least 100 years. Salazar's adds a background, and perhaps a preference for farm and ranching interests, to the often-contentious politics of western water scarcity.
Among the Interior secretary's duties is to oversee management of the Colorado River, a crucial source of water for irrigation and municipal supplies for seven states, including California. He will have a major say in appointments to key water posts, including the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which runs the biggest water system in the country, California's Central Valley Project.
"We're very pleased that we got someone who actually knows water, who is a westerner and is a centrist -- not a liberal and not a conservative," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The majority of conservationists and rural interest groups say that by choosing Salazar and Vilsack, Obama has taken a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise of revitalizing rural economies.
"We're very encouraged" by the choices, said Mark Maslyn, executive director of the American Farm Bureau, which recently honored Salazar for his work on agricultural issues. "They're men of substance, and they have a record" of supporting the renewable energy efforts Maslyn called "critical" for rural economies and the nation.
