Word: interiorization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Colorado's attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2004 - center on his ties to the ranching and mining industries and some of his votes as a Senator. As attorney general, he threatened to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - which he would lead as Interior Secretary - over the listing of the black-tailed prairie dog as endangered. (In Colorado, the animal is still classified as a "pest" to ranchers...
...relatively conservative Democrat, typical of the new centrist Western wing of the party, Salazar voted in favor of President George W. Bush's Interior Secretary nominee Gale Norton, who has been roundly criticized for her mismanagement of the beleaguered department. He also supported his friend Alberto Gonzales for U.S. Attorney General, even escorting Gonzales into the U.S. Senate on the first day of his nomination hearings. Although Salazar has since said that he was wrong to support Gonzales, who eventually stepped down after being accused of politicizing the Justice Department, his critics view the votes as evidence that the Coloradoan...
...other environmentalists argue that Salazar's centrism will serve him well at Interior, where he'll need to balance protection of the land and species with legitimate development of the country's natural resources. They point to his past practice in Colorado as a water-rights lawyer as evidence that he understands one of the most important environmental issues facing the U.S., as well as to his opposition in the Senate to the destructive practice of oil shale exploration in the Rocky Mountains. Industry representatives from mining and energy reacted positively to Salazar's appointment, seeing him as a pragmatist...
...says EDF's Grossman, who pointed to Salazar's work to broker a compromise on offshore oil drilling. Obama noted that Salazar's family has farmed and ranched on the same land in Colorado for five generations, giving him firsthand knowledge of the West that other candidates to lead Interior - like the respected Representative Jay Inslee of Seattle - might lack. "You need someone who has the land in their soul," says Sharon Buccino, the director of NRDC's land program. "Salazar does...
...Whether he's loved by the environmental community or not, what's certain is that Salazar has an enormously difficult job in front of him. The Interior Department - historically one of the more scandal-ridden of the federal government - is a disaster. The Bush Administration stuffed the department with former industry lobbyists who kowtowed to miners and loggers, eviscerated environmental protections like the Endangered Species Act and actively ignored recommendations by the department's scientists. Worse, the Mineral Management Service (MMS) - a branch of Interior that collects royalties from energy industry work on federal lands - was hit this year with...