Free Republic

COPENHAGEN — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar joined the Obama administration’s charm offensive in Copenhagen on Thursday — and took some shots at the Bush administration in the process. “As much as the world awoke to the dangers of climate change, the political leadership of the United States simply slept,” Salazar said in a briefing at the U.S. center here. “Confronting the impact of climate change was simply not a priority.” He said things have changed since the election of Barack Obama. “I’m here in today in Copenhagen on behalf of President Obama to deliver a simple message: The United States...

In another example of how liberals get their panties in a wad when they are challenged for the decisions they make, Ken Salazar resorted to name-calling and innuendo as he tried to defend the Obama Administration's extremist energy policies. Ken Salazar, criticized the oil and gas industry for accusing the Obama Administration of stifling energy development in the West and offshore. He also left little doubt that he felt that the industry is nothing less than an arm of the Republican party. I always find it amusing when liberals resort to this type of attack. No facts to counter the...

Republican Scott Tipton, a Colorado state representative, announced Monday that he will challenge Democrat John Salazar for the congressional seat he has held for three terms. "With encouragement from people around our district — Republicans, Democrats, unaffiliated voters — I am entering the race to represent the 3rd Congressional District of Colorado," Tipton said in a statement Monday. He argues that voters are ready to turn out the Democratic majority in Congress and that includes Salazar, who has served three terms. Tipton challenged Salazar once before, in 2006, but lost 146,488 to 86,930. Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District includes nearly all...

Unaffiliated voters leaning toward GOP. Less than a year from the 2010 elections, there's a chance for Cortez Republican Scott Tipton to pull a major upset over John Salazar, the incumbent Western Slope congressman, a respected pollster told Denver-area Republicans on Wednesday. Floyd Ciruli... recent elections around the country show unaffiliated voters leaning toward Republicans, while Democratic voters tended to stay home. He pointed to Tipton and Ryan Frazier of Aurora as two Republicans who might benefit. "I think the Republican Party wisely saw that lightning could strike out there. This could be one of those exceptional years," Ciruli said....

23 projects statewide affected by bill. The 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill that was signed into law on Oct. 30 by President Barack Obama has reached the Western Slope, and has brought the Glenwood Springs wastewater treatment facility project, and many more around the state, to a screeching halt. the word came last week that the project would have to be put on hold, indefinitely, awaiting further clarification from the Environmental Protection Agency. Hecksel said that he was unsure as to why the Glenwood project would be included because the project was not seeking federal funding... The intent of...

A cross-section of opponents of health-care reform legislation making its way through Congress crowded into the Durango office of U.S. Rep. John Salazar... An orderly 50 or so protesters... represented at least three interest groups - Republican women, the Tea Party movement and the 9-12 Project started by conservative radio and television commentator Glenn Beck. The protest was part of a nationwide effort, which included thousands of conservatives rallying at the Capitol on Thursday against the Democrats' health-care overhaul plan, labeling it a government takeover of the nation's medical system. Health-care reform misses the target on all fronts... It's too...

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior has frozen oil and gas development on 60 of 77 contested drilling sites in Utah, saying the process of leasing the land was rushed and badly flawed. The 77 government-owned parcels, covering some 100,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah, were leased in the last weeks of the Bush administration. But the leases were immediately challenged by conservation groups, and in January a federal judge blocked drilling on the ground that the Interior Department had failed to follow its own procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of lands designated for oil and gas extraction.

The Obama administration and Congress is so imperial, so indifferent to ordinary Americans, so disdainful, so awful, it makes me want to turn away, to take up painting seascapes in Baja California, armed to the teeth, of course. Sort of like Sara Conner in the early Transformer movies. As attractive as that prospect is (and Sarah Conner, for that matter), this would be the coward’s way out. Yet the fact remains: the country is not being run for, by, or of the People. In fact, the evidence shows that this government is doing it to the People. John Kerry and...

The government wants to deal with the booming number of wild horses crowding the Western range by sending the animals east. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today unveiled his plan to control the rising environmental and monetary costs associated with wild horses and burros by moving tens of thousands of them onto new preserves in the Midwest and East. "We must consider citing these preserves in areas outside of Western States because water and forage are extremely limited in the West, and drought and wildfire threaten both rangeland and animal health," Salazar said in a letter today to Senate Majority Leader...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar moved Monday to prepare the nation's parks, refuges and endangered species for the onslaught of global warming. Salazar signed an order setting up a Climate Change Response Council and eight regional response centers to study and respond to such issues as rising sea levels threatening to swamp historic structures and warmer temperatures shifting where wildlife live. The order also commits the Interior Department to develop a plan to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, including setting a firm target.

Congressman John Salazar ...plans to hold health care town meetings during the August recess. "We are having town hall meetings which are teleconference meetings throughout the district. The district is very, very big..." Specific dates and times for the teleconferences have not yet been scheduled.

In a move to protect endangered species, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday that his department had reversed a Bush administration decision to double the amount of logging allowed in and around old-growth forests in western Oregon. Veering between swipes at “indefensible” moves by the Bush administration and pledges to step up noncontroversial timber sales, Mr. Salazar said in a conference call with reporters that he was reinstating a compromise reached 15 years ago to limit logging with the goal of protecting watersheds, trout and salmon fisheries and endangered birds like the northern spotted owl. “Today we are taking action...

The Obama administration will make reforming the nation's 137-year-old hardrock mining law a top priority despite a full plate of higher profile issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday. Salazar told a Senate committee considering reform legislation that "it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines." The General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation's public lands, has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers...

Obama officials urge Senate action on climateBy DINA CAPPIELLO Associated Press writer Wednesday, July 8, 2009 2:06 AM MDT WASHINGTON -- Saying global warming poses unprecedented threats to Americans' way of life, four of President Barack Obama's top environmental and energy officials urged the Senate on Tuesday to pass legislation to reduce the pollution linked to the planet's rising temperature. The heads of the Energy Department, Agriculture Department, Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency told a Senate panel it should pass a bill similar to one the House narrowly cleared late last month. That legislation would impose the first limits...

-Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday announced measures he said would expedite solar energy projects on federal lands. Although hundreds of solar plant projects have applied for leases, none have been approved, and the fast-track effort was applauded by the industry. Salazar has made expanding renewable energy leasing on federal property a top priority, and the announcement should help to clear the bottlenecked permitting program. One of the key initiatives proposes solar energy zones on federal lands in the Western U.S. Other measures include opening new solar energy permitting offices and accelerating reviews of industry proposals. Environmental advocacy groups...

SOMERSET, Pa. -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the U.S. government will not use eminent domain to seize people's land for a permanent Flight 93 memorial and instead will renew negotiations with landowners near the terrorist crash site in Somerset County. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Salazar met with families of victims and landowners on Friday in Shanksville to discuss issues surrounding the planned national memorial for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, fatal hijacking. Specter's office said Friday's meeting also focused on what still needs to be done for the memorial to be complete in time for the...

Lately hunters (primarily from the US) had been paying $30,000 for the chance of whacking a polar bear during a grueling hunt in the Canadian arctic on dogsleds and in subzero weather. If successful, then the hunter's taxidermist landed another $5,000 or so for converting the beast's epidermis into an infuriatingly politically-incorrect rug for the hunter to display to his politically-correct guests at dinner parties. Generally speaking, the most spirited reactions from guests came after uncorking the eighth bottle of wine. Most of these guests were usually his wife's friends from the local Art Council and Kayak Club and spittle...

Sean Salazar seans@sean4senate.com Dr. Sean Salazar brings a fresh approach in serving the citizens of WA State. His desire to bring change arises from his humble background to his current occupation. Having run for Congress once before, Sean understands the practicality of campaigns and politics. Being a Chiropractic Doctor, he undersands the needs to deliver quality and affordable healthcare. His background as a military veteran with overseas service provides a perspective of national security coupled with quality education. As one of five children raised by a single mother and growing up in several of Seattle’s low income housing projects, Sean...

The Interior Department's Web site links to a page highlighting key officials. It's blank. ... Part of the holdup stems from a clash with Utah's two senators [...]. ... "We have a lot of work to do and some of it is on hold simply because we don't have the personnel confirmed as of this point," Salazar said. ... Sen. Bob Bennett, for one, isn't sure he wants that team in place. Bennett has placed a hold on the nomination of David Hayes to be deputy secretary out of concern about Salazar's decision to pull back on 77 leases for...

Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier is the first Republican to take a formal step toward the Colorado Senate race, launching an exploratory committee on Wednesday. Frazier made the announcement at a Tea Party rally in Grand Junction. “We have an amazing opportunity to create economic prosperity, reform our government and build a better future,” Frazier said, according to a release. “I stand before you to do my part.” If he wins the GOP primary, Frazier would likely face appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who replaced Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (D) in the Senate earlier this year. Frazier is not the...

Interior Secretary Ken Salazr, the Obama administration's energy architect, apparently thinks the answer to all our energy worries is blowing in the wind. Salazar has slammed the brakes on efforts to develop vast new gas and oil fields offshore and in his home state of Colorado. During the campaign, candidate Obama said he would drill to find oil offshore. But Salazar now says he needs six months to formulate a comprehensive offshore-energy plan and to have "an open and honest conversation" about it with the American people. Increasingly, Salazar sounds like a man bedeviled by the winds. In speeches he...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Windmills off the East Coast could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, the coal-fired power plants in the United States, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday. (snip) Salazar could not estimate how many windmills might be needed to generate 1 million megawatts of power, saying it would depend on their size and how far from the coast they were located. (snip)

Weld District Attorney Ken Buck said Tuesday that he’s leaning toward running for Senate in 2010 against Senate appointee Michael Bennet. However, Buck said he has ruled out running for other offices while on his listening tour around the state. Buck said he likely will file paperwork to run for the Senate seat in April and then will announce his candidacy. He declined to give a date for his announcement. Bennet, a Democrat, was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter to the Senate after Ken Salazar left his seat to take a position in President Barack Obama’s cabinet. Buck, a Republican,...

Salazar schedules four regional public meetings on OCS during April Four regional public meetings will be held during April to discuss US Outer Continental Shelf energy resources and their potential development impacts, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on March 11. The meetings are scheduled for April 6 in Atlantic City, NJ; April 8 in New Orleans; April 14 in Anchorage, and April 16 in San Francisco. Salazar originally announced on Feb. 10 that they would be held as part of his strategy to develop a more comprehensive five-year OCS plan which would include renewable and alternative resources and more...

WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said this week that the waters off the Atlantic coast hold some of the country's greatest wind energy potential, and he promised to move aggressively to develop plans to exploit the resource. In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar also said he wants to review objections to oil and gas leasing in Alaska's Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea, where environmentalists argue that the threat to fisheries and polar bears has not been adequately examined, and off Virginia, where the governor has raised concerns.

Fifteen US House Republicans asked US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a Mar. 5 letter not to delay a Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale that is scheduled for Mar. 18. "Later this month, the Department of the Interior will conduct a lease sale in what is believed to be one of America's best untapped areas, the 181 South Area of the Gulf of Mexico," said Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee. "Today, I lead a number of my colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary Salazar stressing the importance of moving...

We knew Sarah Palin would be murder on wolves had she been elected, but we expected more of the Obama Administration and its political appointees. While we have had some strong pronouncements for animal protection from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and there are many signs that positive changes are afoot more broadly within the Obama Administration, we’ve got our very first dose of awful news from the newly installed leaders in the executive branch. On Friday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that his agency would proceed with the delisting of both the Great Lakes and Northern Rockies wolf populations. I...

Reporting from Washington and Denver -- The Interior Department on Wednesday blocked a Bush administration plan to open parts of the Mountain West for oil shale development, announcing that it would first study the water, power and land-use issues that complicate one of the nation's most abundant but controversial untapped sources of energy. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar canceled shale development leases on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and launched a second round of leases in the region limited to research purposes. In doing so, he rebuked what he called former President Bush's "headlong rush" to begin development. "Those...

The US Department of the Interior will offer a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases for oil shale in Colorado and Utah and withdraw the Bush administration's proposal for expanded RD&D leases, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday. "We need to push forward aggressively with research, development and demonstration of oil shale technologies to see if we can find a safe and economically viable way to unlock these resources on a commercial scale," Salazar said. "The research, development, and demonstration leases we will offer can help answer critical questions about oil shale, including about the viability of emerging...

In a second reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he is scrapping leases for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Salazar rescinded a lease offer made last month for research, development and demonstration projects that could have led to oil-shale works on 1.9 million acres in the three states, greatly expanding the program. "I am withdrawing that Jan. 14 solicitation because in my view it was a midnight decision, and it was flawed," Salazar told reporters on a teleconference call from Washington, D.C

GAS AND OIL PRODUCERS ARE GETTING A CASE OF INDIGESTION that no anti-acid can cure. They fear that President Obama will break his campaign promise to allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the outer continental shelf, arguably jeopardizing U.S. energy security. Few are prepared to call our president "Barack the Bamboozler." Most people still take him at his word, given in his acceptance speech in Denver last August, that offshore drilling, especially for natural gas, is an important part of his administration's overall plan for making the nation energy-independent. On Sept. 23, the truth will out. ... Last...

Calling a last-minute Bush administration plan to expand offshore drilling a "headlong rush of the worst kind," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday slowed down by six months any oil and gas leasing in the nation's outer continental shelf. Salazar on Tuesday called for an additional 180 days of comment on the existing five-year drilling plan, which was released in the final days of President George Bush's administration. He also gave the Minerals Management Service 45 days to pull together a report on all offshore resources within the U.S. -- both oil and gas, as well as renewable sources such...

Salzar said his agency will give the public until Sept. 23 to comment on the plan, instead of the March 23 deadline advanced set by the Bush administration. Salazar's agency will hold public meetings before a decision is made. Is this Obama's stimulus plan? Is it Tax Cheat Timmy's Big Bank Bailout plan? No! This is the Bush administration's plan to get the lifeblood of the American economy, oil, flowing again! Well, the Green communists in the Obama administration can't have THAT, can they? American workers and taxpayers would actually have money left over after paying all the new Obama...

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Statement on Offshore Energy Strategy Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Main Interior Building, Washington DC Thank you all for joining me today.Today, I am once again taking steps to change the way the Interior Department does business so that we can fulfill President Obama’s commitment to a government that is open and inclusive and that makes decisions based on sound science and the public interest.On Friday, January 16, its last business day in office, the Bush Administration proposed a new five year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing.  It was actually published in the...

Interior Secretary says that we need bring sanity back into our energy policy. By "sanity" he means citing 30-year old estimates of reserves and doing nothing to develop our domestic natural resources.

 One of them wanted to see Americans paying $8 a gallon for gasoline. Another tried to block access to domestic oil reserves that could one day exceed those in Saudi Arabia. Another thinks global warming is a dire crisis justifying a massive crackdown on energy -- decades after saying the same thing about global cooling. Yet another had a position in the one of the world’s top socialist organizations.Meet the Obama administration’s energy team.Forget everything you’ve heard about the president’s moderate picks on the economy, national security and other issues. When it comes to energy policy and related environmental concerns,...

Colorado’s Ken Salazar is facing his first major backlash as Secretary of the Interior. A national civil rights group says Salazar is “going Hollywood on us” and caving into actor Robert Redford’s demands that American oil and gas leases in Utah be cancelled. He is also being accused of going counter to the spirit of economic stimulus by cancelling the leases. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) says higher energy prices will result from the decision to scrap the leases of 77 parcels of land for oil and gas drilling in Utah’s Redrock country. The group believes low-income families feel the...

SALT LAKE CITY – In a high-profile reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the government is scrapping the lease of 77 parcels of federal land for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country. "In the last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases near some of our nation's most precious landscapes in Utah," Salazar said from Washington in a teleconference call with reporters. He ordered the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior Department, to not cash checks from winning bidders for parcels at...

Despite Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's vow to draft a comprehensive energy policy that includes new domestic oil and gas drilling, the industry is watching with a wary eye. Salazar hasn't been specific about where he will open new acreage for lease sales. But based on his comments so far, some industry officials fear that new drilling rights under such a plan may be in areas that show little promise compared to other prospects likely to remain off limits. The officials also say the secretary's pledge to reform the government's royalty program, which collects billions of revenue from the industry for...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the expansion of offshore oil drilling should be worked out with Congress as part of a broad energy blueprint and not independent action by his department. In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar indicated the drilling plan the Bush administration left on his desk likely will be scrapped. It would open the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts for drilling. Salazar declined to single out any waters considered automatically off limits to oil exploration. "There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are places that are not,"...

The Senate on Tuesday is expected to attempt unanimous-approval votes of President-elect Obama’s Cabinet nominees, but it is uncertain who will be cleared by the upper chamber on Inauguration Day. Senate Democratic leaders have circulated a unanimous consent request for 15 nominations at various departments, from Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton to United Nations Ambassador nominee Susan Rice. A senior Democratic aide cautions that leaders are uncertain how many will actually win unanimous approval, and that any roll-call votes that are necessary would be held on Wednesday. The 15 names also include Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, Agriculture...

We can expect a proliferation of new regulations that will reach into every area of American life and commerce. What do President-elect Barack Obama’s leadership picks tell us about the kinds of energy and environmental policies we can expect in the next four to eight years? On balance, they suggest we are in for a radical shift away from George W. Bush’s pro-market policies and back to the aggressive regulatory approach favored by the Clinton administration. Let’s take a look at Obama’s prospective appointees.Lisa P. Jackson Obama’s pick for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be the first African...

Obama Interior Nominee to Consider New Ban on Oil Interior Secretary-designate Sen. Ken Salazar D-Colo., right, shares a laugh with Sen. Mark Udall D-Colo. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, during Salazar's confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)(CNSNews.com) - President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of the interior nominee, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), said he will consider restoring parts of an expired federal ban on offshore oil drilling, but told CNSNews.com that he has “no idea” how much of the drilling restrictions should be reimposed. Salazar spoke to CNSNews.com outside his...

President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of the interior nominee, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), said he will consider restoring parts of an expired federal ban on offshore oil drilling, but told CNSNews.com that he has “no idea” how much of the drilling restrictions should be reimposed.

How does $8-a-gallon gas sound? Few Americans would want to see that happen. Unfortunately, President-elect Barack Obama’s choices for the government’s two highest energy posts have expressed a surprising level of comfort with sky-high gas prices. As if that weren’t bad enough, the incoming Obama administration and new Congress have suggested that they might reverse the pro-domestic oil drilling measures enacted since last summer. It is starting to look as though the change coming to Washington will bring bad news at the pump in the years ahead. As gas prices topped $4 a gallon last July, President George W. Bush...

Gov. Bill Ritter is shattering conventional wisdom in tapping the popular but politically untested Michael Bennet, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, as the U.S. Senate replacement for Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar. The surprising move, expected at a state Capitol news conference Saturday, perplexed many political insiders, most of whom considered Bennet the darkhorse candidate in a field crowded with big name, political veterans like Bennet's old boss, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. To some, the reaction wasn't head-scratching. It was jaw-dropping.

Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet is expected to be named Saturday as the future U.S. Senate replacement for Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar, according to two Democratic sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to name his U.S. Senate replacement pick on Saturday, ending a brief but frenzied period of speculation about who will take the seat of Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar. The selection would be preliminary, since Salazar is not expected to resign his U.S. Senate seat until sometime after Jan. 15, when he faces a confirmation hearing — and later...

For those who thought the new era of Democratic governance would be dull, we present this year's Senate replacement follies. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich kept the entertainment going yesterday by defying just about everyone and nominating former state Attorney General Roland Burris to [Obama's Senate seat]. ... Democrats who run the state assembly are still trying to impeach Mr. Blagojevich, but meantime they've stepped back from allowing a special election for the seat. Democrats hope to dump the Governor and then have his replacement appoint a different Democrat. No doubt they're afraid Republicans might win given this exquisite display of...

President-elect Barack Obama (L) introduces Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as interior secretary designate at a news conference on December 17, 2008 in Chicago. Obama also introduced former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as his agriculture secretary designate. (UPI Photo/Brian Kersey)

Sen. Ken Salazar DOI Steven Chu DOE In my last post, I mentioned a number of popular ideas to advance alternative energy development. But I didn’t attribute them because nothing had been written of incoming administration officials as yet. A couple of days later several major newspapers mentioned ideas of incoming administration officials which included ideas I talked about. So I inserted these in my last post. If you went to my last post early check back. (Just skim down and check  the writing in block quotes.) This week’s post includes a piece from the Wall St Journal which mentions another...