John Orr: Coyote Gulch's 2008 Presidential Election

Barack Obama: 44th President of the United States of America

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:06:23 GMT

A moment ago Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. Quite a day for the U.S.A.

President Obama is actually a westerner, a Hawaii native.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:42:14 GMT

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. must be smiling down on the USA today, the day before we inaugurate our first African-American president, Barack Obama.

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

Stimulus plan: Targeted water initiatives

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:18:19 GMT

Here's the link to the summary of President-elect Obama's stimulus spending package, from Talking Points Memo. Congress will take up the bill in the next few days. What's in it for water?

$10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation...

$19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments...

National Science Foundation: $3 billion, including $2 billion for expanding employment opportunities in fundamental science and engineering to meet environmental challenges and to improve global economic competitiveness, $400 million to build major research facilities that perform cutting edge science, $300 million for major research equipment shared by institutions of higher education and other scientists, $200 million to repair and modernize science and engineering research facilities at the nation's institutions of higher education and other science labs, and $100 million is also included to improve instruction in science, math and engineering...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors: $600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.

National Institute of Standards and Technology: $300 million for competitive construction grants for research science buildings at colleges, universities, and other research organizations and $100 million to coordinate research efforts of laboratories and national research facilities by setting interoperability standards for manufacturing

Agricultural Research Service: $209 million for agricultural research facilities across the country. ARS has a list of deferred maintenance work at facilities of roughly $315 million.

U.S. Geological Survey: $200 million to repair and modernize U.S.G.S. science facilities and equipment, including improvements to laboratories, earthquake monitoring systems, and computing capacity...

Construction on Public Lands and Parks: $3.1 billion for infrastructure projects on federal lands including improvements to visitor facilities, road and trail restoration, preservation of buildings of cultural and historic importance, rehabilitation of abandoned mines and oil fields, and environmental cleanup projects. This includes $1.8 billion for the National Park Service, $325 million for the Bureau of Land Management, $300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries, and $650 million for the Forest Service...

Clean Water State Revolving Fund: $6 billion for loans to help communities upgrade wastewater treatment systems. EPA estimates a $388 billion funding gap. The Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators found that 26 states have $10 billion in approved water projects.

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: $2 billion for loans for drinking water infrastructure. EPA estimates there is a $274 billion funding gap. The National Governors Association reported that there are $6 billion in ready-to-go projects, which could quickly be obligated.

Rural Water and Waste Disposal: $1.5 billion to support $3.8 billion in grants and loans to help communities fund drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. In 2008, there were $2.4 billion in requests for water and waste loans and $990 million for water and waste grants went unfunded.

Corps of Engineers: $4.5 billion for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure critical to the economy. The Corps has a construction backlog of $61 billion.

Bureau of Reclamation: $500 million to provide clean, reliable drinking water to rural areas and to ensure adequate water supply to western localities impacted by drought. The Bureau has backlogs of more than $1 billion in rural water projects and water reuse and recycling projects.

Watershed Infrastructure: $400 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service watershed improvement programs to design and build flood protection and water quality projects, repair aging dams, and purchase and restore conservation easements in river flood zones.

International Boundary and Water Commission: $224 million to repair flood control systems along the international segment of the Rio Grande damaged by hurricane Katrina and other serious storms...

Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup: $800 million to clean up hazardous and toxic waste sites that threaten health and the environment. EPA has 1,255 sites on its National Priority List, selected based on a hazard ranking system. There are many Superfund sites ready for construction, but not funded due to budget shortfalls and over 600 sites with ongoing construction that could be accelerated.

Leaking Underground Storage Tanks: $200 million for enforcement and cleanup of petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks at approximately 1,600 additional sites. There are an estimated 116,000 sites with the potential to contaminate important water supplies.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: $500 million for nuclear waste cleanup at sites contaminated as a result of the nation's past nuclear activities. Accelerating the completion of projects will reduce long-term costs.
NOAA Habitat Restoration: $400 million for ready-to-go habitat restoration projects.

Category: Climate Change News

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar sails through hearing

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:33:23 GMT

Here's a report on Ken Salazar's confirmation hearing yesterday, from Lisa Mascaro writing for the Las Vegas Sun. From the article:

In an issue of vital interest in Nevada, Interior Secretary-nominee Ken Salazar said he hopes to push through mining law reforms pending in Congress that are more protective of water and land resources. At his confirmation hearing Thursday, Salazar sought to assure senators that he "is not against mining." Nor did he wade into the details of royalty payments that have tripped up past efforts to change the gold mining law. But Salazar said federal mining law, adopted in 1872, needs to be revised to reflect the "modern understanding we have of the impacts of mining." "We do need stronger standards than what are set forth in the 1872 mining law. That will be part of the discussion as we try to work with you and others -- put together a reform that is sensitive, makes common sense, can garner the votes."[...]

Salazar laid out an urgent to-do list that starts with cleaning up the ethical lapses that marred the Interior Department during the Bush administration and launching President-elect Barack Obama's green energy revolution. Salazar seeks to transform the department from one that has long focused on Western public lands into a pivotal player in developing new domestic energy resources. "In many ways, the Department of Interior is, quote, the real Energy Department," Salazar told reporters after the hearing. "I want to move this department to a whole new level of activity in the 21st century."[...]

Environmental organizations have said Salazar was not their first choice, and a coalition of groups continued that stance on Wednesday. Like many Cabinet nominees, Salazar deflected more detailed responses to several questions. When pressed by oil-state senators on whether he would reinstate the off-shore drilling ban that was lifted last year, he declined to say. Asked whether he would free up oil shale leasing on public lands, he said questions remain. Queried whether he would retain the Bush administration's recent decision to allow guns in the national parks, he said, "We'll take a look." His nomination is expected to win Senate approval.

More coverage from The Denver Post (Michael Riley):

Interior secretary-designate Ken Salazar vowed Thursday to reorient the Department of the Interior from a hive of special interests that marked the Bush administration to one based on integrity and the rule of science. Sen. Salazar, a Denver Democrat, hit a laundry list of priorities in the opening statement of his confirmation hearing: reorienting Interior from a focus on fossil fuel toward alternative energy; improving relations with American Indians; and creating a new youth conservation corps. But he also launched a broad indictment of the way the department was managed under Bush, quoting a 2006 Inspector General report that said: "Short of a crime, anything goes at the highest level of the Department of Interior." "We will be working on that beginning Day One," Salazar said of the ethical lapses at the department, which have included accusations of partying and sex between energy lobbyists and department employees that decide the fate of leases.

More coverage from Red, Green and Blue (Timothy B. Hurst):

A vocal opponent of the Bush administration's push for oil shale development, Salazar, a former water lawyer spoke of the tremendous water and energy requirements to develop oil shale using current best practices. "We don't have the answers to some very important questions, including how much water is this going to take, which is a very important issue to the West."

More coverage from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Mike Saccone):

As the saying goes, if you want an easy confirmation hearing, nominate a senator. Ken Salazar's confirmation hearing Thursday morning before his former colleagues on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee certainly proved that point. Senators from both sides of the aisle praised the nomination of Salazar, Colorado's outgoing Democratic senator, to head the Interior Department in the Obama administration.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar sails through hearing

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:55:44 GMT

From Westword: (Alan Prendergast): "...but this is Ken Salazar we're talking about, the famously affable, centrist senator from Colorado. Wearing a bolo tie and flag pin (but no cowboy hat), he emerged from the three-hour chat with his colleagues on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Thursday morning smiling and unscathed. No one laid a glove on him."

More coverage from Avery Palmer writing for CQ Politics:

Sen. Ken Salazar told a Senate panel Thursday that if confirmed as Interior secretary, he will try to include funding for national parks and other public lands in the pending economic stimulus package. At the confirmation hearing, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Chairman Jeff Bingaman questioned Salazar about the economic recovery plan that House Democratic leaders had outlined. Bingaman urged Salazar to make sure the final plan includes funding to address deferred maintenance projects for national parks, forests and water infrastructure.

In particular, Bingaman, D-N.M., said he wants to address a $9.5 billion backlog in maintenance projects at the National Park Service, a $5 billion backlog at the Forest Service and $3 billion for aging water infrastructure. He also said the stimulus plan could help fund Bureau of Indian Affairs schools.

"Our first and foremost task will be to restore the integrity of the Department of Interior" -- Ken Salazar via Reuters (Ayesha Rascoe).

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water

Energy policy -- oil and gas: Environmental groups ask Obama to restore balance in exploration and production

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:52:40 GMT

From the Rocky Mountain News (Todd Harman): "Some 40 Western environmental groups are asking the incoming Obama administration for a fundamental shift in the way the federal government manages energy production in Colorado and the West. In a detailed, 17-page letter, the groups cite a litany of Bush administration actions they say have put energy development too far ahead of other land uses, including wilderness and wildlife protection. Much of the letter identifies locations at risk in Colorado. 'We urge the Obama administration to restore balance to the management of our public lands and resources and to ensure that oil and gas development does not compromise the West's water, air, wildlife and rural communities,' the letter said."

More on the letter, from Emily Underwood writing for the GOAT:

Over 100 U.S. water activists put their heads together in Fall 2008 and published a hefty, ambitious report called "A Blueprint for Clean Water." The Waterkeeper Alliance report is directed at the incoming Obama administration, and proposes a whopping 58 reforms ranging from desalination to global warming.

Curling up with a cup of coffee and reading about the management of ballast water might not sound like your idea of a cozy Sunday afternoon, but the Blueprint is remarkably engaging. Each section is written by a different activist who cares passionately about his or her subject of expertise. Some of the proposals tackle large issues, such as free trade and environmental justice. The section on dams calls for a paradigm shift in hydro...

Click through and read the whole article. Here's the link for the Waterkeeper Alliance website.

Meanwhile the college student that gamed the BLM's recent oil and gas lease sale in Utah has raised $45,000 in hopes of staving off an indictment, according to a report from Paul Foy writing for the Grand Junction Free Press. From the article:

Tim DeChristopher of Salt Lake City infiltrated the auction last month to run up prices for others and to try to protect wild areas in Utah. He ended up the winner of 22,500 acres between Arches and Canyonlands national parks but acknowledged he didn't have the money to pay for the parcels. DeChristopher, his supporters and lawyers announced Friday that they had raised $45,000 to make a down payment on the 13 parcels. DeChristopher said he appreciated the support from donors but wasn't certain if his money would be accepted. If it isn't, he said he'd use the money to buy the same parcels if they go up for bid again. It wasn't immediately clear if the fundraising effort will keep the University of Utah economics student out of trouble. "It's too late for him t o pay for anything," said Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Mary Wilson in Salt Lake City. "You have to pay that day, in addition to meaning to pay. You have to put up the cash."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Climate Change News

Enviromental groups to sue BLM to set aside Bush administration 'midnight' leasing regulations

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:00:29 GMT

From the Colorado Independent (David O. Williams): "Even as Republican state lawmakers gear up to make Colorado a more oil-shale-friendly business climate, a group of national and regional environmental groups Tuesday announced their intent to sue the federal Bureau of Land Management over so-called 'midnight' leasing regulations pushed through by the Bush administration.

"A group that includes the Center for Biological Diversity, Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club Tuesday sent a notice of intent to sue to outgoing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director James Caswell outlining alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act."

Meanwhile, San Miguel County is asking the USFS some tough questions about the acreage included in a recent oil and gas lease sale. Here's a report from the Telluride Daily Planet.

This morning, San Miguel County Commissioners will meet with officials from the United States Forest Service to talk about what they say is a rushed decision by an outgoing administration to lease delicate public lands to oil and gas companies for drilling.

On Feb. 12, about 48,000 acres of San Miguel County will be offered for oil and gas leasing; statewide, 133,054 acres will be on the block in the Bureau of Land Management's quarterly lease sale. San Miguel County has the most acreage available of any county in Colorado, and officials are alarmed by more than just the acreage.

Last week, the USFS announced it would pull the leases that fell within roadless areas, blaming an oversight. The decision to yank some leases eliminated parcels in the Naturita Canyon area.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water

Senator Salazar hopes to pass eight bills before taking the helm of Interior

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:28:01 GMT

From Red, Green and Blue: "Barack Obama's nominee for Interior Secretary, Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, says he has some unfinished business to take care of before he leaves the Senate and takes the helm at the Interior Department. Salazar will be in the unique position of working on legislation that would give new protections to public lands and then ushering those new protections along with him to Interior.

Potential Coyote Gulch outage

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:18:26 GMT

We're doing network maintenance today. The URL http://coyotegulch.net may be unavailable at times. You can read Coyote Gulch at http://radio.weblogs.com/0101170/

Energy policy -- Oil shale: Republican lawmakers hope to incentivize development with 2009 legislation

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:57:48 GMT

From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Mike Saccone): "Commercial oil shale production might be years away, but Republican state lawmakers plan to craft some general policies this year that could set the stage for developing the abundant fossil fuel. Sen.-elect Al White, R-Hayden, said he plans to carry legislation to start a rule-making process governing how and where oil shale can be developed in Colorado. 'The bill will establish a task force whose job it is to do a rule making for oil shale extraction and what parameters need to surround oil shale when it becomes commercially viable,' he said."

Jim O'Donnell: Sen. Ken Salazar is not a great choice

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:54:05 GMT

Over at the Colorado Independent, Jim O'Donnell is arguing against President-elect Obama's nomination of Senator Salazar. He lists, "Nine reasons not to trust Ken Salazar as secretary of interior." From the column:

I am deeply troubled by many of the president-elect's choices for his Cabinet. We've got an anti-family-farm, pro-Monsanto guy going to Agriculture, an inexperienced Republican hack going to Transportation and now Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to Interior. These are not the changes we need.

The secretary of the Interior, as the head of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Mineral Management Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and enforcer of the Endangered Species Act, is the most important federal position tasked with the protection of America's terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This is not a trifle. In my opinion, Sen. Ken Salazar is not a great choice for that position.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Our view of the Salazar nomination here.

Category: Colorado Water

Energy policy -- Oil shale: A look at current production technology

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:26:44 GMT

Oil shale is not ready for prime time. There are many questions as to the viability of the fuel source that has been the "Next Big Thing" here in Colorado for over a hundred years. Here's a background piece about the current state of affairs from Jack Roadifer writing in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:

Should oil shale be developed and, if so, when and how? Many geologists, engineers, physicists, chemists and others have been studying oil shale and its potential for years and have established some basic facts...

The oil shale (technically marlstone) was deposited in a large lake or lakes that existed in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming during the Miocene epoch about 15 million years ago. Clay, sand and silt were washed into the lake from surrounding highlands, and prolific organic material lived and died in the lake. These deposits, called the Green River Formation, were covered by younger deposits and later exposed by erosion.

Importantly, the oil shale was not covered by a great enough thickness of sediment to create the heat and pressure necessary to generate conventional crude oil. The hydrocarbon produced is called kerogen. The heat to liquefy the kerogen and release it from the rock must be supplied by some process devised by humans.

The processes that have been attempted on an experimental basis can be lumped together as (1) mining the shale, crushing it and heating it in a retort and (2) heating the shale underground, in situ, and pumping the released oil to the surface. Engineers and geologists have invested a great deal of time in developing these methods, and chemists have studied the properties of the oil and the most efficient ways to get it out of the rock.

Mining the shale would leave a lot of spent rock to be disposed of (an average ton of rock contains about 30 gallons of oil, and there are 42 gallons to a barrel of oil).

Shell Oil has been a leader in developing new technologies in oil shale extraction in recent years. Much of the information discussed here is from an October 2007 article in Fortune magazine detailing Shell's method called the In Situ Conversion Process or ICP. The in situ method being used in Shell Oil's experimental tract involves drilling a well through the oil shale layer (about 2,000 feet) and lowering heated rods that will eventually heat the shale to 650 degrees Farenheit to release the oil. It may take about a year for the shale to reach the necessary temperature. Once the oil is freed from the rock, it is pumped to the surface much like in a conventional oil well. Shell recovered 1,700 barrels of light, high-quality oil from a 30-foot by 40-foot test area using this method. In a commercial-sized tract, an ice barrier would have to be formed around the tract to prevent contamination of the surrounding ground water. According to a Rand Corp. estimate, a power plant would have to be constructed that would consume 5 million tons of coal per year to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day. However, Shell says it could obtain the needed energy from the natural gas produced by the process.

The shale for a retort could be obtained from an open pit mine that would be 2,000 feet deep. It is estimated that three barrels of water would be needed to process one barrel of oil and that about a million barrels of oil could be produced from an acre. Several companies were players in the development of shale oil during the 1960s and 1970s, including Tosco, Union Oil, Paraho, Occidental and others. Some of these companies produced some oil from their projects, proving it can be done. Union Oil, for example, produced a total of 13,000 barrels of shale oil from processing 1,200 tons of rock per day at its facility on Parachute Creek. A pipeline would then be needed to get the resource to market. Because the oil is a heavier grade and has some different chemical properties than most conventional crude oil, it would have to be heated to keep it liquid.

Meanwhile oil and gas companies are still bullish on developing oil shale, according to a report from the United Press international. They write:

The recent drop in oil prices is not likely to derail the push to develop shale oil deposits in the western United States, an oil executive says. Despite sagging crude prices and growing concern about the amount of water used to extract oil from shale, energy companies are forging ahead to exploit reserves on federal lands that last month were opened to production. "As long as we continue to be a nation that is hooked on liquid fuel, we need to look at anything we can do to tap the sources of energy in this country," Tracy Boyd, communications and sustainability manager at Shell Oil Co., told the Los Angeles Times.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Climate Change News

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to face challenges at Interior

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:12:12 GMT

Here's an article laying out some of the challenges U.S. Senator Ken Salazar will be facing as he takes over the leadership of the Department of Interior, from Anne C. Mulkern writing for the Denver Post. From the article:

One Interior Department scandal featured sex, drugs and influence peddling. Another involved politics trumping science in endangered-species rulings. Then there are the agency's intractable problems, such as the $8.7 billion maintenance backlog for national parks or a 12-year-old class-action lawsuit on behalf of Native Americans. The Interior Department manages 507 million acres, equal to about one-fifth of the country. But in recent years, it has had difficulty managing itself. When Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado takes over as interior secretary next month, he'll assume responsibility for a department beset by turmoil. He'll oversee everything from oil- and gas-leasing decisions to relationships with American Indian tribes. And he'll face large expectations from a new president and myriad special-interest groups. Changing the face and the politics of the department is not likely to happen easily or quickly...

Thirteen endangered-species-designation decisions made by the Fish and Wildlife Service between 2003 and 2007 were tainted, [Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney] said, because then-Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald sought to influence the outcome for political reasons. She resigned in 2007 after an earlier report by Devaney. "MacDonald's zeal to advance her agenda has caused considerable harm to the integrity of the (Endangered Species Act) program," Devaney wrote in a Dec. 15 letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kemp thorne. "Her heavy-handedness has cast doubt on nearly every ESA decision issued during her tenure." After Devaney's 2007 report on MacDonald, Fish and Wildlife reopened endangered-species decisions made under her supervision and reversed seven rulings. Devaney has credited Kempthorne with working to fix problems. Kempthorne became head of interior in May 2006 after previous Secretary Gale Norton of Colorado resigned.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:52:27 GMT

It seems to us that President-elect Obama's nomination has led to many -- from environmentalists to oil and gas exectutives -- to take a wait and see attitude, sort of an environmental and regulatory adjunct to President Reagan's (and others, notably Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, builder of the Soviet Secret Police), "Trust but verify."

Here's a column making the point from, Anne Butterfield writing in the Boulder Daily Camera. Here's an excerpt:

As our new Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar will take a job that will test his fiber. He loves the Rockies and has protected Colorado's Roan Plateau from drilling. As a top water law expert, he has protected our state's water rights. Many champion his ability to protect our nation's resources which have been battered and insulted by the Bush Administration's campaign on behalf of industry.

However, Salazar does not have a spotless record. Along with voting against higher fuel efficiency for vehicles, he was also one of a handful of Democrats to vote against a bill that would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider global warming when planning water projects -- two very weird votes in light of important threats.

We've written elsewhere that Salazar will not rope in all development in the name of the environment, nor will he back down to idealogues either. He will try to weigh the science and economic benefits before choosing a course.

Here's another column about Salazar from Dave Buchanan writing in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. Mr Buchanan believes that hunters and fisherman will now have a sympathetic leader at Interior. He writes:

The best present outdoors enthusiasts received this Christmas was Ken Salazar's nomination for secretary of the interior. While no one expects Salazar to please every critic, and there already are some people complaining that President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Interior won't be tough enough, it's safe to say whatever Salazar accomplishes will be an immense improvement over the past eight years, which the Bush administration spent despoiling our natural resources.

From the view of a hunter, angler and wildlife enthusiast, it's difficult to find any cabinet post more critical to Colorado and the West than the Interior Department. If he's approved, the 53-year-old Alamosa native (his Colorado roots go back five generations) will be handed the reins to the wagon train encircling nearly every aspect of Colorado's environment and economy...

Salazar's knowledge of western issues, including such diverse issues as endangered species, grazing, energy development and off-road vehicle use, and the fact he's a conscientious centrist, has gained him praise from many corners, including those more interested in extraction than protection. Call it whistling in the dark if you like, but even the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, which hasn't always agreed with my stance on the helter-skelter nature of energy development across Western public lands, has indicated approval of Salazar's nomination, albeit for different reasons. "Senator Salazar will provide a strong Western voice and will play a pivotal role in meeting the emissions and increasing energy security," said IPAMS Executive Director Marc Smith. Smith goes on to say "there is a strong rationale for a consistent and responsible development on federal lands in the Intermountain West."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water

Merry Christmas from Coyote Gulch

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:33:07 GMT

Merry Christmas to Coyote Gulch readers everywhere. We hope you're able to be where you want to be, hanging with those that mean the most to you.

Gaming the system one oil and gas lease sale at a time

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:10:41 GMT

Recently a University of Utah student applied the principle of civil disobedience to a late term Bush gift to the oil and gas industry. Tim DeChristopher registered as a bidder for oil and gas leases near Canyonlands, Arches national parks and Dinosaur National Monument and promptly began bidding up the prices on every tract until he was escorted from the lease sale by federal marshalls. Here's a recap from Amy Goodman writing for TruthDig. From the article:

Tim DeChristopher is an economics student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He had just finished his last final exam before winter break. One of the exam questions was: If the oil and gas companies are the only ones who bid on public lands, are the true costs of oil and gas exploitation reflected in the prices paid?

DeChristopher was inspired. He finished the exam, threw on his red parka and went off to the controversial Bureau of Land Management land auction that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called "the Bush administration's last great gift to the oil and gas industry." Instead of joining the protest outside, he registered as a bidder, then bought 22,000 acres of public land. That is, he successfully bid on the public properties, located near the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dinosaur National Monument, and other pristine areas. The price tag: more than $1.7 million.

He told me: "Once I started buying up every parcel, they understood pretty clearly what was going on ... they stopped the auction, and some federal agents came in and took me out. I guess there was a lot of chaos, and they didn't really know how to proceed at that point."

Patrick Shea, a former BLM director, is representing DeChristopher. Shea told the Deseret News: "What Tim did was in the best tradition of civil disobedience, he did this without causing any physical or material harm. His purpose was to draw attention to the illegitimacy and immorality of the process."[...]

More than just scenic beauty will be harmed by these BLM sales. Drilling impacts air and water quality. According to High Country News, "The BLM had not analyzed impacts on ozone levels from some 2,300 wells drilled in the area since 2004 ... nor had it predicted air impacts from the estimated 6,300 new wells approved in the plan." ProPublica reports that the Colorado River "powers homes for 3 million people, nourishes 15 percent of the nation's crops and provides drinking water to one in 12 Americans. Now a rush to develop domestic oil, gas and uranium deposits along the river and its tributaries threatens its future."

The U.S. attorney is currently weighing charges against the student. DeChristopher reflects: "This has really been emotional and hopeful for me to see the kind of support over the last couple of days ... for all the problems that people can talk about in this country and for all the apathy and the eight years of oppression and the decades of eroding civil liberties, America is still very much the kind of place that when you stand up for what is right, you never stand alone." His disruption of the auction has temporarily blocked the Bush-enabled land grab by the oil and gas industries. If DeChristopher can come up with $45,000 by Dec. 29, he can make the first payment on the land, possibly avoiding any claim of fraud. If the BLM opts to re-auction the land, that can't happen until after the Obama administration takes over.

The outcome of the sales, if they happen at all, will probably be different, thanks to the direct action of an activist, raising his voice, and his bidding paddle, in opposition.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Coyote Gulch outage

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:29:23 GMT

Hellchild blew into town like an upslope wind yesterday morning. Believe it or not it's warmer here than where her ride started.

We expect disruptions to blogging over the holidays -- family time.

Oil shale: Bush EPA issues 11th hour rule on shale slag

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:09:20 GMT

From the Wall Street Journal (Ian Talley): "The Environmental Protection Agency issued an 11th-hour clarification on spent oil shale, declaring the byproduct of the development process not to be a hazardous waste. The ruling could limit production costs if U.S. developers move ahead with oil shale development, but the next administration under President-elect Barack Obama is expected to put the brakes on commercial development. Specifically, the EPA published data showing the characteristics of spent shale from operations indicate the waste is unlikely to be a hazardous waste. Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that can be heated, vaporized, and upgraded to create a synthetic crude oil."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Climate Change News

Obama urged to act quickly to develop revamped ocean policy

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:49:05 GMT

From the Environment News Service (J.R. Pegg): "More than four years after two independent expert panels urged the Bush administration and Congress to immediately overhaul the nation's oceans policy, few of their recommendations have been implemented and the state of the oceans is deteriorating rapidly. Overfishing, pollution and climate change are wreaking havoc with ocean ecosystems and driving species into extinction, leaving scientists and advocates fearful for the future absent dramatic action to change course and desperate for leadership from President-elect Barack Obama. "We need a statement from the new administration that the United States is ready to bail out the oceans to protect marine biodiversity and related economic opportunity worldwide," said Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist and senior vice president of the North American arm of Oceana."

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:30:57 GMT

The articles about Ken Salazar leading the Department of Interior keep rolling in. Here's one perspective from the Eastern U.S., from the Asheville Citizen-Times. From the article:

When the name Ken Salazar comes up, most Americans would offer one response: Who?

For the record, he's a first-term Colorado senator, and he's President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Interior Department. Also for the record, the current secretary is named Dirk Kempthorne. And yes, 95 percent of Americans would have to look that up. That's a shame, because Interior represents an important post with ramifications for all Americans. It's not a stretch to say it's even more important for the average Western North Carolinian...

Salazar's main drawback, from the WNC perspective, could be described as location, location, location. As a Westerner he is almost undoubtedly closer to the far different issues and needs of federal lands on the other side of the continent - grazing rights, water wars, etc. - than the issues here involving population pressures and pollution. We'll all need to make sure we get the attention we deserve...

Parks are more than a matter of heritage and natural beauty to Western North Carolinians; they're a huge economic driver. Tourism pumped nearly $2 billion into the area's economy in 2007, and a large chunk of that was directly connected to visitations to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway. The parks represent a proverbial golden goose for WNC, one that has to be protected. Both the Smokies and parkway have been victims of chronic underfunding for years. Some steps have been taken to address the shortfalls, and local groups such as Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Friends of the Smokies have tirelessly labored to fill the gap, but funding neglect takes time to rectify. The challenges of these economic times notwithstanding, that time may be at hand. Obama has said he's committed to giving the Park Service resources to match its operational and maintenance needs by 2016, the year of its 100th anniversary.

Craig Obey with the National Parks Conservation Association said, "Sen. Salazar has been a leader in the Senate on national park policy. We expect that, based on that history, he will be an excellent secretary of the interior. He has been an active champion of parks in a number of areas, including protection of the park service management policies."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:16:29 GMT

Here's a look at what to expect from Ken Salazar and the Department of Interior from Laton McCartney writing for New West (and WyoFile.com). From the article:

After eight years of the Bush Administration's using Interior to enrich its friends in the energy business, obliterate huge swaths of landscape -- see the Upper Green River Valley -- short-change us on oil and gas royalties, endanger endangered species, and gut environmental laws, Senator Salazar (D. Colo) may well be Wyoming's last, best hope.

Indeed, no cabinet post is more critical to Wyoming than the one to which Salazar has been appointed. If approved, the 53-year-old, fifth-generation Coloradoan will be responsible for a broad portfolio of services that bears on every aspect of Wyoming's economy and environment. Interior encompasses the Bureau of Land Management; the National Park Service; the Bureau of Reclamation (which has been involved with the management and conservation of the state's water resources since Teddy Roosevelt was president); Minerals and Management Services (which collects and distributes the state's energy royalties); the Bureau of Mines; the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs...

"Senator Salazar is a neighbor who knows the issues facing the west," Republican U.S. Senator John Barrasso, Wyoming's junior senator told WyoFile. "As members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Salazar and I came together on issues important to our states. We worked on legislation that protects western resources and to ensure that certain priorities of our states are met. I look forward to discussing Senator Salazar's views about issues important to Wyoming during the confirmation process."

"Senator Salazar is someone who understands the West," adds Laurie Milford, executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. "He recognizes the value of a balanced energy policy, which includes responsible natural gas production on many of our public lands, while at the same time respecting local communities when they identify areas that are too special to drill."

As one of the few people in Congress who has genuine agricultural bona fides -- his older brother, Democratic Colorado Congressman John. T. Salazar, can make the same claim -- Salazar is viewed as a champion of ranching and farming interests. "I'm very pleased he has a background in ranching," says Jim Magagna, Executive Vice President of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. "On issues such as public land grazing this can be very helpful. He's always been supportive of public land grazing. I wouldn't anticipate our agreeing on everything, but on this issue we clearly can relate."[...]

In one of his first acts as Colorado's attorney general, Salazar showed he wouldn't hesitate to shake up the status quo. In a move that may bode well for managing an Interior Department that's been beset by corruption and ineptitude, Salazar had all the deputy attorneys general and department staff turn in letters of resignation. "Nobody actually got fired as I recall, but Salazar made everyone justify their existence and set goals for the next ten years," Chiropolos says...

In the Senate, Salazar urged the Forest Service to boost spending to fight the bark beetle epidemic and was largely viewed as a supporter of wilderness protection, off road vehicle limits and strong water quality protection. His position on shale development has been proceed-with-caution, yet he also won praise from oil and mining interests for what they characterized as his reasoned, non-doctrinaire approach. Salazar has supported Wyoming-related legislation such as the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, a bill to withdraw from leasing certain federal land in the Wyoming Range and to retire other range leases...

"The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward looking, reform-minded Secretary," the group's [Center for Biological Diversity] executive director Kieran Suckling said in a December 16 news release. "Unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man." Among Salazar's failings, according to Suckling:

* fought federal action on global warming
* voted against increased fuel efficiency standards
* voted against the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil
* voted for subsidies to ranches and other users of public land
* and, yes, as Colorado AG, he threatened to sue US Fish and Wildlife when its scientists determined the black-tailed prairie dog may be endangered.

"There's been some concern voiced that Salazar is not always making decisions based on good science," says Western Resource Advocates' Chiropolos. "But he's extremely well informed and quickly gets up to speed."

Chiropolos believes Salazar's tenure will resemble that of former Carter Administration Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in that Salazar, like Babbitt, knows politics, uses horse sense and diplomacy to push his agendas, but remains a forceful, environmental advocate...

"He's a man who understands what 'balance' means between natural gas development and safeguarding the Valley's abundant wildlife and air and water resources and protecting local communities.," says Linda Baker of the Upper Green River Coalition. "I've got great hope."

Baker concedes that, unfortunately, hope and balance may never be enough to restore the Pinedale region which is currently beset by rapidly deteriorating air quality, ground water contamination, huge wildlife losses and vast tracts of no-longer-useable land -- all the result of rampant natural gas exploitation. "So much egregious stuff has been going on around here for the past eight years that much of the damage can't be reversed," says Baker.

More coverage from Chris Frates writing for Politico. From the article:

To understand Sen. Ken Salazar's understated, down-the-middle style and how he might lead President-elect Barack Obama's Interior Department, just follow the money. His campaign contributions say as much about his environment and energy politics as his rhetoric...

During his four years as Colorado's junior senator, traditional energy companies -- mining, oil and gas -- gave the Democrat more than $27,000. Alternative energy companies, meanwhile, shelled out almost $33,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics. "The fact that he has a balance certainly fits with his profile as somebody who's a centrist and tries to play the middle course," said David Donnelly of Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan group that advocates for publicly financed elections. But the relatively small size of the sum combined with Salazar's short tenure in the Senate makes sweeping conclusions difficult, Donnelly said. "He hasn't been around long enough for one of these industries to sink their hooks into him."

Dan Grossman, director of the Rocky Mountain Office of the Environmental Defense Fund, said Colorado has depended on Salazar's "commitment to unite rather than divide." "Ken Salazar will bring the nation together in forging stewardship of our public lands, water and wildlife through integrity and through his abiding dedication to this cherished American legacy," Grossman said.

More coverage from Rob Capriccioso writing in Indian Country Today:

Salazar, who is Hispanic, won the seat of former Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, after he retired in 2004. He will replace current Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who has been unpopular with many American Indians and tribes. Despite being from opposing political parties, Nighthorse Campbell had many positive things to say about Salazar's new role in Obama's Cabinet. "President-elect Obama couldn't have picked a better person," Nighthorse Campbell said. "Kenny has a really strong voting record on Indian water rights, land claims, and things of that nature - he's just a wonderful candidate. I think, very frankly, that Native America is going to be very happy with him."[...]

While in the Senate, Salazar has co-sponsored what have been viewed as positive Indian country-focused bills, including the National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month Act, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Trust Act, bills to extend methamphetamine funding to tribes, and a bill focused on honoring Code Talkers.

More coverage from The Hub (David Mullings):

So what's the Ouray County angle on this new national leadership team that is being assembled by President-elect Barack Obama?[...]

...perhaps the biggest impact, at least locally and on the ground, will come in the management of public lands. In Ouray County, more than half (50.8% to be precise) of our 542 square miles land is owned by one of three public agencies. We can probably expect policy shifts toward preservation and conservation. Notably, we will have a home-state boy, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar as the newly appointed secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior...

Environment Colorado said: "We look forward to working with Sen. Salazar in his new position to reform our nation's outdated mining law, where he can play a key role by holding industry accountable. And, Sen. Salazar should work to ensure a fully funded National Park System and preserve our nation's great natural legacy."[...]

Britt Weygandt, executive director of Western Business Roundtable, had this to say: "We look forward to continuing to find areas of agreement with the Obama Administration and particularly with our new Secretary of the Interior on water, public lands, energy policy and endangered species regulation. We know that we will get a fair hearing even on those issues where we disagree, because that's the kind of guy Ken Salazar is."

Some in Colorado may not remember his first high-profile public position, before he was the state's attorney general and junior U.S. senator. That job was as director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, under then-Gov. Roy Romer. There, Salazar was author of the Great Outdoors Colorado, the most important program in the state's history in protecting open space.

More coverage from Mateusz Perkowski writing in the Capital Press: The West's AG website:

President-elect Barack Obama's pick to head the Interior Department met with a big sigh of relief from farm and ranch organizations. Obama's nominee for secretary of the Interior, Democratic Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, is largely seen as a pragmatist who deeply understands the culture and economy of the rural West. "We fully expect him to balance resource concerns with caring for the people," said Jeff Eisenberg, executive director of the Public Lands Council, which represents ranchers who graze cattle on public land. "You need to take care of the land, but you need to take care of the people who make a living from the land," he said...

The Klamath basin became an important political battleground early in President George W. Bush's first term: Water was shut off to irrigators a few months into his first term and a fish die-off occurred the next year, when irrigation was restored. Those events established the Klamath basin as a top priority throughout Bush's presidency, Addington said. The region will now likely face more competition for the Interior Department's attention, but Addington is nonetheless optimistic about Salazar's upcoming tenure. "The word that comes up most often is 'balanced,'" he said. "Everything I hear is that agriculture has a good relationship with him."

Fruit and vegetable growers in California are also heartened by the nomination of Salazar, said Tom Nassif, president and CEO of the Western Growers Association. Growers hope that, under Salazar's direction, the Bureau of Reclamation will tackle water shortages throughout the state with storage and restoration projects, said Nassif. "To resolve the problems we have is going to take federal involvement," he said.

Salazar is known for seeking innovative ways to solve Western water problems, said Dan Keppen, of the Family Farm Alliance. For example, earlier this year he pushed through a bill in support of treating wastewater generated during methane production, Keppen said...

As for enforcing the Endangered Species Act, it seems likely Salazar will take a moderate approach, said Rob Rivett, president of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has been involved in lawsuits challenging ESA enforcement. "From what we know of him, he is not an extremist," Rivett said. For example, during a 2002 court case over listing Coho salmon as an endangered species, Salazar - then Colorado's attorney general - filed court papers in opposition to the listing, he said.

More coverage from the Rocky Mountain News:

President-elect Barack Obama wants major reforms in the "deeply troubled" and scandal-plagued Department of the Interior, but not everyone is convinced Sen. Ken Salazar is the person for the job.

After introducing Salazar as his new Interior secretary nominee Wednesday, Obama cited a litany of problems that have plagued the department over the past eight years - from a spate of embarrassing lobbying scandals to the perception of cozy relationships between resource managers and the industries they are supposed to regulate. Obama called Salazar uniquely qualified, and some conservation groups that have worked closely with him praise his pragmatic approach to issues. But others are skeptical of his environmentalist credentials and doubt he would be a true reformer.

"Salazar has never run on a reformer platform. He has not taken the lead in reform issues. So I just don't have a lot of confidence," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Arizona- based Center for Biological Diversity.

The Wet Mountain Tribune editorial staff in on board with the Salazar nomination. They write:

For many Coloradans, It was an exhilarating day yesterday when popular Senator Ken Salazar was tagged by President-elect Obama to serve as Secretary of the Interior.

Salazar, whose ancestry in the American Southwest can be traced back to the 16th century, has served four years of his first term in the U.S. Senate, where he has gained a reputation as a fence-mender, a key strategist in renewable energy policy, a champion for America's farmers, and a respected member of the powerful Finance Committee.

For those of us in Custer County, he's been a staunch friend to rural Colorado. A native of the San Luis Valley just across our Sangre de Cristos, Salazar has always felt at home in the small towns and villages of Southern Colorado, and he's a frequent visitor to Westcliffe. He held an informal rural health symposium here just two months ago, and even in his days from 1999 to 2004 as Colorado Attorney General, he found plenty of reasons to visit the Wet Mountain Valley.

Some hard-core environmental groups have derided Obama's pick of Salazar, saying he's just too cozy to agriculture, mining, forestry and the other extraction industries that built the American West. Those opponents seem to be city-slickers who don't know a Ponderosa Pine from an Engelmann Spruce, what an Animal Unit is, or how to spell molybdenum. Westerners on the other hand, whose economy still revolves around those extraction businesses, have learned to trust Salazar, and feel he would be a prudent caretaker of the half-billion acres of public land that fall under the Department of Interior.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water

Dirk Kempthorne says goodbye to managing the Colorado River (and Interior)

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:40:36 GMT

"If the seven states of the Colorado River basin can get together and work out a deal, then surely anybody can." -- Dirk Kempthorne December 13, 2007.

From the Associated Press via the San Jose Mercury News: "Outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told Colorado River resource managers that he expects no major changes in federal management of the river under President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be his successor. Kempthorne told the Colorado River Water Users Association annual conference Wednesday in Las Vegas that he has worked with U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar over the past 2 1/2 years, and the Democratic senator from Colorado understands Western water issues...

"Kempthorne said Salazar faces challenges overseeing the use of the Colorado River amid drought, climate change and increased pressure from farms, businesses, cities and homes in a region where 30 million people live. 'I don't believe it's a partisan issue,' the Bush appointee said following his keynote remarks."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:23:58 GMT

The stories just keep popping up about Ken Salazar's nomination. Here's a look at possible changes at the Department of Interior from McClatchy (Erika Bolstad). From the article:

President-elect Barack Obama's selection of Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado as his nominee for interior secretary suggested a 180-degree turn from the way the Interior Department operated under the Bush administration.

"It's time for a new kind of leadership in Washington that's committed to using our lands in a responsible way to benefit all our families," Obama said during his announcement. "That means ensuring that even as we are promoting development where it makes sense, we are also fulfilling our obligation to protect our national treasures."[...]

Elise Jones, the executive director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition, said she hates to lose Salazar as a senator from her state, but believes he has the skills to excel as an Interior secretary.

"If you look at a lot of the progress made on conservation issues the greatest progress has been made by people who have an understanding of the landscapes they want to protect and the people," said Jones, whose organization represents 95 environmental groups in the state.

"It could be that a centralist like Ken Salazar can get more done because he's not a lightning rod and he can work with all sides," Jones said. "He's not going to draw a backlash from traditional commodities industries."

More coverage from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Steve Tetreault):

With close to 90 percent of Nevada managed by the federal government, the Interior secretary has influence over an array of issues, including public land use, wild horse control, Colorado River allotments, species protection and the administration of national parks and refuges. The department also oversees trust programs for American Indians.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar "is as good as it gets" as an interior secretary nominee. The Colorado senator is an expert on renewable energy and water rights. "I just can't express how fortunate the Western part of the United States is today with Salazar being the new secretary," he said. Reid also said Salazar was giving up a safe seat in the Senate to serve in the Obama administration, calling it "one of the real patriotic acts I have seen since I have been in government."

From the Deseret News (Stephen Speckman):

President-elect Barack Obama's choice for interior secretary is receiving widespread praise from environmentalists and politicos. Senate Energy Committee member Ken Salazar, D-Colo., was picked Wednesday to replace Dirk Kempthorne as head of the Interior Department. Salazar's experience includes leading Colorado's Department of Natural Resources.

"He has a lifelong understanding and involvement in the West's public lands issues, and as senator, has demonstrated time and again that protecting Colorado's natural features is a priority for him," said William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society.

Meadows and Kempthorne called Salazar an "excellent" pick by Obama."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:13:18 GMT

Yesterday President-elect Obama named Colorado U.S. Senator Ken Salazar to lead the Department of Interior in the new administration. Here's a report from the Associated Press via KOAA.com. From the article:

Obama said Salazar brings "an abiding commitment to this land that we love."

Here is Sen. Salazar's acceptance speech: "I am humbled and honored to be nominated by President-Elect Barack Obama to serve as Secretary of the Interior. "My story in America began more than 400 years ago when my ancestors settled the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They named it the City of Holy Faith. "As my family struggled for survival across twelve generations in Colorado and New Mexico, their faith that humanity could achieve the potential given to each human being by our Creator has been the bedrock that has sustained them over those many years. "Today as I stand here, I see their faith shining brightly on Barack Obama. "I know Barack Obama as a champion for change, and I am grateful for his confidence in me. "I look forward to serving as a strong voice in the Administration for the West and the Nation. "As the Nominee to be Secretary of the Interior, I will do all I can to help reduce America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil. "I look forward to working directly with President-Elect Obama as an integral part of his team as we take the moon shot on energy independence. "That energy imperative will create jobs here in America, protect our national security, and confront the dangers of global warming. "I look forward to helping build our clean energy economy, modernize our interstate electrical grid, and ensure that we are making wise use of our conventional natural resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas. "I look forward to protecting our national parks, public lands and open spaces, and America's farm and ranchlands. "I look forward to restoring our Nation's rivers and working to resolve our water supply challenges. "I look forward to helping to address the challenges faced by our Native American communities across the Nation. "And I look forward to investing in America's young people by implementing President-Elect Obama's vision for youth programs across America. "I want to thank, first and foremost, my entire family; especially my wife, Hope, and daughters Melinda and Andrea. Without their courage and unwavering support, I would not be here today. "I want to thank my late father, Henry, and my mother, Emma. As a soldier and a public servant in World War II, they instilled in me the values that enabled me and all of my siblings to achieve the American dream. "I want to thank my seven brothers and sisters and all of my family because they have always inspired me to reach for the stars. "I want to thank the five million people of the state of Colorado who gave me the privilege of serving as their chief law enforcement officer as Attorney General and as their United States Senator. I look forward to serving Colorado, the West, and the Nation, in this new capacity. I will work hard to make you proud. "Finally, I want to thank the Members of the United States Senate for their dedication and friendship. I have been honored and blessed to serve with them, Democrats and Republicans alike. "And to my wonderful staff in the United States Senate: thank you for your loyalty and dedication to excellence. "I thank President-Elect Obama and I look forward to serving as a member of his team."

More coverage from the Los Angeles Times (Jim Tankersley and Bettina Boxall):

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- 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...

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...

Salazar barnstormed rural Colorado on Obama's behalf in the months before the November election, promising men in work boots and women in cowboy hats that the Illinois senator understood their plight better than Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his Westerner opponent. He drew affirming nods when he criticized McCain for raising the prospect of renegotiating the Colorado River Compact, which apportions water among seven states. In a recent interview on the state's eastern plains, Salazar sipped from a plastic bottle with a "protect Colorado water" label. He acknowledged the challenge he had to overcome pitching a South Side Chicago candidate in agricultural areas, but he said voters responded when he stressed Obama's support for the most recent farm bill and for energy alternatives such as wind, solar and biofuels, which are booming in rural Colorado. "When I explain that to people in rural Colorado," Salazar said, "people come our way."[...]

Salazar has drawn praise as a consensus-builder on water issues. Roger Patterson, who is the MWD's assistant manager and has held water posts in other states, said he was instrumental in working out a settlement in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Republican River. Attorney Scott Balcomb, who represented Colorado in Colorado River Basin talks for nearly a decade, said he expected Salazar to encourage the states to work out problems, rather than dumping them in the federal government's lap...

Still, some voiced concerns that as a Coloradan, Salazar can't escape that state's perspective on river issues. Most of the Colorado River's flow originates in the Rocky Mountains, yet Colorado's share of its namesake river is smaller than California's. "I'm sure he will try to be fair," said Bill Swan, an Arizona attorney who represents California's Imperial Irrigation District, the single biggest user of Colorado River water. "But when push comes to shove, it's often upper basin against lower basin, and he's from the upper basin -- particularly that state."

More coverage from the Las Vegas Sun (Lisa Mascaro):

As interior secretary, Sen. Ken Salazar may help execute changes in the mining law that governs Nevada's No. 2 industry, but the Colorado Democrat is not seen as the catalyst for sweeping reforms long sought by critics of gold and other hard-rock mining operations in the West.

Salazar, announced Wednesday as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for the post, is no stranger to minerals mining. The Alamosa River that runs near his family's San Luis Valley home in Colorado was essentially destroyed by one of the nation's worst modern gold mining disasters when a cyanide leaching operation overflowed in 1996. Five years later, as state attorney general, he reached a landmark settlement in connection with the Summitville Mine incident for cleanup and habitat restoration.

Yet when the House in 2007 passed a long-sought bill to change the 1872 Mining Law by imposing 8 percent royalties and restricting where companies could mine, Salazar championed a "balanced approach" in the Senate. "Responsible development of our mineral resources is critical to our economy and our environment," Salazar testified in January. "We must find a balanced approach to reform that will ensure mineral development occurs in a manner consistent with the needs of mining communities and the protection of the environment and public lands, particularly our water resources."

The mining industry is pleased with the choice.

More coverage from Todd Hartman writing in the Rocky Mountain News:

Colorado's Ken Salazar, should he be confirmed as Interior secretary, likely will find himself under pressure from environmental activists to pull back on two controversial projects involving federal land in the state. If Salazar chose to do so, could he backpedal on Bush administration efforts to push ahead with oil shale development, as well as gas drilling atop the popular Roan Plateau north of Rifle? The answer isn't clear.

Activists with the Wilderness Society, a group with major focus on federal lands, said they hope Salazar could blunt the current administration's moves in both areas. And Salazar has been critical of Bush's approach in both cases. On oil shale, the group suggested the Obama administration could quickly suspend commercial oil shale leasing regulations recently approved by the Bush administration. Environmentalists fear oil shale development because of the impact it could have on the landscape, disruption to water supplies and creation of the need for new electricity sources to process the shale.

The Obama administration could follow the pattern of the Bush administration, which suspended mining rules enacted by the outgoing Clinton administration, said Dave Albersworth of the Wilderness Society. "The Bush administration created a model," Albersworth said. "In 2001, the Clinton administration instituted mining rules that the mining industry didn't like. (Interior Secretary Gale) Norton suspended those rules. BLM gutted those rules." And a new rule was put in place, Albersworth said. "We didn't like what they did on the mining rule, but hey, whatever works here," he said.

Obama hinted that oil shale could get his attention while he introduced Salazar to reporters Wednesday. "If there's going to be a debate about oil shale, I want Ken at the table," Obama told reporters...

A group representing energy developers declined to talk about whether Salazar could undo the oil shale and Roan work. "As far as speculating what Sen. Salazar will do or won't do if confirmed as the secretary of Interior, that's a guessing game we're not interested in playing," said Jon Haubert of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, adding that the group was happy with Salazar's nomination. "We're very pleased a Westerner who understands the industry's issues was selected."

More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Peter Roper):

Obama called Salazar highly qualified for the Cabinet post, noting he had been Colorado attorney general and the former head of the Department of Natural Resources before being elected to the Senate in 2004.

"Few are better equipped to meet the energy and natural resource challenges we face in the 21st century," Obama said. Salazar, 53, made a point of telling the national press that his family roots in Southern Colorado and New Mexico go back 400 years. Then he quickly listed a policy agenda that started with a favorite theme - developing alternative energy sources with a goal of making the nation energy independent within a decade.

"I look forward to helping build our clean energy economy, modernize our interstate electrical grid and ensure that we are making wise use of our conventional natural resources, including coal, oil and natural gas," Salazar said in his brief acceptance speech. Those alone could be considered fighting words in Colorado where Salazar, along with Gov. Bill Ritter, has led the opposition to the Bush administration's decision last month to issue new oil and gas regulations for developing Western Slope oil shale.

As secretary of Interior, Salazar will oversee those regulations and how quickly oil shale is developed.

More coverage from the Greeley Tribune (Colin Lindenmayer):

Though Ken Salazar is leaving his post as Colorado senator to become interior secretary in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet, his work in Washington is expected by some to have positive impacts on Weld County. Salazar's former Weld County regional representative, Pres Montoya, said Salazar's resume is peppered with outdoor projects. "His love is the land. The land and water," Montoya said. "He's always looking out for Colorado."[...]

Montoya added that Salazar wants Colorado to be a national leader in alternative energy, and with Weld County in a prime position to boost the state in that direction, Salazar will use northern Colorado as an example for the rest of the country. "He will be in the middle of that discussion, and that's pretty exciting," Montoya said. "Exciting for Colorado, exciting for Weld County."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to lead Interior

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:48:55 GMT

Here's a look at President-elect Obama's nominee for the Department of Interior, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, from Brandon Bee writing in the Craig Daily Press. From the article:

News that President-elect Barack Obama will nominate U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, a San Luis Valley Democrat, Interior secretary drew praise from both sides of the political aisle in Colorado on Tuesday...

The Associated Press reported Obama's pick of Salazar -- which had not yet been officially announced Tuesday -- citing an anonymous official familiar with Cabinet selections...

Before joining the Senate, Ken Salazar was director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, state attorney general and chief legal counsel to former Gov. Roy Romer. In the Senate, he serves on committees for finance, agriculture, energy and natural resources, as well as the Select Committee on Ethics and the Special Committee on Aging. The Interior secretary oversees federal agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Park Service.

"There is no better person in the nation to step into this position," Harris Sherman, director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said in a written statement. "He will bring needed balance, judgment and experience to the nation's natural resource programs during these pivotal times. This is great for the West and the entire country."[...]

State Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, also joined the chorus. He said he is pleased that the West is on track to be well represented in the Obama administration. The president-elect already has nominated New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to become Commerce Secretary and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to become Secretary of Homeland Security. "That's really excellent for Western states," White said. "I anticipated Colorado would get a Cabinet position, and Sen. Salazar makes a lot of sense. ... I think it's a good fit. I'm sure he'll do a good job."

More coverage from the Wall Street Journal (Ian Talley):

Sen. Ken Salazar, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to run the Interior Department, is a Colorado Democrat who has opposed Bush administration efforts to open more Western land for oil-shale exploration, but worked with Republicans to broker a deal to allow more offshore oil exploration. Mr. Salazar has been an outspoken advocate of renewable-energy sources, as have Mr. Obama's pick for energy secretary, Steven Chu, and his choice to be the top White House environmental adviser, Carol Browner. But as head of the Interior Department, Mr. Salazar will be both custodian and gatekeeper for the extensive fossil-fuel resources on public lands.

Mr. Obama is expected Wednesday to announce his nomination of Mr. Salazar as interior secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary.

Among Mr. Salazar's mandates at Interior will be restoring confidence in the department's management of mineral resources following a series of scandals at Interior's Minerals Management Service. In one example, officials at the agency, which collects billions of dollars for federal coffers in royalty and lease revenue, were accused by the inspector general this year of improper conduct in relations with oil-industry executives.

One of the hottest issues Mr. Salazar would face would be a decision on where and when the government should allow oil and gas exploration, particularly on the Outer Continental Shelf where experts say billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas lie untapped. Despite falling oil prices, the Obama administration will have to readdress the drilling issue in the new year. Under pressure from voters whose budgets were hit hard by $4-a-gallon gasoline, Congress allowed a federal moratorium on offshore drilling to expire, paving the way for a new lease schedule unless lawmakers and the administration reinstate the ban.

Mr. Salazar has opposed expanded oil-shale leases, arguing that such activity could threaten the region's scarce water supplies, and has voted for a federal renewable-energy mandate that would require utilities to provide a growing percentage of the power from sources such as wind and solar. Besides large natural-gas resources, Colorado and the Rocky Mountain states are home to what many scientists believe is some of the best wind-energy potential in the nation.

But he was also one of a group of 16 lawmakers who earlier this year tried to broker an agreement on offshore drilling in exchange for billions of dollars in new spending on low-carbon technologies. Mr. Salazar also made a deal with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), who publicly credited him with helping to win Gulf of Mexico drilling access in exchange for opposition of oil-shale development...

The Colorado senator has also been in favor of trying to force oil companies such as Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell PLC to renegotiate Gulf of Mexico leases signed in 1998-99 that omitted royalty-price thresholds that government auditors say have cost the U.S. billions in uncollected revenue.

More coverage from 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf):

"The federal government owns outright roughly half of the land in the American West," said Federico Cheever, a professor at the University of Denver. "The Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior is one of the most powerful and most influential positions in the federal government." Salazar is a fifth-generation Colorado farmer and practiced water and environmental law in the private sector for 11 years before going into politics. "Historically Colorado has had a very close relationship with the Department of the Interior through every administration," said Cheever. Cheever says this relationship will come at a critical time for a state trying to find its way in what figures to be a new energy economy. "We [the West] are traditionally energy producing states. We want to stay energy producing states and the way to do that is to diversify," said Cheever...

Cheever says Salazar will not be a pushover in the position. "I think some environmental groups, specifically issue-specific groups, will be a little disappointed in this decision," he said. "This is a key moment in the relationship between the Department of the Interior, the West and the new energy economy," Cheever said.

More coverage from Dean Toda writing for the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Salazar's influence could be felt on a number of local issues. The Interior secretary oversees the Bureau of Reclamation, which recently issued a crucial environmental impact statement supporting Colorado Springs Utilities' bid to build a water pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir. The Southern Delivery System project has pitted Colorado Springs against Pueblo, which has raised concerns about the pipeline's impact on water quality in the Fountain Creek watershed, which includes all of Colorado Springs and drains via Fountain Creek into downtown Pueblo. In a visit to The Gazette on Dec. 3, Salazar said the technical issues were essentially resolved and all that stood in the way of the SDS project was a political accord between the two cities. Salazar said he would use his office to help forge a consensus. His influence would presumably be greater if his office were in the Interior Department...

...Marc Smith, executive director of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, praised Salazar, saying, "we are confident that he views natural gas development in the Intermountain West as an important long-term element in national and regional energy supply."

The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity issued a statement strongly critical of Salazar, saying the Interior Department was riven by "corrupt bureaucrats overturning and squelching agency scientists as they attempted to protect endangered species and natural resources from exploitation by developers, loggers, and oil and gas development." "The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward-looking, reform-minded secretary," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the private environmental group. "Unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush's selection of Gale Norton as secretary of Interior, the very woman who initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the Department of Interior."

More coverage from the New York Times:

Ken Salazar worked his way from a remote family ranch to become the state's first Hispanic U.S. senator -- and along the way he's amassed an intimate knowledge of Western political issues...

Salazar has a reputation among Democrats as a maverick, once joining 13 moderate senators to block his party from a filibuster of appellate nominees by President Bush. He joined another bipartisan group to prevent renewal of parts of the Patriot Act because of concerns about civil liberties, and he upset Democrats when he backed Alberto Gonzales, Bush's nominee for attorney general.

Western Democrats, he has said, made their gains by focusing on issues dear to a cross-section of voters -- energy, the environment, water, agriculture, veterans' affairs -- and not on special interest groups. Of the party's national leaders, he once said: "I hope they heed the fact that we in the West have been able to get the Democratic Party back in the saddle, and that's by being moderate pragmatists that don't see Republicans as devils."

Salazar's family settled in Colorado's San Luis Valley about 150 years ago and built a 220-acre ranch in an area called Los Rincones -- the corners -- because of the right angle formed by two snowcapped mountain ridges. "I got my political values from my mother and father. They struggled mightily in one of the most rural and poorest counties in America," Salazar said. "Their vision for their children was that they would have a better life." Salazar occasionally stayed at the ranch alone, a rifle by his side because they lived five miles from the nearest town. "It was rough. We struggled," said his mother, Emma. Her husband, Henry, valued education and made sure all eight children went to college before he died in 2001.

Salazar obtained a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1981 and joined a prominent Denver law firm. Six years later, Democratic Gov. Roy Romer made him his legal adviser, then head of the Department of Natural Resources. In 1998, Salazar was elected attorney general...

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Category: Colorado Water