WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
announced yesterday he will “return to his home state of Colorado, having fulfilled
his promise to President Obama to serve four years as Secretary.” He informed
President Obama that he intends to leave the Department by the end of
March.
“Colorado is and will always be my home. I look forward to
returning to my family and Colorado after eight years in Washington, D.C.,”
said Secretary Salazar, in a statement. “I am forever grateful to President
Obama for his friendship in the U.S. Senate and the opportunity he gave me to
serve as a member of his cabinet during this historic presidency.”
“I have had the privilege of reforming the Department of the
Interior to help lead the United States in securing a new energy frontier,
ushering in a conservation agenda for the 21st century, and honoring our word
to the nation’s first Americans,” added Salazar.
In a press release, he said his department had “undertaken
an historic overhaul of Interior’s management of oil and gas resources,
implementing tough new ethics standards for all employees. He led Interior’s
response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and split the former Minerals Management
Service into three independent agencies with clear, independent missions to
oversee ocean energy management and revenue collection. Interior has offered
millions of acres offshore in the Gulf of Mexico for safe and responsible
exploration and development and is proceeding with cautious exploration of
Arctic resources. Onshore, Interior has also leased millions of acres for oil
and gas development over the last four years while protecting special
landscapes for hunting and fishing and other uses.”
At least one senator, however, isn’t sorry to see him go. “I
wish Ken Salazar, a Senate classmate, all the best. But I honestly won't miss
him as Interior Secretary,” said Senator David Vitter (R-La.), in a statement
regarding Salazar’s departure. “He supported the drilling moratorium
overreaction to the BP disaster that cost us so many jobs. And he consistently
made energy production on federal land and water far more difficult and costly,
pushing federal lease revenue from $10 billion to $0 from 2008 to 2011.”
Salazar, a fifth-generation Coloradoan, has served his state
and the nation for 14 continuous years as Colorado Attorney General, United
States Senator and as the 50th secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.