Ken Salazar: A New Era of Land Management

Feb. 6, 2009— -- Like all newly minted Cabinet members, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has been adjusting to life in the executive branch. Five years of sticking up for the beauty of his home state of Colorado in the U.S. Senate appears to have left him well prepared for his appointment as the nation's top conservationist.

Supervising about 70,000 employees in 2,400 offices across the country, Salazar, who oversees the Fish and Wildlife and National Park Services, as well as the Bureaus of Land Management, Reclamation and Indian Affairs, has found himself in charge of 500 million acres of land, about one-fifth of the United States.

His purview also extends to 1.76 billion acres of outer continental shelf that includes 8,300 oil and gas leases.

"I think the challenges that we face in our world are frankly more challenging today in 2009 than perhaps at anytime in my lifetime," he told ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff in his first national television interview as secretary.

See the interview Saturday on the Planet Green Network's "Focus Earth" with Bob Woodruff.

Salazar Wednesday announced a restraining order on the sale of 77 oil and gas leases near national parks in Utah, saying, "There are four national treasurers which are icons that are located right in that vicinity. And, frankly, the process that was used by the BLM [Bureau of Land Management] did not even allow enough input on the part of the National Park Service or other groups to make sure that these lease sales had the right balance. Balance has to be that we need to protect our national treasuries. But, at the same time, we need to allow development to take place."

President Bush announced the opening of these leases in December, a month before he left office, a move that Salazar faults.

"You know, the Bush administration, I think believed that there was nothing that was off-limits," he said. "That it was OK to look for oil and gas under every rock, no matter where it was, either onshore or offshore in the United States. So that's the perspective. President Obama's and my perspective as secretary of interior [is that] we need to find balance. So there's no doubt oil and gas will be a great part of our energy portfolio as we move forward. But we also are going to find a balance so that we protect a special place in America."

Asked if he thought the Bush administration had that balance, he said, "I think, frankly, there was not."

While this latest issue deals with leases on U.S. land, it was offshore oil and gas deposits that made headlines during the presidential campaign, something that Salazar will now oversee.

"I believe strongly that there are [oil and gas deposits] that will be found," he said. "So we'll be seeing additional offshore drilling. But we need to make sure that we're doing it in consultation with the stakeholders, including the governors of those states. And making sure that the important environmental values and economic values in places like Florida and other places like that are being protected."