Candidate Barack Obama didn’t address Western issues in any serious way while on the campaign trail, but President-elect Obama will significantly impact the management of the vast public lands on which we Westerners so rely.
Talk now abounds about whom Obama will select as Secretary of the Interior, and we hope the senator from Illinois will pay special attention to that choice.
Tending to the complex environment of the vast open spaces, mountain ranges, rivers, forests, deserts and plains takes tremendous skill. Unfortunately, Westerners have watched the Bush administration’s Interior leadership shrug off the complexities to pursue a single-minded and out-of-balance approach focused on oil and gas extraction.
“I think what you are going to see is a greater sensitivity from an Obama administration with respect to the protection of land and water,” Sen. Ken Salazar told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent last week.
Salazar often is mentioned as a potential pick for Interior, though he is downplaying expectations that he would accept the offer. If it is true Obama or his transition team is considering Salazar, we’re heartened that the next secretary will be a wise one. Salazar, a former water and environmental attorney and director of the Colorado Division of Natural Resources, as well as a farmer and rancher, is an excellent model.
The focus under the Bush administration has been to issue oil and gas leases and to relax environmental regulations.
We understand that increasing domestic energy is needed. But Interior should not neglect the traditional mission of balancing energy development with protecting our land, water and wildlife while allowing for many uses, such as public recreation, hunting and fishing, ranching and farming.
“We need to take a longer-term view of our future,” Harris Sherman, DNR’s director, tells us.
Planning for a future challenged by climate change, dealing with the issue of forest fires, the devastation of the pine bark beetle, and the maze of water compacts also demand attention.
Meanwhile, the West presents real opportunities for the intelligent development of renewable energy, which candidate Obama stressed as a key interest.
Obama refreshingly looks to new ways of doing things. Should he consider looking beyond the traditional pool of elected Westerners for his new Interior secretary, we suggest he consider people like David Getches, dean of the University of Colorado’s law school and a water attorney who is well-respected as an expert of the bewildering and difficult subject of Western water rights.
Whomever he picks, we hope a legacy of the Obama administration will be that Westerners believe we have a voice in Washington regarding control of the lands that so affect our lives.
