Ken Salazar

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Biden's Ambassador Picks Missing Some Expected Names

The pace is slow, but those named so far generally being well received

(Newser) - Nine names were revealed Tuesday as President Biden's picks for various ambassadorial posts—a small step toward filling what USA Today reports are 87 vacancies. Among the most recognizable: former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as ambassador to Mexico, former Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides as ambassador to Israel,...

Ken Salazar Leaving Obama Administration

Interior secretary had recently said he intended to stay

(Newser) - Ken Salazar is stepping down from his post as Interior secretary by the end of March, and returning to Colorado to spend time with his family, according to multiple reports. The move, first reported by the Denver Post , is expected to be officially announced later today. As recently as November,...

Interior Secretary Apologizes for Threatening Reporter

'I'll punch you out,' Ken Salazar told Colorado reporter

(Newser) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar apologized today for threatening to punch a Colorado reporter who asked him about problems with the government's wild horse program at a campaign event. Salazar called Dave Philipps, a reporter with the Gazette of Colorado Springs, to apologize and offer him an interview, and he...

Interior's Salazar 'Regrets' Threat to Punch Reporter

Said reporter ambushed him with questions about wild horse program

(Newser) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is backpedaling from his threat to punch a reporter who asked about problems in the government's wild horse program at a campaign event. "The secretary regrets the exchange," says a spokesman of the incident, which took place on November 6 while Salazar was...

Obama Plans Drastic Cabinet Shake-Up

Clinton, Geithner, Panetta, Holder all could be gone

(Newser) - After a first term almost devoid of Cabinet shakeups, President Obama is now working on plans to replace virtually his entire team. Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner have both publicly announced their exits, but Leon Panetta, Eric Holder, Ray LaHood, Steven Chu, Ken Salazaar, and Lisa Jackson are all expected...

US Won't Restrict Shooting on Federal Land

Interior Department backtracks on earlier proposal

(Newser) - Score one for gun owners: The Interior Department is backtracking on a plan to restrict target shooting on federal land, reports MSNBC . Interior chief Ken Salazar today ordered that the draft proposal be shelved. It would have curbed the practice in areas deemed to have too many people living nearby....

Feds OK Giant Christo River Art

Artist aims to install fabric panels over 42-mile stretch of Colo. river

(Newser) - After 18 years and $7 million, the artist Christo has won federal approval for his controversial plan to wrap a 42-mile stretch of Colorado's Arkansas River. The New York-based artist, known for his larger-than-life outdoor projects, aims to install 5.9 miles of fabric in segments over the river,...

Feds: Big Oil Not Using the Leases They Have

Interior Department issues report to push back against complaints

(Newser) - With oil companies and Republicans criticizing the Obama administration for being too slow to issue new offshore drilling permits in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Interior Department hit back with a report yesterday revealing that the industry isn’t using the majority of the leases it already...

Montana Gov OKs Shooting Endangered Wolves

Brian Schweitzer says gray wolf population has fully recovered

(Newser) - Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has all but declared open season on gray wolves, ordering wildlife officers not to investigate or prosecute ranchers who shoot the endangered animals to protect their livestock, CNN reports. He’s also directed them to kill entire packs if they endanger the state’s elk or...

Biggest-Ever Solar Plant Wins OK in Calif.

Desert installation will double America's solar power capacity

(Newser) - Federal regulators have green-lighted the world's largest solar power installation. The Blythe Solar Power Plant, to be built on 7,000 acres of public land in California, will double the amount of solar energy the US can produce, the Los Angeles Times reports. The German company behind the project aims...

US Lifts Moratorium on Drilling Early

Feds again allow deepwater work in Gulf

(Newser) - The government's controversial moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is ending more than a month early. The Interior Department lifted the ban this afternoon, opening the way for drilling to resume within weeks, the AP reports. The feds are satisfied that new rules put into place will...

Feds Tighten Offshore Drilling Rules

All deep-water projects to require impact studies

(Newser) - Oil companies will no longer be allowed to launch new deep-water drilling projects in US waters without submitting environmental impact studies under new guidelines announced yesterday. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the administration is banning "categorical exclusions" like the one that allowed BP to drill its ill-fated Macondo well...

Obama Used Bush Drilling Policies He Slammed

Political expediency caused U-turn on offshore drilling

(Newser) - President Obama and his administration have gone from condemning Bush-era offshore drilling policies to embracing them to blaming them for the mess in the Gulf, a Wall Street Journal look at Obama's energy policy finds. The tough talk about environmental protection heard on the campaign trail gave way to support...

Judge Won't Delay His Ruling to Lift Moratorium

White House wanted a stay while it appeals to higher court

(Newser) - A federal judge in New Orleans has refused to delay his decision to strike down a 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Justice Department had asked US District Judge Martin Feldman to stay his ruling while it appeals to the...

Salazar Plans New Drilling Ban

Moratorium will be back in place 'within days'

(Newser) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, hours after a judge blocked the moratorium on deepwater drilling , announced that a new one is on the way. Salazar says he will order a new ban "within days"to ensure there's no repeat of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Reuters reports. "We see clear...

Arctic Drilling to be Suspended

No exploratory drilling until at least 2011

(Newser) - Shell is going to have to wait, baby, wait to get its hands on new sources of Arctic oil. The Obama administration plans to suspend exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean until 2011 at the earliest because of the problems exposed by the Gulf oil spill, a source tells AP...

Feds Let Big Oil Fill Out Own Inspection Forms

Regulators also took gifts, openly hustled for oil company jobs

(Newser) - Minerals and Management Service regulators accepted gifts from the oil companies they were supposed to be watching over, and allowed those companies to fill out their own inspection reports, according to a damning report from the inspector general, which found sweeping misconduct at the agency from 2005 to 2007. One...

Obama Crew Flouts Own Drilling Ban
Obama Crew Flouts Own Drilling Ban

Obama Crew Flouts Own Drilling Ban

Waivers and permits still flowing, despite 'moratorium'

(Newser) - President Obama declared a moratorium on new oil drilling permits and environmental waivers two weeks ago, but his administration hasn't actually stopped giving out those permits and waivers. Since the May 14 declaration, it has granted at least seven drilling permits and five environmental waivers, the New York Times reports....

Frustrated Salazar: 'We'll Push BP Out of the Way'

Interior secretary talks tough during visit to oil company's HQ

(Newser) - As the Obama administration ramps up its response to the Gulf oil disaster, the interior secretary visited BP's Houston headquarters today and blasted the company for missing "deadline after deadline" in the cleanup effort. "There's no question BP is throwing everything at this problem," Ken Salazar acknowledged....

Obama Deploys Top Aides to Gulf

EPA's Jackson, Salazar, Napolitano will monitor response

(Newser) - Three top Obama administration officials are returning to the Gulf Coast to monitor the massive oil spill that seems to have no end in sight, as frustration with the response to the spill threatens to boil over. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson was headed today to Louisiana, where she...

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