Salazar at Interior: For Greens, Not a Dream Choice. By Bryan Walsh, Time, December 19, 2008. "Environmentalists have so far been ecstatic over President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks, with some even calling it the green dream team... [But his pick of] Ken Salazar as his new Secretary of the Interior... could represent Obama's first conflict with the environmental community. Although mainstream green groups like Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) were quick to praise Salazar -- Dan Grossman, head of EDF's Rocky Mountain office, calls Salazar a 'rare talent' -- other environmentalists were far less impressed. 'His environmental record is pretty mixed,' says Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Ariz. 'He's far from the most antienvironmental guy out there, but he's no environmental hero.' The chief complaints about Salazar -- a rancher who worked as Colorado's attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2004 -- center on his ties to the ranching and mining industries and some of his votes as a Senator... A relatively conservative Democrat, typical of the new centrist Western wing of the party. Salazar voted in favor of President George W. Bush's Interior Secretary nominee Gale Norton, who has been roundly criticized for her mismanagement of the beleaguered department."
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