President elect Barack Obama has dubbed Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to head up the Department of Interior. There are many questions being asked about Salazar’s appointment and what this will mean for the environment, economics, recreation, growth and development, wildlife and the Endangered Species Act.
Hugh Hewitt of Townhall.com expresses a few thoughts on Salazar.
Senator Salazar is widely viewed as a moderate, and as a genuine westerner with the westerner’s belief that land use policy promoting economic growth, recreation and resource stewardship is possible. While there is a deeply entrenched and very savvy environmental movement in the mountain west and pacific northwest, the long tradition of the region is to find ways to allow development and environmental protection to coincide. That balance worked well until the ’90s and the rise of an aggressive litigation strategy by environmental activists that uses provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) to compel species listings and “critical habitat designations” which greatly impede development and infrastructure construction.
One of the reasons I read Hugh Hewitt on a regular basis is to help keep my feet somewhat grounded to earth. His persistent optimism, positive thinking and sensibly balanced approach to things is mostly a breath of fresh air for me as I struggle to find the good side of things sometimes. I must say it is a chore for me to find the same optimism in what our future might hold with an Obama administration that is trying to camouflage itself as being more moderate than it really is.
As I see things, it doesn’t much matter whether it’s Barack Obama and Ken Salazar or Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the enviro-Nazis are going to continue their use of lawsuits and vile manipulation and abuse of an outdated nonfunctional Endangered Species Act to bring this country to its knees.
As we continue to spiral into a sharp economic downturn, we will test our resolve. Are we more committed to finding a better balance of energy development, protecting property rights and finding common sense species protection or will we jump off the liberal cliff into total environmental fascism with little regard for the other side of human survival – freedom?
Tom Remington
