Sorry, but Obama's intention to not abandon the old model of the west as a sacrifice area for the extractive industries is apparent in his appointment of Salazar and Vilsak. Please see this communique from the Center for Biological Diversity:

Call your Senator and tell them to oppose Salazar. I don't know what Obama owes that little Stenson-clad Colorado cowpie, but Obama's grace period was over when he attempts to appoint somebody that pro-industry to what is one of the most deeply Bushco compromised of all the government agencies. Vilsak, who Obama wants as the head of USDA is no great shakes either. He knows a lot more about hog bellies than he does about restoring the Forest Service to some semblance of respectability.  

Please pass this on.

Statement on Salazar Appointment by the Center for Biological Diversity)

December 16, 2008

Contact Kieran Suckling , executive director, (520) 275-5960

Ken Salazar a Disappointing Choice for Secretary of the Interior

Stronger, More Scientifically-Based Leadership Needed to Fix
Crisis-Plagued Agency

Strong rumors are circulating that President-elect Barack Obama has
selected Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as the new Secretary of the Interior.
As the overseer of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, the Mineral Management Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of the Interior
is most important position in the protection of America's lands, waters,
and endangered species.

The Department of the Interior has been rocked by scandals during the
Bush Administration, most revolving around corrupt bureaucrats
overturning and squelching agency scientists as they attempted to
protect endangered species and natural resources from exploitation by
developers, loggers, and oil and gas development. Just yesterday, the
Interior Department Inspector General issued another in a string of
reports http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=305942& ...
finding that top Department officials systematically violated laws and
regulations in order to avoid or eliminate environmental protections.

"The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward
looking, reform-minded Secretary," said Kieran Suckling, executive
director of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity,
"unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush's
selection of Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior, the very woman who
initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the Department of
Interior. Virtually all of the misdeeds described in yesterday's
Inspector General expose occurred during the tenure of the person Ken
Salazar advocated for the position he is now seeking."

While Salazar has promoted some good environmental actions and fought
against off-road vehicle abuse, his overall record is decidedly mixed,
and is especially weak in the arenas most important to the next
Secretary of the Interior: protecting scientific integrity, combating
global warming, reforming energy development and protecting endangered
species. Salazar

- voted against increased fuel efficiency standards for the U.S.
automobile fleet

voted to allow offshore oil drilling along Florida's coast

voted to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to ignore global warming
impacts in their water development projects

voted against the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil

voted to support subsidies to ranchers and other users of public
forest and range lands

- Threatened to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when its
scientists determined the black-tailed prairie dog may be endangered

"Obama's choices for Secretary of Energy and his Climate Change Czar
indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming," said
Suckling. "That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken Salazar
who has fought against federal action on global warming, against higher
fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil drilling and oil
subsidies."
In addition to his misstep on Norton, Salazar endorsed the elevation of
William Myers III to the federal bench. Myers was a former Interior
Department Solicitor and lobbyist for the ranching industry. Senator
Leahy called him "the most anti-environmental candidate for the bench I
have seen in 37 years in the Senate." Bizarrely, Salazar praised Myers'
"outstanding legal reasoning" regarding endangered species, Indian
affairs, federal lands and water, timber, and fish and wildlife issues.
The American Bar Association rated Meyers as "not qualified." Salazar
later supported Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, introducing him
at his Senate confirmation hearing.

"One of the most important jobs of the Secretary of the Interior is to
help pick dozens of critically important political appointees to oversee
America's conservation system. His past misjudgments of Norton, Meyers
and Gonzales give us little confidence he will choose wisely in the
future.