Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, the outdoor industry biggest advocate in the Obama Administration, announced he will return to his home state of Colorado, having fulfilled his promise to President Obama to serve four years as Secretary.
Secretary Salazar has informed President Obama that he intends to leave the Department by the end of March.
Colorado is and will always be my home. I look forward to returning to my family and Colorado after eight years in Washington, D.C., said Secretary Salazar. I am forever grateful to President Obama for his friendship in the U.S. Senate and the opportunity he gave me to serve as a member of his cabinet during this historic presidency.
I have had the privilege of reforming the Department of the Interior to help lead the United States in securing a new energy frontier, ushering in a conservation agenda for the 21st century, and honoring our word to the nations first Americans. I thank the more than 70,000 employees at the Department for their dedication to our mission as custodians of Americas natural and cultural resources. I look forward to helping my successor in a seamless transition in the months ahead.
Salazar helped usher in a new era of conservation to protect Americas lands, wildlife, and heritage. Under the banner of President Obamas Americas Great Outdoors program and with significant input from Outdoor Industry Association, Interior established ten national wildlife refuges and seven national parks since 2009; established forward-thinking protections for wildlife and preserved millions of acres of land; and implemented community-driven, science-based conservation strategies that take into account entire ecosystems and working landscapes.
From the Crown of the Continent in Montana to the prairie grasslands of Kansas to the Everglades Headwaters in Florida, we are partnering with landowners, farmers, and ranchers to preserve their way of life and the irreplaceable land and wildlife that together we cherish, Salazar said. We have established an enduring vision for conservation in the 21st century that recognizes all people from all walks of life.
Salazar undertook an historic overhaul of Interiors management of oil and gas resources, implementing tough new ethics standards for all employees. He led Interiors response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and split the former Minerals Management Service into three independent agencies with clear, independent missions to oversee ocean energy management and revenue collection.
Interior has offered millions of acres offshore in the Gulf of Mexico for safe and responsible exploration and development and is proceeding with cautious exploration of Arctic resources. Onshore, Interior has also leased millions of acres for oil and gas development over the last four years while protecting special landscapes for hunting and fishing and other uses.
We have undertaken the most aggressive oil and gas safety and reform agenda in U.S. history, raising the bar on offshore drilling safety, practices and technology and ensuring that energy development is done in the right way and in the right places, said Salazar. Today, drilling activity in the Gulf is surpassing levels seen before the spill, and our nation is on a promising path to energy independence.
