Ken Salazar

Five guys Ken Salazar should offer to punch out

Uneasy hangs the cowboy-hatted head of the man in charge of one-fifth of the land mass in the United States. The strain of running the Department of the Interior seems to be catching up with Ken Salazar, who offered to "punch out" a reporter last month in response to a question about Interior's scan ... More >>

Fracking the North Fork: Protests pour in over BLM lease plan

When Colorado native son Ken Salazar became Barack Obama's Secretary of the Interior four years ago, it was widely expected that he would steer a more "balanced" course through the energy wars across the West, pulling back on the drill-baby-drill mantra of the Bush years. It hasn't worked out that w ... More >>

Ken Salazar approves final fix on Martin Luther King Memorial -- "if" only

The situation was stupid enough that Ken Salazar probably wanted to punch someone. When the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was unveiled in 2011, eagle-eyed wordsmiths quickly pointed out that one of the quotes etched into the granite monument had taken King's words out of context, making him seem l ... More >>

Fracking-regulations battle on federal lands heats up

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is on record as saying that hydraulic fracturing methods to extract oil and gas "can be done safely," but he's not overly impressed with varying state rules overseeing the drilling process. He's been pushing in recent months for his department to tighten its req ... More >>

Ken Salazar says feds confident in solar despite Colorado setbacks

Abound Solar has officially gone bankrupt and General Electric PrimeStar is putting on hold a much-anticipated solar panel plant it had planned for Aurora. Both cases are disappointing developments for renewable energy in Colorado -- but Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says these are just mino ... More >>

Ken Salazar wants more drilling, but industry won't oblige?

See, it's like this. Far from being the obstructionist tree-hugger his critics accuse him of being, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar really, really wants to drill, baby, drill, for oil and gas on federal lands and offshore. He wants to drill the hell out of the place. But the energy companies a ... More >>

Ken Salazar gets lots of gas for rising gas prices

There must be days when Ken Salazar wished he'd stayed in the U.S. Senate, rather than joining the Obama administration as Secretary of the Interior. There must be entire months like that. March, for example, when Mitt Romney called for Salazar to be fired.

Ken Salazar's "squeeze" budget still subsidizes grazing on public lands

In these lean times, last week Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar proposed slashing costs and hiking a range of user fees -- everything from the cost of a federal stamp for duck hunting to oil and gas drilling permits -- to make ends meet at his agency. But one bit of government welfare is consid ... More >>

Ken Salazar's plans for tourism in San Luis Valley generates protests

Ken Salazar.​Two weeks ago, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar surfaced in Alamosa, surrounded by state leaders, to present the results of a federal study aimed at promoting tourism and conservation in the San Luis Valley. The National Park Service's study pushes for conservation easements, ... More >>

Ken Salazar: How green is his San Luis Valley?

On Wednesday, Alamosa-born Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will return to his roots -- again -- as part of a long-simmering effort to promote tourism and conservation in Colorado's much-praised, much-neglected San Luis Valley. Accompanied by Governor John Hickenlooper and Senators Michael Benn ... More >>

Ken Salazar hawking solar "sweet spots" for an energy boost

Ken Salazar.​Yesterday, after three years, more than 80,000 public comments, and countless hours reviewing ponderous economic and environmental issues -- in other words, pretty speedy for government work -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar unveiled the Obama administration's slimmed-down ... More >>

Ken Salazar: BLM decision on Vermillion Basin a classic bit of Kenmanship

Ken Salazar.​The long-awaited, much-debated Bureau of Land Management plan for oil-and-gas drilling on public lands in northwest Colorado has something in it to annoy everybody. In other words, it's the kind of classic, middle-of-the-road, concessions-to-all-sides-and-favoritism-toward-none c ... More >>

Ken Salazar's move to restrict drilling rejected by federal judge

Ken Salazar.​Since his appointment as Secretary of the Interior in 2009, Ken Salazar has been the point man for the Obama administration's efforts to put the brakes on the drill-baby-drill energy policy of the Bush years, often facing stiff opposition from congressional leaders and the oil and ... More >>

Michael Hancock's former headquarters is available -- lease a winner!

​Want to run for political office? Have we got a deal for you! The luckiest address in Denver, 1100 Bannock Street, has a "for lease" sign on the door, and this golden spot in the Golden Triangle doesn't rent to losers.

Ken Salazar pushes renewable energy "on steroids"

Ken Salazar.​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced federal approval of four large renewable energy projects in the West today, touting the new jobs and clean power that those projects and others in the pipeline will bring -- and described his department's approach to renewables as so ... More >>

Ken Salazar's salary at center of David Vitter ethics complaint, CREW tells Keith Olbermann

Ken Salazar.​During last night's sophomore edition of Countdown on Current TV, Keith Olbermann featured an extended segment about Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filing an ethics complaint against Louisiana Senator David Vitter. But the man in the middle of the cont ... More >>

Ken Salazar wants us to take a hike, from Rocky Mountain National Park to... Rocky Flats?

Ken Salazar.​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was back in his home state yesterday, cutting a ribbon at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge's new visitor center and unveiling several big-as-all-outdoors conservation projects for Colorado. The most ambitious project of all, which he ... More >>

Ken Salazar to drill-baby-drill crowd: Stop whining and get cracking

Ken Salazar.​A year after being chastised for being too hasty in opening up offshore oil leases for exploration, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was fielding questions from former colleagues in the Senate about why the administration isn't issuing more drilling permits to boost domestic ... More >>

Ken Salazar's "wild lands" push riles the Club 20 crowd

Ken Salazar​It's been less than two months since Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was in Denver unveiling his "Wild Lands" program, a sharp poke in the eye to Bush-era wilderness policy, and the reception since has been passionate -- and divided. Among environmentalists, the reviews amou ... More >>

BP oil-spill report identifies a failure of management -- and regulators

​A chronic whine from oil and gas interests has to do with the glacial, foot-dragging pace of government. But a presidential commission report on the British Petroleum offshore well explosion that killed eleven people blasts the now-extinct Minerals Management Service for moving too quickly to ... More >>

Ken Salazar: Why his "wild lands" policy has the GOP going wild

​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar clearly wanted to make a splash when he unveiled his new "wild lands" policy last week--two days before Christmas (slow news week), at a press conference outside the REI flagship store, just a few steps from his old Denver office when he was a U.S. Senato ... More >>

Ken Salazar gets roasted by Michelle Malkin as a political turkey

Ken Salazar, loathsome cowboy?​When Michelle Malkin moved to Colorado, Ken Salazar still represented this state in the U.S. Senate. But then Salazar left what would have been a safe seat (judging from Michael Bennet's victory over Ken Buck) to become Barack Obama's Secretary of the Interior -- ... More >>

Ken Salazar: Democrats holding Senate might've been easier if he hadn't taken Obama's job offer

Ken Salazar.​Tired of the endless Ken Buck/Michael Bennet attack ads that have made it unsafe to turn on your television for the past month? Blame Barack Obama, who pulled Ken Salazar from his spot in the U.S. Senate and put him in the cabinet as the Secretary of the Interior. How's that worki ... More >>

Ken Salazar gets a vote of confidence (sort of) from Barack Obama despite remaining messes

Ken Salazar​In an interview in the October 15 issue of Rolling Stone, President Barack Obama defends his administration's overhaul of the Department of the Interior amid agency scandals and outrage over the Gulf oil spill -- and insists Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will keep his job, calling ... More >>

Ken Salazar getting tough with BP: Too little too late?

New MMS head Michael Bromwich.​The naming of a former prosecutor to head the scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service, coupled with President Barack Obama's lackluster but occasionally pugnacious speech about making British Petroleum "pay" for the oil-slick disaster in the Gulf, suggests th ... More >>

Ken Salazar gets boiled in oil by Rolling Stone over BP disaster

"You're canceling my subscription?!"​The Obama administration's ever-shifting damage figures and containment strategies for the mess in the Gulf -- not to mention the ever-spewing oil -- have disenchanted many former admirers of the President. Now a scathing dive into the disaster in the lates ... More >>

Ken Salazar still in hot seat -- but with lots of company

"Bring me the head of Tony Heyward." ​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is still getting roundly pummeled in the press over the Obama administration's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. But there's increasing evidence that the administration is trying to shift the falte ... More >>

Ken Salazar under fire: Can he survive the spill?

All systems go, but which way? Out the door?​It was fairly predictable that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar would emerge as the whipping-boy of conservative pundits over the Deepwater Horizon spill. What better symbol of the alleged impotence of the Obama administration than a cowboy-ha ... More >>

Ken Salazar's shakeup at Interior: Where will it all end?

There's a new sheriff -- and a lot of new acronyms -- in town.​In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil slick disaster, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is barreling ahead in his efforts to reform the embattled Minerals Management Service, the once-obscure agency responsible for overseein ... More >>

Ken Salazar: Lessons on the Gulf spill from Denver's own "toxic horror"

Photo by Alan PrendergastWhite-tailed deer cross a road at the Rocky Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has been spending a lot of time on the Gulf Coast lately, dealing with the noxious plumes (environmental and political) spewing from the Deepwater Horiz ... More >>

Ken Salazar taps "recovery czar" Chris Henderson to fix MMS

The New RepublicDrill, baby, drill: Just what does additional offshore drilling add to the mix?​In the wake of the worst American offshore oil disaster in decades, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is scrambling on several fronts to address the perception that his administration has been m ... More >>

Ken Salazar is spinning the Deepwater Horizon debacle

Ken Salazar: Oil spill debacle sparks creation of Yet Another Government Agency

"All together now: BLM, FWS, MMS... and now YAGA!"​In the wake of the offshore rig explosion and massive oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced a major shakeup of the Minerals Management Service, the agency responsible for overseeing drilling ... More >>

Ken Salazar's role in BP disaster: More spin than reform?

Department of the InteriorThe explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig still hasn't been explained.​The finger-pointing over the massive oil slick threatening the Gulf Coast is spreading almost as fast as the spill itself. While critics on the right chortle over Department of the Interior c ... More >>

Ken Salazar: Oil spill gets sludge on his shiny green suit

Department of the InteriorThe fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon.​It's too soon to start putting a figure on the damage -- to marine life, tourism, fishing industries and more -- from the 600-square-mile oil slick oozing onto the Gulf Coast today. And it's too early in the investigation to know ... More >>

Ken Salazar sued by conservation group crying fowl over the Sprague's Pipit

WildEarth Guardians says this little guy deserves to be listed as an endangered species.​A prominent wildlife conservation group is suing Secretary of the Interior (and former Colorado Senator) Ken Salazar for reportedly failing to protect a prairie song bird that many say is nearing extinctio ... More >>

Ken Salazar, and the uncertainties of his quest for certainty

"Come on. Won't somebody please ask me about oil and gas leases?"​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says his energy plan will bring more certainty to the way public lands get leased and drilled, but it's hard to say who's paying attention. During a teleconference yesterday to announce the ... More >>

Ken Salazar under fire from energy producers and horse lovers

​You just can't please some people, especially if you happen to be the Secretary of the Interior. Sure, the job has some neat perks--all those trips to national parks and press conferences at glaciers and other cool stuff. But there's no way to manage what amounts to one-fifth of the land mass ... More >>

Salazar moves forward -- and backward -- on oil shale leases

​For decades, energy companies and the federal government have tinkered with ways of trying to extract the vast hydrocarbon fuel reserves buried in rock in western Colorado and eastern Utah. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar still has lots of questions about the process -- whether the curr ... More >>

Ken Salazar: No more horsing around

Famous wild stallion Cloud, star of three documentaries--and until recently targeted in a BLM roundup.​In a teleconference with reporters today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar declared that his department's wild-horse management program "is simply not working" and proposed a new way of ... More >>

Ken Salazar takes a step forward by booting Interior's royalties program

A sunny day for Secretary Solarczar, but a slog ahead?

​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was back in Colorado today, August 4, touring a Longmont solar panel company as a way of pushing the Obama administration's vision of a clean energy economy. But that vision, which involves collecting abundant solar power from a procession of solar farms ... More >>

Ken Salazar pushing for "more balanced" hard rockin'

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar No law is truly written in stone. Not even those tablets Charlton Heston brought down from the top of Mount Hollywood in The Ten Commandments, which looked suspiciously like slabs of heavy cardboard. But some laws, as they age ungracefully, begin to resemble bi ... More >>

"Sheriff" Salazar rounds up some artifact rustlers

In his first few weeks as Secretary of the Interior, former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar was fond of sporting his cowboy hat and declaring that there's a new sheriff in town -- even though the work at hand didn't lend itself to quick draws, as explained in my feature "The Zen of Ken." But now t ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: Salazar needs to stay put

Timing is everything. Early on, as president-elect Barack Obama started filling his Cabinet, Ken Salazar's name kept surfacing -- but so did word that what the first-term senator and former Colorado Attorney General ultimately wanted was a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the meantime, he wa ... More >>

The Statue of Liberty and Ken Salazar's crowning achievement

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy This morning, Secretary of the Interior (and former Colorado Senator) Ken Salazar got the full-bore show-biz treatment when he joined the Today show's Matt Lauer in the crown of the Statue of Liberty, which will reopen for th ... More >>

First 100 days? Ken Salazar gives himself an A

We're No. 1: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar addressing DOI employees. Probably no other member of the Obama Cabinet has racked up as many frequent-flier miles over the past three months than former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar. As the new sheriff in town at the Department of the Interior, he ... More >>

Denver Blogs: Somebody buy Ken Salazar a sandwich

See, we told you there was no money under there! Our daily blog round-up is here. Send tips this way. According to financial disclosure statements, Ken Salazar is not hiding bundles of money underneath that giant hat. (Colorado Independent) Introducing the Jay Cutler bath mat! (The Decider) The ... More >>

Denver Blogs: Is Ken Salazar hiding a drill under that giant hat?

Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting bwogs. Send tips. Chill, baby, chill: Environmentalists are freaking out over Ken Salazar's recent comments about drilling in Alaska. (Colorado Independent) The commie bastards at the state Supreme Court have upheld a controversial property-tax increase. Can yo ... More >>

Denver Blogs: Because starting Saturday, we'll need alternatives more than ever

Our daily cruise through the local blogosphere in search of buried treasures. Send tips. Oh, the irony: Rocky Mountain News Tweets its own death. (Twitter) Face the State advocates for medical marijuana, and in doing so refers to the "back alleys of the black market to obtain their marijuana." U ... More >>