Should Salazar be Fired?

[wordpix]

I say YES. His environmental record is spotty and often in favor of corporations; he has always been suspect in the eyes of environmentalists. And now the BP disaster---the buck stops with him for not reforming the MMS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Salazar

snip: In 2005, Salazar voted against increasing fuel-efficiency standards (CAFE) for cars and trucks, a vote that the League of Conservation Voters notes is anti-environment. In the same year, Salazar voted against an amendment to repeal tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other major petroleum companies.<6>

In August 2006, Ken Salazar supported fellow Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in his primary race against Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Lamont, running primarily as an anti-war candidate, won the primary. Salazar's continued support of Lieberman, who successfully ran as an independent against Lamont, has rankled the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party.

In 2006, Salazar voted to end protections that limit offshore oil drilling in Florida's Gulf Coast.<7> snip

Several prominent environmentalist groups are wary of Salazar, noting his strong ties with the coal and mining industries. Kieran Suckling, executive director of Center for Biological Diversity, which tracks endangered species and habitat issues states "He is a right-of-center Democrat who often favors industry and big agriculture in battles over global warming, fuel efficiency and endangered species."<19> snip

On March 6, 2009 Salazar agreed to move forward with the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove the Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species List in Montana and Idaho, but not Wyoming. Minimum recovery goal for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains is at least 30 breeding pairs and at least 300 wolves for at least three consecutive years, a goal that was attained in 2002 and has been exceeded every year since. (There are currently about 95 breeding pairs and 1,600 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.)<24> Salazar, a former rancher has come under criticism of groups like the Defenders of Wildlife for this decision, and lack of protection of wolves.

On May 9, 2009, Salazar announced the upholding of a Bush-era policy that prevents the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions via the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a policy he pledged to reevaluate when he took office in January. The policy states that, despite the apparent negative impact global warming has on polar bears, an endangered species, greenhouse gasses cannot be regulated with the ESA. Salazar stated in a conference call announcing the decision that "The single greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change," but the Endangered Species Act "is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue." The decision was met with criticism from environmental groups and praise from energy groups including the American Petroleum Institute....more

[villager]

1. A cattle rancher should never have been appointed to Interior. It's GOP-style thinking.

n/t

[ThatPoetGuy]

7. +1,000,000

The GOP uses the government to protect business from the people. We expect better. We expect a Department of the Interior that keeps people safe, preserves the environment, and safeguards wildlife. Salazar serves only the purposes of business -- big ranchers, oilmen, polluters. He's done so much harm in the time he's been Secretary of the Interior. He's spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money hunting down wild horses, or wolf populations, or polar bears. The department claims this is for the good of the animals, but they've put forward no studies, no evidence, and no research supporting their beliefs, while actual scientists, biologists, and wildlife experts say Salazar is lying.

[nashville_brook]

2. he's not proven to be effective...so, yes. time for change.

[BeFree]

3. Fired?

No. He couldn't imagine something like this happening.

Besides, BP is working on a bare bones budget. It is obvious by now that BP just couldn't afford to do this job right and not fuck up the whole gulf, and Salazar was just trying to help.

*************

:puke:

[wordpix]

4. how is he helping? i don't see him doing anything except being an ineffective mouthpiece

[BeFree]

5. EH?

I needed to put a sarcasm tag on the end? My apologies for not doing so.

The prick is a piece of shit that should be flushed, is how I really feel.

[Iggo]

9. First clue was the part where you said BP was poor.

Nice touch.

[1776Forever]

6. Thank you for posting this. Obviously he has not walked the walk! Get him out! n/t

[Cleita]

8. We need Al Gore or someone like him, a person who takes the

global environment seriously and who is a lawyer.

[jtrockville]

10. RFK Jr. would be a good pick too. He fits your criteria.

[Cleita]

21. Or Mike Papantonio, who is bringing lawsuits up against BP already. n/t

[bvar22]

11. Not just Salazar,

but the rest of DLC cabinet, and replaced with Democrats.


The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

[Karmadillo]

12. +1.

nt

[Dinger]

16. Well Said bvar

I also want duncan gone too, bad.

[Lorien]

20. +1000. nt

[glitch]

25. Absolutely. Mediocrity (at best) is NOT what is needed right now. nt

[katandmoon]

13. The buck stops with Salazar? Who picked HIM? Who thought HE was fit to be Secretary of Interior?

Obama, that's who. That's where the problem starts. Don't expect Salazar to get shitcanned for anybody any better because Obama won't nominate anyone who doesn't fit his industry friendly profile.

[chill_wind]

14. How competent is a cabinet official who doesn't see that WH edicts get put down on paper?

I'm talking about the moratoriums (and continued waivers) thoughout this crisis and the shifting stories to the press and public that have caused no end of controversy and confusion, because (rather conveniently?) they were never anywhere in writing.

I'm talking about him subsequently mis-speaking or mis-remembering his facts about them to Congress.

I'm also talking about a department under him that sat on a BP Spill Response Plan that was a horrible JOKE, even though the final revision of it (June 2009) was on somebody's desk almost a year before this clusterfuck.

Moratorium policy was only verbal:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x538347#top

BP Spill Response Plan- "not worth the paper it was written on"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8416758

So yeah, I think Pres Obama could have done better than him.

[XOKCowboy]

15. He lost me when he enthusiastically introduced Alberto Gonzalez

at his confirmation hearing. We thought we'd elected a Democrat for our Senator. We were wrong.

[blindpig]

17. Naw, just demoted....

need somebody to bag all of the dead wildlife.

[madrchsod]

18. what time is it......

[G_j]

19. a big yes! nt

[RiverStone]

22. Yes!! He should be fired....

[farmbo]

23. No. He can't be held responsible for Cheney's backroom deal... Plus...

So far as Secretary of the Interior he has:
1. Essentially Halted Mountaintop Removal mining
2. Approved the Cape Winds project and leased thousands of acres for offshore wind farms
3. Voided thousands of Bush Admin Eleventh hour oil & gas leases on federal lands.

As far as the OPs critique of his removal of the grey wolf from the endangered species list, there is a clear rationale for doing so. The elk herd in Montana has historically survived in the 30,000 to 40,000 range. With wolf numbers ballooning, that herd is being thinned down to the 5000 range. They also kill domesticated species such as lamb and beef calves, with impunity-- sometimes just for sport. Sustainable management of the grey wolf population is becoming a necessity.

[glinda]

24. k&R n/t

[bobbolink]

26. Yes, of course. But the administration WANTS "often in favor of corporations"

We Coloradans have known for a long time that the Salazar brothers are out for themselves. They are certainly NOT liberals!

:grr:

[jgraz]

27. He should be fired just for looking too much like Phil Gramm

Separated at spawning?