Salazar, Vilsack: The West’s New Land Lords

By Courtney Lowery, 12-17-08

President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet picks for the Departments of Agriculture and Interior will have big implications in the West.

Obama himself today called former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (agriculture) and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar (interior) “guardians" of the nation’s land—land we’re sort of attached to here in Rockies.

Today, there’s much abuzz across the Web about the picks, so here is a lineup of some of the most interesting and timely information and commentary about the region’s new “land lords.”

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar

• Salazar, in accepting the nomination, says: “I look forward to serving as a strong voice in the administration for the West and the nation. As the nominee to be secretary of the interior, I will do all I can to help reduce America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

• Also: “I look forward to protecting our national parks, public lands and open spaces, and America’s farm and ranch lands. I look forward to restoring our nation’s rivers and working to resolve our water supply challenges. I look forward to helping to address the challenges faced by our Native American communities across the nation.” (Read Salazar’s full remarks here at the Denver Post)

• Obama wants Salazar on oil shale, saying today in the announcement: “If there’s going to be a debate about oil shale, I want Ken at the table.” (Full story at the Rocky Mountain News)

• The New York Times writes, “Mr. Salazar’s most urgent task will be to remove the influence of politics and ideology from decisions that are best left to science.” (Full op-ed piece here.)

• Wilderness Society President William H. Meadows writes in a release: “Senator Salazar is an excellent choice to lead the Department of the Interior at a critical time when the West faces extraordinarily complex energy, conservation, and development challenges. He has a lifelong understanding and involvement in the West’s public lands issues and, as Senator, has demonstrated time and again that protecting Colorado’s natural features is a priority for him. He understands the need to defend the West’s land, water, wildlife, and communities while appropriately exploring for oil and gas and other extractive resources.”

• A release from the Defenders of Wildlife says: “In his four years in the Senate, Senator Salazar has had an increasingly strong environmental voting record. Defenders of Wildlife is hopeful that he will effectively respond to the unprecedented challenges facing the Interior Department, which oversees almost one-fifth of all of the lands in the United States.”

• The Wall Street Journal points out Salazar will be playing clean-up when he steps into the position: “Among Mr. Salazar’s mandates at Interior will be restoring confidence in the department’s management of mineral resources following a series of scandals at Interior’s Minerals Management Service.” (Full story here.)

• Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg says: “It’s always helpful to have an extra set of boots under the negotiating table when it comes to discussing our natural resources. Senator Salazar’s experience representing a western state provides him with an understanding of the critical role public lands play in Montana’s heritage and economy, and that experience will be a valuable asset to the next Presidential Administration. I’ll look forward to working with him on issues that impact rural America.”

• Montana Sen. Jon Tester says in statement: “Ken gets it. As a fellow westerner, he understands the land, its people, and its resources.  He will be a responsible steward of our public lands and protect our outdoor heritage.  Ken understands that we must continue to develop conventional energy sources where it makes sense, but that we must also invest in conservation and renewable energy.  I congratulate President-elect Obama on this common sense selection.”

• Vilsack says nomination was about “teamwork” and tells the Des Moines Register he shares Obama’s thoughts on sustainable agriculture, particularly when it comes to alternative energy: “It’s difficult unless you have a workable, profitable alternative,” said Vilsack, who promoted Iowa’s nation-leading ethanol industry during his two terms as governor. “Farmers don’t want to spend any more money than they have to.” (Full story here.)

• Register columnist Phillip Brasher (who is quickly becoming a national go-to source for agriculture coverage and commentary) says Vilsack isn’t likely to radically change things at the USDA. Brasher writes, “The Obama administration, meanwhile, will get an agriculture secretary who is sympathetic to big agribusiness that dominates Iowa and a believer in biofuels and agricultural biotechnology.” (Full piece here.)

• Sustainable ag advocates are worried about the same ‘sameness’ in Vilsack. In fact, the Organic Consumer’s Association says Visack’s appoint is a “terrible idea”: “Vilsack has a glowing reputation as being a schill for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto.”

• Jim Harkness, the president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy also remarked on Vilsack as a “status quo” pick, saying in a press release today (link opens PDF of full release): “As Iowa’s Governor, Vilsack has shown a fairly conventional perspective on agriculture—particularly related to biotechnology and the siting of factory farms—that seems to indicate a status quo approach. But these are unconventional times, and with his charge to implement the national vision for agriculture of President-elect Obama, he has an opportunity to address the concerns of farmers—big and small, organic and conventional—and consumers, as well as environmental challenges facing the country.”

• Chief among those challenges, according to the IATP, is “extreme price volatility” on which Rural Communities Program Director Jim Kleinschmit said: “We can’t make the changes we need in agriculture, like expanding environmentally sustainable farming systems or greater production of healthier food, without stabilizing prices for farmers and consumers. Efforts to fix deregulated agriculture markets will have to include greater antitrust enforcement and market transparency, such as the ban on packer ownership of feedlots.”

• Center for Rural Affairs Executive Director Chuck Hassebrook said in a release, “I think he’s a good choice to implement the vision for rural America that President-elect Obama put forth in the campaign.” Some hoped (Food Democracy Now was actively campaigning) that Hassebrook would be in the running himself and last week, he had actually applied for the position. The Center for Rural Affairs is organizing a collective, open letter to Vilsack, which 700 people have already signed.

• On bio-fuel and energy issues, in an interview last year with Grist, Vilsack explained his ethanol plans: “I think corn was a great way to start the conversation on renewable fuel. It was a relatively easy product to extract the necessary ingredients to make ethanol from and it was something we grew in abundance. But we can’t grow enough corn, and I think there are more efficient ways over time to produce ethanol from biomass with less stress on the environment, less use of water, less use of fertilizer.” (Full interview here.)

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