Greens mixed on Obama's Interior, Agriculture picks

The National Wildlife Federation also had good things to say about Obama's choice. Here's the group's president, Larry Schweiger:

“Sen. Ken Salazar has been a champion for America’s public lands. He’s fought to protect Western lands from costly, destructive oil shale production. He also took on the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management over oil and gas leasing on the Roan Plateau in northwest Colorado. And as a former water rights and mining lawyer and former director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, Sen. Salazar brings an experienced perspective to needed mining reform."

Salazar's selection also drew praise from the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.

But, as Grist's Kate Sheppard reports, many smaller conservation groups in the West are not so thrilled. Ms. Sheppard cites a press release from the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which calls Salazar "a disappointing choice."

"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 the 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."

The group notes that the Colorado senator voted against increased fuel efficiency standards, offshore drilling restrictions along Florida's coast, the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil, and has fought efforts to increase protection for endangered species and the environment in the 2008 Farm Bill.

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