'Mr. Salazar made many important contributions. Mr. Obama told him to design a balanced energy strategy on the public lands administered by his department, and for the most part he did. He took a far more measured approach to oil and gas exploration than the “drill now, drill everywhere” people around George W. Bush. He orchestrated a major overhaul of safety standards for drilling, and remade his department’s regulatory machinery, in the wake of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He initiated new standards for hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas fields on public lands. And he moved cautiously on oil drilling in the Arctic. But his biggest contribution to a sensible long-term energy strategy is one whose fruits will not be visible for years, and one for which he has not been widely recognized: a plan setting aside hundreds of thousands of acres of Western lands for the future development of solar and wind power. Painstakingly negotiated with multiple stakeholders, including states, industry and the environmental community, the plan provides a roadmap for future development aimed at maximizing clean energy sources without harming the environment, particularly endangered species and other wildlife.

There is plenty of unfinished business. Mr. Salazar did not, as we had hoped, rewrite several Bush-era resource management plans covering millions of other federally-owned acres in the Rocky Mountain West, particularly in Utah, that heavily favor commercial development over preservation. His successor should remedy that. In addition, the new secretary must press forward on Mr. Salazar’s plans to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands and move with utmost caution before granting Shell a final permit to drill in Arctic waters. Given the recent rash of vaudevillian mishaps involving its drill ships and rescue vessels, it’s clear the company cannot exploit the area’s riches without risking environmental catastrophe."

Get the Story:
Robert B. Semple Jr.: Ken Salazar’s Legacy (The New York Times 1/17)

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