Greenwire: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar adopted a conciliatory tone yesterday in a meeting with Utahns, saying he is open to compromise and that he is a Colorado rancher who understands residents’ desires to balance resource protection with their economy and cultural heritage.
In a meeting with Republican Gov. Gary Herbert’s Balanced Resource Council at the state Capitol, Salazar said he is eager to hammer out compromises with the state on roads, national monuments, endangered species and other contentious issues.
“We can agree on so many issues,” Salazar said after the meeting, which brought about 120 people to the table.
The meeting, which is part of what Salazar has called a national listening tour to help advise President Obama on citizens’ ideas for conservation plans, garnered praise from state officials, who applauded Salazar’s approach to the issues.
But one attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said that Utah is far from progressive when it comes to wilderness designation and other land-use issues. Steve Bloch said his group plans to push for forceful action from Salazar even if it is in conflict with Utah.
Issues for Utah include a decades-old fight over county control of historical roads across federal lands, and a new state law that authorizes the use of eminent domain to take federal lands for access to state lands with coal and other development potential. Salazar said the law’s constitutionality will likely be resolved in court but that if the legislation was an effort to alert him to the need for greater communication about access, then the “message is received.”
In the meeting Salazar also reiterated a pledge to not attempt to designate new national monuments without participation from state and local officials, an issue of concern since a leaked memo surfaced in February that listed San Juan County’s Cedar Mesa and Emery County’s San Rafael Swell as potential monument sites (Brandon Loomis, Salt Lake Tribune, April 26). – DFM