The Issues
Oil Shale
Salazar was the Senate's staunchest opponent of the Bush administration's plans to rush forward with oil-shale development in Western states. In 2007, Salazar inserted language into an omnibus spending bill to bar the federal government from issuing final rules for commercial oil-shale production. Salazar and other opponents argued that there is not enough yet known about the economic and resource implications of commercial-scale development.
But that moratorium expired on Sept.30, 2008, and Salazar fought unsuccessfully to have it reinstated. "How is a federal agency to establish regulations, lease land and then manage oil-shale development without knowing whether the technology is commercially viable, how much water the technology would need (no small question in the arid West), how much carbon would be emitted, the source of the electricity to power the projects, or what the effects would be on Western landscapes?" Salazar asked in an op-ed in The Washington Post in July 2008.
After the moratorium expired, the Bush administration moved forward with final rules on leasing federal lands for development. But it's likely to take another decade for commercial production to begin, and a number of environmental studies must be conducted before leases can be issued, meaning that Salazar will likely have the power to put the breaks on it.
Water
In 2007, Salazar co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that called for more efficient use of water and more research into the effects of climate change on water supply, particularly in Western states. "Even if we move forward with significant increases in the use of renewable energies, we are learning that some adaptation measures are inevitable to reduce the harm from climate change that proves to be unavoidable," Salazar said. "[M]any scientists are now saying the American West will experience the effects of climate change sooner and more intensely than most other regions. Our scarce snow and water of the West is already being impacted, much of it in ways that we do not clearly understand."
On other water-resource issues, especially those involving how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts water projects, Salazar has broken from environmentalists and the majority of Democrats.
In 2007, Salazar voted against an amendment to the Water Resources Development reauthorization bill, which would have required the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the long- and short-term effects of climate change in its planning, and use the best available modern climate science when planning water projects. That amendment failed, 51 to 42. Salazar also voted against another amendment to the act that would have created an independent commission to assess and prioritize Army Corps of Engineer water projects. The commission was supposed to direct funding away from pet projects and help reduce the $58 billion project backlog.
Land Preservation
Salazar also voted against a subsidy-reform amendment to the 2007 farm bill, which would have increased conservation funding by $1.2 billion and made access to the funds more equitable. He also opposed an amendment to cap farm subsidies and close loopholes that provide large subsidies to industrial-scale farms. The amendment would have redirected almost $100 million of those funds to the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Farmland Protection Program.
Offshore Drilling
In summer 2008, Salazar signed on to the Senate's bipartisan energy plan, which started out as a "Gang of 10" effort and grew to a "Gang of 20" before it was shelved near the close of the 110th Congress. This compromise plan merged tax incentives and funding for renewables with some offshore drilling. Environmentalists were not thrilled with the plan's inclusion of increased access to and funding for research-and- development of fossil fuels like oil and coal, and its support for nuclear energy. But others saw the compromise as a way to move forward on energy policy. On the campaign trail, Obama indicated that he would consider endorsing a similar plan similar in order to get a bill passed.
Alternative Energy
In 2005, his first year in Congress, Salazar co-sponsored the Vehicle and Fuel Choices for American Security Act, which would have required the White House and federal agencies to develop an action plan to cut America's oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels of oil a day within a decade and 10 million barrels a day by 2031.
In a speech at the Denver World Affairs Council in November 2007, Salazar also touted the need to move away from fossil fuels. "How we improve our energy security and reduce our dependence on foreign oil is the central national security, economic security and environmental security challenge of the next decade," he said. "It will determine whether we will continue to be entrenched in conflicts over resources in every corner of the world. It will determine whether we will triumph in our fight against oil-funded extremists and terrorists. And it will determine whether our economic fortunes will hinge on the price of oil that OPEC sets, or whether the U.S. will stand independently, as the world’s innovator for clean energy technologies."
In December 2008, at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Salazar argued for an economic-recovery plan that includes significant investments in energy infrastructure. "When Congress reconvenes in January, we must immediately pass a strong economic recovery package that gets our economy back on track in the near term, while also taking advantage of new opportunities that will drive economic growth down the road," said Salazar. "Investing in efforts to modernize our energy grid and develop new, clean energy technologies is a great way to accomplish both of these goals. By making these investments, we will create jobs, reduce energy costs for consumers, and lay the foundation for America's economic future."
Endangered Species
As attorney general of Colorado, Salazar threatened to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the listing of the black-tailed prairie dog as endangered, a move that environmental groups opposed.
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