Interior Secretary Arrives in Anchorage After Pro-Development Moves

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar made his third official trip to Alaska today. Salazar comes soon after an executive order by President Obama establishing an interagency task force to coordinate the permitting process for oil and gas development projects in Alaska. Salazar brought along his deputy, David Hayes, who is chairing that working group. They heard from civic and business leaders about long delays in permit reviews, and they promised that Interior and the agencies under its umbrella would strive to do a better job. "Our goal is to ensure that all agencies are working together, implementing their statutory responsibilities, but in a way that is coordinated so that we do not have delays caused by the lack of coordination and lack of communication among the agencies," Hayes said. Salazar assured an elite group of Alaskans that the Obama administration wants to take a careful look at oil and gas exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf. Salazar's appearance in Anchorage comes just a few days after Shell received preliminary approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- an agency within the Interior Department -- for drilling in the Beaufort Sea, possibly in 2012. "I think you can say that this president's agenda for the Arctic is to go ahead, let's take a look at what is up there, and let's see what it is that we can develop," Salazar said...more