Obama Names SenatorAs Interior Secretary, Completing Team

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, who has served as Colorado attorney general and headed that state’s Department of Natural Resources, to lead the Department of the Interior. The appointment rounds out a team, introduced to the press yesterday, that is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and developing renewable sources of energy. Salazar, a farmer and rancher, has opposed Bush administration efforts to drill on undeveloped public lands in the West, such as Colorado’s picturesque Roan Plateau. He also has called for the U.S. to obtain 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. The Interior Department oversees the nation’s public lands and parks, and renewable energy advocates are urging Salazar to open up some of those lands for large solar and wind power installations.