Former Secretary of the Interior Ken
Salazar. Alex Wong/Getty Images
Observed
By Michael Sainato
05/23/17
Former Secretary of Interior Ken
Salazar is deeply embedded in oil and gas
Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was
briefly considered as Hillary Clinton’s potential running mate. After the
Clinton campaign opted for Sen. Tim Kaine, Salazar was appointed as chair of
Clinton’s transition team in August 2016. The Intercept reported at the time
that Salazar was a major advocate for the oil and gas industry, favored the
Trans Pacific Partnership, the Keystone XL pipeline, and has argued in favor of
fracking and against environmental regulations. He would have led the team in
charge of nearly 4,000 presidential appointments.
Now that the Clinton White House never came to be,
Salazar is running public relations for the oil industry. According to
documents and emails obtained by IBTimes and MapLight, Salazar is working on
behalf of Anadarko, Colorado’s largest oil and gas producer, after a deadly
explosion of one of its wells on April 17 has put the company in a politically
compromised position. Salazar, working through the law firm Wilmer Hale, is not
formally registered as a lobbyist for the company.
IBT and MapLight reported, “On April 26, authorities
investigating the Firestone blast confirmed they were looking at an Anadarko
well near the home that exploded. That day, Anadarko General Counsel Amanda
McMillan contacted Hickenlooper Chief Legal Counsel Jacki Melmed about the
situation. ‘I understand that you’ve spoken with Ken Salazar, who suggested
that I reach out and connect with you,’ McMillan wrote in an email.”
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has been floated
as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, also has close ties to
the oil industry, noted the IBTimes/MapLight report. Anadarko successfully
lobbied to stop a bill that would have forced the company to disclose to
homeowners how close they live to oil and gas lines, a bill that Hickenlooper
has been on the fence in opposing. “Jacque Montgomery, a spokeswoman for
Hickenlooper, told IBT/MapLight that Salazar ‘identified himself as Anadarko’s
counsel.’ She said Salazar was alerting the office that the company would be
issuing a news release to explain the actions it had taken after the
explosion.”…
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