The former U.S. senator, 57, who has served at the helm of the nation's natural resources watchdog since the Obama administration began, said Wednesday that he would leave his job at the end of March.
“I have had the privilege of reforming the Department of the Interior to help lead the United States in securing a new energy frontier, ushering in a conservation agenda for the 21st century, and honoring our word to the nation’s first Americans,” Salazar said in a statement.
Among his accomplishments are the authorization of the first renewable energy projects on public land. During Salazar's tenure the Department of Interior has given the go-ahead to 34 geothermal, solar, and wind generation facilities to be built on government real estate.
Salazar also revamped the department's organizational structure for managing offshore oil and gas leasing by separating its royalty-collection function from its regulatory function. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are now autonomous units within the department, having replaced the Minerals Management Service.
Salazar also settled a multi-billion dollar lawsuit from native American tribes that alleged mis-management of trust fund and oversaw the establishment of seven national parks and 10 national wildlife refuges.
Critics attacked Salazar during and after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, arguing that the secretary's advocacy of a drilling moratorium and strong rhetoric aimed at BP and other entities involved in the operation of the Deepwater Horizon rig indicated a hostility to oil extraction.
In 2012 domestic oil production reached its highest level since 2003, and although overall fossil fuel extraction from federal public lands has been on a recent declining trend, Salazar has overseen a significant increase relative to a similar period during the George W. Bush administration.
Other noteworthy achievements during Salazar's tenure include an overhaul of the government's system for leasing native American lands and an agreement with Mexico on dividing up Colorado River flows.
Environmental groups generally lauded Salazar in the aftermath of his announcement. The Sierra Club, for example, praised him.
"Thanks to Secretary Salazar, more national parks and wildlife refuges are open, more of America's pristine Arctic is off-limits to dangerous drilling, and more public lands are in public hands," executive director Michael Brune said. "He also led the overhaul of safety standards for drilling in the wake of the BP oil disaster and stood up to defend American wilderness by protecting Drakes Estero national seashore."
Francis Beinecke, the president of Natural Resources Defense Council, was more cautious in her acclaim.
"He's laid a sound foundation for solar power on federal lands, while protecting special areas where development doesn't make sense," she said. "He moved quickly to improve public oversight of offshore drilling in the wake of the BP oil disaster. And he’s worked to end the global bazaar in polar bears, where his continued leadership will be vital in the waning months of his tenure."
But, Beinecke added, Salazar's successor "must clear out the unconscionable backlog that keeps endangered wildlife from getting the protection they need" and "do more to protect our waters, ranches, communities and farms from the ravages of gas and oil production."
"[T]hey must learn from Shell's disastrous performance in recent months that we cannot expose Arctic waters to the perils of offshore drilling,” Beinecke added.
Beinecke was referring to the recent incident involving a run-away oil rig that ran aground in Alaska.
Before becoming the nation's 50th secretary of the interior Salazar served four years in the Senate and six years as Colorado's attorney general.
Interior secretary Ken Salazar has told the White House he will leave the president's cabinet in March.
Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Interior.
