Colorado senator blocks BLM nominee

WASHINGTON – Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar on Wednesday officially blocked the confirmation of President Bush’s nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management.

He vowed to relent only when Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne pledges that the department’s conflict with the state of Colorado over energy development won’t end in a “train wreck.”

Salazar, a Democrat, said he outlined his concerns in a meeting with Kempthorne and asked for assurance that the federal government “would not be running roughshod over the Roan Plateau and Colorado’s public lands.”

Specifically, Salazar wants the state to have “meaningful input” about the development of oil shale and for Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter to have time to review a plan to drill for natural gas on the scenic Roan Plateau.

Until then, Salazar said, he will prevent the Senate from voting on James Caswell’s nomination to head the BLM.

Salazar officially placed a “hold” on Caswell on Wednesday after the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to send his nomination to the full Senate.

Caswell, who currently heads Idaho’s Office of Species Conservation, would replace Kathleen Clarke, who resigned in February.

The agency manages about one-eighth of the land in the United States, primarily in the West.

Before taking his current job, Caswell spent 33 years in various positions with the BLM, Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Forest Service.

Kempthorne, a former governor of Idaho, promised to respond to Salazar in a letter.