With the appointment and confirmation of new U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, the outgoing secretary, Ken Salazar, took the opportunity to hold a “good bye” chat online with supporters.
When asked by Dillingham fisherman Verner Wilson III about protections for Bristol Bay salmon, he said it should remain off-limits to non-renewable resource extraction.
“Bristol Bay is one of the iconic places of America that should be protected, and protected forever. The president and I, in putting together plans for the outer continental shelf, put Bristol Bay off limits to oil and gas development. That’s under the current authority that we have with regard to one law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. My personal hope is we continue build on that protection so that Bristol Bay is in fact protected forever.”
Salazar was President Obama’s interior secretary from 2009 until earlier this year.