Ah, the executive bathroom, one of the unheralded perks of holding a cabinet-level seat. But unfortunately for outgoing Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the $236,000 renovation of the Main Interior Building Executive Suite bathroom was finally completed just in time to hand the keys over to Interior Secretary-nominee, Ken Salazar.

It is the first time any such renovations have been done at the building since it was built in 1936, but for $236K, that must be one heck of a water closet.

As part of the renovation, workers modernized and upgraded the plumbing, mechanical and lighting systems in the bathroom of the Executive Suite.  The modernization is part of a larger $243 million makeover of The Main Interior Building’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing and ventilation systems in all of its office spaces.

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Sporting his trademark cowboy hat, the denim-clad Salazar held a press conference in Denver before leaving for Washington on Sunday, saying he’d like to pass eight bills dealing mainly with wilderness and conservation issues, as soon as possible.

One of the bills would define bans on mining, timber harvesting and new roads and constructions in Rocky Mountain National Park. Others would establish the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, South Park National Heritage Area, and the Baca National Wildlife Refuge Management.

“I have high expectations from the strong Republican and Democratic support that, perhaps even in this week,” the bills will pass, he said.

The bills passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and were included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008. Salazar also indicated that Senate President Harry Reid would continue with the bills should they not get finished before Salazar moves on.

Because Obama’s selection of Salazar to head-up Interior brought mixed reactions from the environmental community, the announcements might go a little way towards easing the concerns of those who feel Salazar is too cozy with the oil, gas, and other extractive industries.

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Despite the recent bluing trend in Colorado, the Republican Party still has a strong base in Colorado. Salazar is a centrist, and in a senate seat that is by no means a lock for Democrats, it could be argued that no matter who Gov. Ritter choses to replace Salazar, they will have their work cut out for them defending it. CQ Politics writes:

Salazar would have been decisively favored to win in a state that has trended Democratic in recent elections.

But the seat will be little tougher for the Democrats to hold with Salazar not on the ballot. Whereas Salazar would have run for re-election as a six-year incumbent, the person that Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter appoints will have served less than two years by the time of the 2010 election, when he or she presumably will seek a full six-year term.

That being said, as an environmentalist, I’m far more concerned about losing Salazar as a protector of Colorado’s rivers and streams, its mineral resources, and its public lands, than I am about the job the Senator will do protecting those things as the next Secretary of the Interior.



Image: Hurst

Grijalva is the current chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands which has jurisdiction over Interior Department matters.

The groups praised Grijalva for assembling what is regarded as one of the most “far sighted endangered species protection plans in the nation” and for his “leadership pressing Interior and other federal agencies to integrate global warming issues into their planning and permitting.”

The next Secretary of the Interior will be taking over an rocked by some ethics scandals including, among other things, the imprisonment of its top deputy, losses of tens of billions of dollars from under-collection of oil royalties and, most recently, revelation of sex and drug parties involving key Interior employees and oil company executives.