Department of Interior

Salazar, the focus of repeated grilling Wednesday on whether he plans to run for governor given the withdrawal of Gov. Bill Ritter, sidestepped those questions and outlined an aggressive new leasing program meant to continue domestic oil and gas development but under stronger environmental and health protections.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday called on his department’s inspector general to investigate so-called midnight oil shale leasing regulations issued in the waning days of the Bush administration. “We want to avoid the booms and busts of the past,” said Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, referring to a devastating oil shale bust on the Western Slope in the 1980s. “We want to ensure the potential development is done in a way that is environmentally appropriate.”