HATCH STATEMENT ON INTERIOR SECRETARY KEN SALAZAR STEPPING DOWN

SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today released the following statement after U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he will be stepping down:

“Ken and I may not have always agreed on issues affecting Utah and the West, but we’ve always tried to maintain strong lines of communication. I’ve never been shy about raising issues that affect Westerners and I appreciate Ken and his office working with us to be able to resolve some of these areas of concern. I hope that dialogue will continue with whoever the President selects as Ken’s replacement. Westerners have always been forced to stand up to Washington on issues like land rights, endangered species, and energy production, and sadly that’s continued to be the case for the past four years.”