September 11, 2009 09:24 PM UTC

CO-to-DC Brain Drain Continues

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

In a way it’s a compliment, but, as the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reports:

Another Coloradan has been nominated for a job in the Obama administration.

This time the head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Harris Sherman, has been picked for the job of undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in charge of natural resources and environment…

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Sherman would be in charge of a broad portfolio of natural-resource concerns, including oversight of the U.S. Forest Service, which administers more than 191 million acres of national forest and grasslands as well as close to 60 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. The USFS also has jurisdiction over regulation of oil and gas exploration on forest service lands.

The news of the nomination drew a mixture of reactions from environmental activists and local elected officials, most of whom were optimistic.

“I think he would be a very solid choice,” said Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt, who has worked with Sherman in his capacity as chairman of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, of which Houpt is a member.

Among other things, Harris was a key figure in the work of rewriting the COGCC regulations governing the natural gas exploration boom that has transformed parts of the state in the last seven years or so.

UPDATE: For an example of how these things get silly-seasoned, please click here.