Obama Announces Cabinet Appointments

PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: Earlier this week I announced key members of the team that will help us seek new forms of energy, to build a new economy, to enhance our security and to leave our children a planet that is safer and cleaner.

Today I am extraordinarily pleased to announce two other key advisers and members of this team: Governor Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture and my dear friend from the Senate, Senator Ken Salazar, as secretary of the interior.

Together, they will serve as guardians of the American landscape on which the health of our economy and the well being of our families so heavily depend.

One of the great blessings bestowed upon us as Americans is the bounty of our natural environment, from the mountains and parks where we go hiking, to the rivers and streams where we go fishing, to the forests and fields where the proud tradition of hunting is passed on through the generations.

But our wide-open spaces are not only a blessing to be enjoyed, they're the foundations of a brighter future. How we harness our natural resources, from the farmlands of Iowa to the springs of Colorado, will speak not only to our quality of life, but to our economic growth and our energy future.

It is time for a new kind of leadership in Washington that's committed to using our lands in a responsible way to benefit all of our families.