Alaskan says he’ll build consensus in Interior post

Joe Balash is nominated to be an assistant secretary of the Interior Department. (Liz Ruskin)If confirmed by the Senate, former Alaska Natural Resources commissioner Joe Balash will be assistant Interior secretary for land and minerals management. He would oversee a wide swath of Interior, including the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. At his confirmation hearing Thursday, Balash said his perspective on resource extraction formed early, and was shaped by his l