Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today said that he is personally pained to halve the department's conservation funding request and freeze construction spending in 2013, but that Interior will take other steps, including energy development and targeted protections, to promote the nation's economic recovery.

Salazar said Interior's $11.4 billion fiscal 2013 proposal -- a significant cut from last year's request but a 1 percent increase over current spending -- will continue to expand oil and gas development on federal lands and waters, while requiring industry to pay its fair share for publicly owned minerals.

The budget would boost the department's investment in renewable energy development on public lands by roughly 20 percent, which would allow Interior to permit 11,000 megawatts of wind, solar and geothermal projects by the end of 2013, the agency said.

But other areas of the budget contain difficult cuts, Salazar said. They include a $450 million request for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, down significantly from the $900 million requested a year ago. The agency also would place a freeze on new construction projects and proposes cutting overall spending in that category by more than $49 million.

"This is a very tough and painful budget for me personally," Salazar said in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. "Would I like to see [LWCF] at $900 million? I'd like to see it at that level and a lot more."

The administration's request would still be $105 million, or 30 percent, above current funding levels for LWCF, which funds land acquisitions, conservation easements and urban recreation projects. Salazar did not indicate how the construction freeze would affect the agency's estimated $20 billion maintenance backlog.

"We'll only be able to maintain the highest needs that we have and keep the backlog growing any further," he said. "We can, and will, do more with less."

Salazar also defended his department's proposal to increase funding for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to $222 million in fiscal 2013, the first stand-alone budget request for the newly revamped agency and a $25 million increase over current levels.

The request, which would be offset by $126 million in revenue collections, would allow the agency to more efficiently process drilling permits, strengthen oil spill response planning and provide better training for inspectors, the agency said.

Salazar said industry should welcome the improved oversight.

"It's important that the American people have confidence that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement can be a good cop on the beat," he said, warning that those who oppose strengthened oversight have "amnesia" about the BP PLC oil spill two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico.

Most agencies within Interior saw relatively flat budgets; others, including Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey, saw increases.

The president's discretionary request would support $1.5 billion in programs for FWS, an increase of $72 million over the 2012 enacted level. But that includes a $200 million cancellation of prior-year unobligated balances from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, for a net 2013 request of $1.3 billion for the agency, Interior said.

"The service's budget request makes some tough choices, generating program reductions and management savings, while supporting our effort to transform the agency to meet the conservation challenges of the 21st century," FWS Director Dan Ashe said in a statement. "By building science capacity and focusing on strategic, partnership-driven landscape conservation, this budget will enable us to be more effective and efficient with the funding we receive."

The agency has asked for a $12.3 million bump in the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund over the current enacted level of $47.7 million. The North American Wetlands Conservation Fund would see a $3.9 million increase over its current $35.5 million funding under the Obama proposal.

The National Park Service budget would remain virtually flat under the president's proposal, but it includes $2.3 billion for park operations, an increase of $13.5 million over current levels.

"In these tough economic times, we recognize the value the 397 national parks provide all Americans -- as places of introspection and recreation and as economic engines that create jobs and help our gateway communities thrive," said NPS Director Jon Jarvis in a statement.

Under the Obama proposal, the Bureau of Land Management would receive $1.1 billion in fiscal 2013, which is essentially level with this year.

Salazar said Interior's overall budget recognizes the economic role the agency's several hundred million acres play in rural communities across the country, providing everything from land protections to energy development, water and public safety.

The agency also proposed a $243 million, or 42 percent, increase in its wildland fire management budget.

"Interior programs are absolutely a part of the economic health of the nation," Salazar said. "This is especially true when it comes to communities that depend on tourism for their jobs, rural communities where we do so much in energy, tourism and water issues."

The budget drew early praise from conservation groups and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, pointed specifically to the agency's decision to increase support for both renewable energy permitting and offshore oil and gas oversight. He also highlighted Interior's proposal to boost research into water supplies and management options in the West by $20 million, raising the program to $75 million.

"This budget protects America's natural heritage while promoting a clean energy future," Markey said in a statement. "Protecting our public parks and forests will bring tourism dollars from people who want to visit our natural wonders. Promoting clean energy will keep jobs at home as we invent the next generation of energy technologies. This budget supports both of those efforts."

But committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said the budget's proposal to raise new fees on industry and slash oil industry tax breaks "destroys jobs and spends money we don't have."

"Page after page of the president's budget contains examples of the Obama administration's misplaced priorities," he said in a statement. "Instead of promoting new American energy production, this budget will make energy more expensive for American families and small businesses by imposing new taxes and fees."

Their responses suggest the comments Salazar will hear when he defends the budget before the committee Wednesday.