Re: Obama Team Set on Environment
- From: Islander <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:26:44 -0800
St Louis Bob wrote:
On Dec 10, 10:25 pm, Islander <nos...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Rita wrote:The New York TimesWow! An actual scientist in charge of the Department of Energy!
December 11, 2008
Obama Team Set on Environment
By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has selected his top energy
and environmental advisers, including a Nobel Prize-winning physicist
and the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency,
presidential transition officials said Wednesday.
Collectively, they will have the task of carrying out Mr. Obama’s
stated intent to curb global warming emissions drastically while
fashioning a more efficient national energy system. And they will be
able to work with strong allies in Congress who are interested in
developing climate-change legislation, despite fierce economic
headwinds that will amplify objections from manufacturers and energy
producers.
The officials said Mr. Obama would name Steven Chu, the director of
the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary,
and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and
environment, as head of the White House Council on Environmental
Quality. Mr. Obama also appears ready to name Carol M. Browner, the
E.P.A. administrator under President Bill Clinton, as the top White
House official on climate and energy policy and Lisa P. Jackson, New
Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, as the head of the
E.P.A.
Aides cautioned that while Mr. Obama appeared to favor Ms. Browner for
the new White House post, there were still issues to be resolved
before the appointment was formalized. Mr. Obama plans to name the
environmental team next week in Chicago, aides said.
If named to the White House climate post, Ms. Browner, an acolyte of
former Vice President Al Gore, will have forceful support in the new
Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Henry A.
Waxman of California, who will be the new chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who
is returning as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee. Opposing their efforts will be many Republicans and some
Democrats, as well as manufacturers, utilities, oil companies and coal
producers who will bear the brunt of the costs of any steps to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions, the main culprit in global warming.
In the coming months, the administration will also have to devise a
strategy for dealing with global talks to address climate change,
which are already under way.
In addition, both Ms. Browner and Ms. Jackson, who have strong
reputations for regulating industry, will be under pressure to revisit
and overturn many of the clean-air rules and other regulations imposed
during the Bush administration over the objections of
environmentalists.
Mr. Obama has promised to spend liberally to finance infrastructure
projects and support so-called green technologies that will create
jobs while benefiting the environment. These officials will work with
Mr. Obama’s economic advisers to try to find — and finance — projects
that accomplish these goals.
It was not immediately clear how responsibilities for managing climate
change, technological innovation and huge energy infrastructure
spending will be divided among them.
Dr. Chu will be taking on one of the most challenging jobs in
government at the Department of Energy. He will be responsible for the
maintenance and development of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile,
as well as for modernizing the nation’s electrical power delivery
system.
He will also play a central role in directing the research and
development of alternative energy sources needed to replace fossil
fuels in a era of constrained carbon emissions. Mr. Chu shared a Nobel
Prize in physics in 1977 for work on supercooled atoms.
At the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory, he has sponsored research into
biofuels and solar energy and has been a strong advocate of
controlling greenhouse gas emissions.
Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating
Council, an industry group, said he was pleased that Dr. Chu had the
technical expertise to realistically assess future energy
technologies.
“His experience seems to dovetail perfectly with the president-elect’s
commitment to bringing new energy technology to market in a timely
fashion,” Mr. Segal said. “An understanding of the art of the possible
in energy technology will be critical to the development of a
cost-effective climate change policy.”
Although the scope of Ms. Browner’s job at the White House is still
under discussion, aides said that if appointed she would coordinate
administration policy across departmental lines and advocate for Mr.
Obama’s energy and environmental policies on Capitol Hill. It was not
clear on Wednesday whether her office would carry the bureaucratic
clout of the National Security Council or the National Economic
Council.
Before coming to Washington to head Mr. Clinton’s E.P.A., Ms. Browner
was Florida’s top environmental officer. Since leaving government at
the end of the Clinton administration, she has been a partner in an
international consulting business with Madeleine K. Albright, Mr.
Clinton’s second-term secretary of state. Among her clients at the
Albright Group was a Dubai-based port operator that sought a contract
to manage American ports. The deal fell apart amid heated
Congressional criticism.
Ms. Browner, a lawyer, is well known in Washington and around the
country as a forceful environmental advocate and experienced capital
player. She is married to Tom Downey. a former New York congressman.
“She was a really strong administrator in really tough times,” said
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental
group.
Ms. Jackson has been the head of New Jersey’s Department of
Environmental Protection since 2006, but in October, Gov. Jon S.
Corzine announced that she would become his chief of staff starting
this month. She has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from
Princeton and spent 16 years at the federal E.P.A. as a top
enforcement officer in Washington and New York.
She has led the Obama transition team at E.P.A. and knows the agency
inside and out, according to associates.
S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of
Clean Air Agencies, which represents state environmental bodies, said
Ms. Jackson was among the most respected state environmental
officials.
“Her state experience allows her to know what works and what doesn’t
work on the ground,” said Mr. Becker, who is not related to Dan
Becker. “I also am glad to see they chose an engineer to run E.P.A.
The typical choice is an attorney.”
Ms. Sutley, who will direct the Council on Environmental Quality, is
now the top environmental adviser to the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio
R. Villaraigosa. She has years of experience in managing water
supplies and water quality in California and has also worked on
energy-saving construction rules for the City of Los Angeles.
She was a special assistant to Ms. Browner at the E.P.A.
Compare Steven Chu's resume to that of Samuel Bodman (Bush's appointee
from the financial community):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Chuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bodman
I like the other appointees too, but this one is particularly excellent.
Yeah I heard his bio on NPR this morning...and it is impressive and
not only that..he is very personable and can easily convey what and
why things are. He is not a dogmatic decider.
I wonder what Cheney thinks about this appointment. Imagine, making decisions about energy based on science rather than on the political power of Big Oil and neoconservative ideology!
.
- References:
- Re: Obama Team Set on Environment
- From: Islander
- Re: Obama Team Set on Environment
- From: St Louis Bob
- Re: Obama Team Set on Environment
- Prev by Date: Re: D.C. Madam's customer wants to throw 3 million Americans out of work.
- Next by Date: Re: Rightards Suddenly Have Imaginary Questions About Obama/Blagojevich - Because The Birth Certif Scam Crashed and Burned
- Previous by thread: Re: Obama Team Set on Environment
- Next by thread: Joseph Stiglitz on Capitalist Fools
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
