President-elect Barak Obama plans to announce his top environmental advisors, and greens should have something positive to look forward to in the next four years.
Halting the problems associated with climate change and promoting renewable energy were part of Obama's campaign, and in a recent video message, he emphasized his plans to make government buildings more energy efficient. His new team will be well-positioned to advance all of these issues.
Obama's nominee for secretary of energy will be Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics. Chu is currently director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and would bring a sharp scientific perspective to the position. At the Berkeley labs, he pioneered research into a variety of cutting-edge renewable energy technologies.
According to the Huffington Post, Chu is a vocal advocate for climate change mitigation and believes that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report "likely underestimate[s] the severity of the risk posed by climate change."
Lisa Jackson will be the president-elect's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She's already worked with Obama on his transition team, and she is the outgoing commissioner of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection. Before that, she worked at the federal EPA for 15 years, so she has plenty of experience in this agency. But the Daily Green reports that Jackson got mixed reviews from her peers in New Jersey
Obama plans to create a new position to coordinate energy and climate change issues, and Carol M. Browner will fill this role. Her green cred has been established with a lengthy career at the EPA and as chair of Audubon Society board of directors.
Several names are still in the running for secretary of the interior. John Berry, director of the National Zoo, is a top candidate, along with Arizona Representative Raúl Grijalva and California Representative Mike Thompson. Grijalva scores an 88% positive rating from the League of Conservation Voters, and Thompson scores 91%, so both have pretty strong environmental stances.
According to Grist.org, 58 conservation scientists delivered a letter to the president-elect supporting Grijalva for secretary of the interior. Grijalva also gets props from the Humane Society of the United States, while Thompson is somewhat criticized for his support of trophy hunting.
What about Al Gore? After Gore's support of Obama during the campaign, will the man who taught us an 'inconvenient truth' get a role in the new administration? Nope. Perhaps he's had enough of Washington D.C., because Gore has said repeatedly that he doesn't want a political job. His spokesperson commented this week: "Former Vice President Gore still believes his calling at this time is to help educate the public about the issues through his roles at the Alliance at Climate Protection and other work."
0 comments:
Post a Comment