Obama Fills Energy and Environmental Protection Agency Posts

We’ve finally got answers as to who’s going to be filling important energy and environmental posts in the Obama administration. Sources say the nominees are as follows (from The Daily Green):

Steven Chu, Energy Secretary

The Department of Energy is mostly about nuclear weapons and nuclear power, along with a bunch of energy industry analysts, but it also holds the biggest grouping in the world of renewable energy researchers. Chu — unlike Al Gore, that other Nobel Prize winner — doesn’t believe that the world has all the technology it needs to solve the global warming crisis … which means he’s likely to push for increased research. That’s a good thing. Also a good thing: He believes there’s a global warming crisis.

Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator

A former Clinton EPA official and more recently the head of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, Jackson has a mixed record in the most densely populated U.S. state, if local environmental groups are to be believed.

The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club had kind words about Jackson, according to the Associated Press, but a coalition of smaller groups expressed concerns about the agency’s allegedly lax enforcement of environmental laws, like the cleanup of hazardous waste sites.

“While I like her personally, I have found her leadership of the NJDEP to be remarkable in its failures, and shudder at the thought of her leading our nation’s environmental protector,” Bob Spiegel, the executive director of the Edison Wetlands Association, wrote to the Obama Administration recently.

Carol Browner, Energy Czar

Browner is a well-respected environmental advocate, having led Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, advised Gore as a senator, led Clinton’s EPA, chaired the National Audubon Society, and most recently acted as a private attorney and investment adviser on issues related to climate, energy and the environment.

The only question is exactly what she’ll do, since her title and responsibilities aren’t clearly outlined.

Nancy Sutley, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality

Sutley, the Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for energy and environment, has been involved in that city’s significant greening efforts, such as its goal of drawing 10% of its power from the sun, its requirement that public buildings meet LEED green building standards, its effort to improve carpooling and public transportation in the notoriously freeway-based region and its plan to plant 1 million trees.

We reported on the possibility of Lisa Jackson becoming EPA administrator back in early November just after the elections, and opinions about her are mixed. She did spend 16 years in the EPA in Washington and New York before becoming New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner.  Granted, she has had to deal with a lot in New Jersey in the two short years she held that position.

“In New Jersey, you’re working on contaminated sites, you’re working on open space, endangered species, clean water. New Jersey is the laboratory for environmental protection. Whatever bad happens in the environment, it happens in New Jersey first. It is a good proving ground,” said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Still, we would have felt much more at ease with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was said to be a potential candidate. Kennedy has a long and storied record of fighting passionately for the environment, while Jackson’s accomplishments are a bit hazy. Time will tell.

So, this group doesn’t include Al Gore (you should all have seen that coming), but the bottom line is, it’s a vast improvement over the Bush appointees.

Link [The Daily Green]

Related Posts:

How Green is Obama’s New Team?
Who Will Obama Choose for Important Environmental Cabinet Posts?
Obama Chooses Climate Specialist as Science Adviser
NRDC Rounds Up Obama’s Environmental Progress
Big Shocker: EPA Chairman is Just a White House Puppet