Eliot Spitzer’s eco-lieutenant to be made executive director of NRDC:

After nearly eight years in charge of all New York State environmental enforcement for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Peter Lehner has accepted a top position at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading non-profit organization working to protect people’s health, their communities and the environment. He will start January 1, 2007.

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"The environmental challenges we face today are enormous, and so are the opportunities to fix them. The biggest issue of them all is global warming," Lehner said. "Clean, renewable and efficient technologies along with better transportation solutions will cut emissions, reduce our energy dependence and strengthen our economy. To get the job done, we need clear-headed leadership from both business and government. And NRDC will be working at every level to make sure that happens."

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And by "make sure that happens" he means "I will sue your ass."

I’m a big Spitzer fan — I love his brand of aggressive legal progressivism — and anybody he thinks is sufficiently tenacious to head up his environmental enforcement arm gets a vote of confidence from me. More ass kicking, please.