Barack Obama

Obama forms recovery council with climate-action advocate at helm

In his third press conference in as many days, Barack Obama today signaled once again that environment and energy issues will be at the heart of his administration’s efforts to fix the ailing economy. The president-elect said he will appoint an “Economic Recovery Council” to focus on reversing the current economic trends. The council, which […]

Getting past the prologue redux

In his essay on Obama and climate change, novelist Ian McEwan says this: The burning forests, the dissolving coral reefs, the extinction of species — we have numbed ourselves with these familiar litanies. During the past 30 years we have dealt with the issue, if at all, only in our minds. There are, of course, […]

Obama’s new director of domestic policy on a progressive energy agenda

Obama’s new director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Melody Barnes, is likely to focus a lot of her work on health care and education. But she’s also written a bit about what a progressive president should do on energy. While she was the executive vice president for policy at the Center for American […]

Obama announces economic advisers, stresses clean energy

President-elect Obama continued to stress the importance of clean energy during a Monday press conference in which he officially unveiled his economic team. Returning to themes outlined in his Saturday radio address to the nation, Obama said America “could lose millions of jobs” without “bold action” on the economy. Such action should include steps toward […]

Obama expected to tap Richardson to head Commerce

Various news outlets are reporting that President-elect Obama has settled on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to serve as Commerce secretary, adding another Clinton veteran to the incoming Cabinet. Richardson was Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 1998, and Energy secretary from 1998 to 2000. The secretary of Commerce, according to the […]

Obama appears likely to tap Rep. Raúl Grijalva for Sec. of Interior

Raúl Grijalva. Over the weekend, several news sources reported that Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is the top name on Obama’s list to head the Interior Department, a job that would put him in charge of federal lands, national parks and endangered species. Grijalva has represented Arizona’s 7th district since 2003, and has racked up […]

In weekly radio address, Obama announces plan to create 2.5 million jobs

In his weekly Democratic radio address this morning, President-elect Barack Obama announced an “Economic Recovery Plan” that he has directed his team to create. The plan, he said, will create 2.5 million jobs by 2011, and though they’re still “working out the details,” he said it will include plans for green development. “We’ll put people […]

Climate activists take heart from Obama’s remarks

  It was snowing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning as hundreds gathered to ask for action — the kind of omen that those of us who obsess about global warming look for. Maybe the incoming Obama administration really is ushering in a new climate to our nation’s capital! The president-elect certainly sent a strong […]

A chat with CARB chair and candidate for EPA chief Mary Nichols

On Wednesday at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, we caught up with Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, a few minutes before she hosted the signing ceremony that culminated the event. As head of CARB since July 2007, Nichols has taken the lead in shaping and implementing California’s ambitious global warming program, […]