transition talk

NYT gets goofy on cap-and-trade

An NYT piece on Obama’s priorities manages to get two things wrong on energy policy, both in a short section written by John Broder. First, the overall point is wrong. Broder tries to draw a contrast between "an earlier proposal," Obama’s cap-and-trade program, and what Obama is "now emphasizing," big investments in renewables, energy efficiency, […]

Obama’s enviro and energy teams heavy on vets of 42nd prez’s administration

Obama is tapping many Clintonites for his transition team. The Obama-Biden transition announced the names of the Agency Review Team leads, who will be charged with completing “a thorough review of key departments, agencies and commissions of the United States government, as well as the White House, to provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key […]

Enviros outline what they’d like Obama to do

Shortly after the election, a coalition of more than 30 green groups issued a list of requests to the Obama transition team, outlining the priorities on climate and energy they’d like the next president to address. Their plans are largely consistent with what Obama campaigned on, and the groups are encouraging both the president-elect and […]

The green scoop on Obama’s Cabinet and administration picks and prospects

Lisa Jackson. EPA Administrator: Lisa Jackson (not officially announced) Background on Jackson. Some enviros have been critical of Jackson — get the story. Steven Chu. Secretary of Energy: Steven Chu (not officially announced) Background on Chu. Watch Chu talk about climate change and renewable energy. Carol Browner. Energy Czar: Carol Browner (not officially announced) Background […]

More on the proposed ‘National Energy Council’

The government in waiting Center for American Progress Action Fund held a press conference on Wednesday to unveil its new book, Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President. The book won’t be for sale until January, but some chapters are available free online now. Meanwhile, Wonk Room has a sneak peek at […]

Google’s CEO is the one person who can engineer the transition

No position under the next administration will be more important for the economy, the environment, and national security than energy secretary. And no one fits the position as perfectly as Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt recently told the New York Times that he’s not interested in the role of "chief technology officer" in an Obama […]

Will Obama create a new energy council, as recommended by the Center for American Progress?

A year ago, the policy wonks at the Center for American Progress laid out a plan for what they’d like to see the next president do on a variety of issues, including energy and climate change [PDF]. The plan includes a proposal to create a National Energy Council, headed by a national energy adviser at […]

More speculation, and real news from the Obama transition team

The Obama team has tapped a former high-level Clinton appointee to run the transition efforts for EPA, Interior, Energy, and Agriculture, Greenwire reports. The person picked for the job is David Hayes, who served as deputy secretary at Interior during the Clinton years. Reporting to Hayes will be Robert Sussman, who served as deputy administrator […]

The Obama administration’s coal-related appointments: worth watching

Nobody reports on coal and Appalachia better than Ken Ward Jr. down at the Charleston Gazette. He’s got a good article up on what the coal industry should expect from an Obama administration, namely that he will "reverse Bush administration rule changes, beef up enforcement, and put the nation’s first ever limits on carbon dioxide […]