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  • Enviro coalition offers up green recovery plan

    A coalition of 17 environmental groups on Thursday offered their plan for an economic-recovery package, one that would direct nearly $171 billion to green programs over the next two years. The plan covers a variety of sectors, calling for investments of nearly $12 billion for energy efficiency, $47.5 billion for renewable energy, $59 billion for […]

  • New EPA pick Lisa Jackson on Katrina and the failures of government

    “The shameful failures of government that the world witnessed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have given me a special appreciation for the importance of public service. Those failures have galvanized my commitment to working tirelessly to protect the health and safety of the people of New Jersey and to enhancing our quality of life.” […]

  • Obama’s green administration picks signal major shifts in policy

    The Green Team. Clockwise from top left: Carol Browner, Lisa Jackson, Nancy Sutley, and Steven Chu. Obama’s green team hasn’t yet been made official (and probably won’t be until next week), but his rumored choices are eliciting passionate reactions nonetheless. Enviros, for the most part, are pleased with the picks, while business-oriented interests are offering […]

  • Sussing out some of the criticism of likely EPA head Lisa Jackson

    In our post last night on Lisa Jackson, the likely head of EPA under Obama, we noted that the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which advocates for state and federal environmental employees, has been highly critical of her work in New Jersey. The group put out a scathing press release about why she […]

  • Pressure rises for a reform-minded USDA pick

    The Obama transition team is taking its time mulling candidates to head up USDA. That’s a good thing, considering the generally dismal names that dominate the circulating short-lists. Meanwhile, the temperature is rising around Obama to pick a real reformer, not a business-as-usual politician or outright industry flack. The latest: New York Times op-ed pundit […]

  • Obama’s environmental team is centered around a long-time Gore acolyte

    When Obama and Biden met with Al Gore on Tuesday, they were purposefully bland about what was discussed. Now that Obama has revealed his green team, it appears they may have been asking Gore’s blessing. Of the four environment/energy appointees announced (or leaked), three worked in the Clinton/Gore EPA, and one, Carol Browner, was a […]

  • Obama to pick NJ DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson to head EPA

    Lisa Jackson. Lisa Jackson is Obama’s pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sources close to the transition confirm. Jackson, who’s been working on Obama’s transition team for the EPA, has served since 2006 as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In that position, she’s overseen implementation of the state’s climate […]

  • Nancy Sutley, tapped to head CEQ, garners praise from fellow Californians

    Nancy Sutley. Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley is expected to be appointed to head President-elect Barack Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality, a transition team spokesperson said Wednesday. Combined with the expected nomination of Steven Chu from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to be energy secretary, her appointment would give the Golden State two […]

  • Obama’s energy and environment appointments unveiled

    President-elect Barack Obama has not yet officially announced his choices to fill key environmental posts in his administration, but the word is now out on the street. Transition-team officials say that Lisa Jackson will head the U.S. EPA, Steven Chu will be secretary of energy, Nancy Sutley will head the White House Council on Environmental […]