"Obama picks 2 from Mass. for Energy, EPA posts" by Erin Ailworth | Globe Staff, March 05, 2013
President Obama on Monday turned to Massachusetts for his nominees to the nation’s top energy and environmental posts, tapping MIT physicist Ernest J. Moniz to lead the Energy Department and former state environmental official Gina McCarthy to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
“These two over here,” Obama said from the White House as Moniz and McCarthy stood nearby, “they’re going to be making sure that we’re investing in American energy, that we’re doing everything that we can to combat the threat of climate change, that we’re going to be creating jobs and economic opportunity.”
This as the Midwest and Northeast are experiencing snowstorms.
Related: Global Warming Snow Job
Still trying to snow you.
The president’s choices highlight the central role that Massachusetts has played in shaping the national outlook on the environment during a “burst of energy innovation” in the last several years, said Salo Zelermyer, an attorney at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP and former senior counsel for the Department of Energy.
Massachusetts, which boasts one of the nation’s leading alternative energy sectors, has been at the forefront of policies to combat climate change, protect the environment, and encourage non-polluting energy sources, such as wind and solar.
Yeah, except those companies went bankrupt (after taking tax dollar subsidies) and moved to China. Think Evergreen, think A123, folks.
“It makes sense,” Zelermyer said, “that highly placed officials or intellectuals from that area would be looked at because they tend to share the president’s policy goals.”
If confirmed, Moniz and McCarthy would be charged with making good on Obama’s pledge in his inaugural address to “respond to the threat of climate change.” That would mean cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants and continuing to tighten vehicle fuel efficiency standards.
Moniz, a Brookline resident and member of MIT's faculty since 1973, would succeed outgoing Energy Secretary Steven Chu. A former undersecretary of energy under President Clinton, Moniz now serves on Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. He directs MIT's Energy Initiative, which works across the school’s disciplines and with industry to research and address energy issues....
In their new posts, Moniz and McCarthy would face decisions of whether to export domestically produced natural gas and how to make the controversial drilling technique known as fracking safer as energy companies unlock gas and oil reserves in shale deposits.
Also see: Flabbergasted at Boston Globe Flatulence
And that from this administration.
Moniz, who supports increased natural gas production and nuclear power as part of the nation’s energy mix, has come under fire from environmentalists and other critics. Some say his background, like Chu’s, is too academic. Chu, his critics say, never became comfortable navigating Washington politics and focused too much on research.
Related: The Jewell Inside the Obama Administration
Environmentalists also worry that Moniz’s ties to the oil and gas industry, which provides financial support for the MIT Energy Institute, could lead to increased emphasis on fossil fuels and undercut support for clean energy technologies....
Supporters, however, say Moniz is a brilliant intellectual who inspires colleagues with his level-headed and practical approach to energy issues.
Fomer MIT president Susan Hockfield said Moniz’s academic experience, government service, and familiarity with the energy industry make him “uniquely qualified” to lead the Energy Department. In particular, Hockfield said, Moniz’s industry connections will help the department translate ideas and policies into the marketplace....
Like they have helped across all AmeriKan regulatory institutions? I'm thinking oil regulators, coal regulators, pharmaceutical regulators, and on and on. How has that revolving door of industry regulators been working out for you, America? What a DISAPPOINTING CHOICE by OBAMA!
But it GETS WORSE!
McCarthy, the EPA's assistant administrator for air and radiation, would succeed her boss, Lisa Jackson. She is perhaps best known in Massachusetts for her work in crafting tough air pollution rules that cleaned up the “Filthy Five” — the state’s dirtiest coal- and oil-fired power plants.
McCarthy held a top environmental policy post under Mitt Romney....
Wasn't he the one who came close to denying global warming during the last presidential campaign?
--more--"
Related:
"EPA head Lisa Jackson to step down" by John M. Broder | New York Times, December 28, 2012
NEW YORK — Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended with a series of rear-guard actions to defend the agency against challenges from industry, Republicans in Congress, and, at times, the Obama White House.
It's Obama's presidency in a nutshell.
It's Obama's presidency in a nutshell.
Jackson, 50, told President Obama shortly after his reelection in November that she wanted to leave the administration early next year. She informed the EPA staff of her decision Thursday morning and issued a brief statement saying that she was confident ‘‘the ship is sailing in the right direction.’’
She has not said what she intends to do after leaving government and no successor was immediately named, although it is expected that Robert Perciasepe, the EPA deputy administrator, will take over at least temporarily.
Jackson’s departure comes as many in the environmental movement are questioning Obama’s commitment to dealing with climate change and other environmental problems.
And they will be even more after seeing who he named to take over.
After his reelection, and a campaign in which global warming was barely mentioned by either candidate, Obama said his first priority would be jobs and the economy, and that he intended only to foster a ‘‘conversation’’ on climate change in the coming months.
Then he pivoted and tried to get a carbon tax going.
And they will be even more after seeing who he named to take over.
After his reelection, and a campaign in which global warming was barely mentioned by either candidate, Obama said his first priority would be jobs and the economy, and that he intended only to foster a ‘‘conversation’’ on climate change in the coming months.
Then he pivoted and tried to get a carbon tax going.
That ambivalence is a far cry from the hopes that accompanied his early months in office, when he identified climate change as one of humanity’s defining challenges.
We all feel that way whatever your issue.
Obama put the White House’s full lobbying power behind a House cap-and-trade bill that would have limited climate-altering emissions and brought profound changes in how the nation produces and consumes energy.
We all feel that way whatever your issue.
Obama put the White House’s full lobbying power behind a House cap-and-trade bill that would have limited climate-altering emissions and brought profound changes in how the nation produces and consumes energy.
But after the effort stalled in the Senate, the administration abandoned broad-scale climate change efforts, instead focusing on smaller regulatory actions largely though the Clean Air Act.
White House and EPA officials said Jackson’s decision to step down was her own and the timing had been negotiated with the White House.
Obama praised her in a statement, calling her ‘‘an important part of my team.’’
‘‘Over the last four years, Lisa Jackson has shown an unwavering commitment to the health of our families and our children,’’ the president said. ‘‘Under her leadership, the EPA has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, including implementing the first national standard for harmful mercury pollution, taking important action to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act, and playing a key role in establishing historic fuel economy standards that will save the average American family thousands of dollars at the pump, while also slashing carbon pollution.’’
Related: Obama's Hot Air
Epic EPA Post
Related: Obama's Hot Air
Epic EPA Post
After Republicans seized control of the House in 2010, Jackson became a favored target of the new Republican majority’s aversion to what it termed ‘‘job-killing regulations.’’ One coal industry official accused her of waging ‘‘regulatory jihad,’’ and she was summoned to testify before hostile House committees dozens of times in 2011. She was frequently subjected to harsh questioning that at times bordered on the disrespectful.
Jackson, the first African-American to head the EPA, brushed off that treatment as part of the territory and a reflection of the new partisan reality in Washington. More difficult for her was the lack of support she received at times from environmental groups, who saw every compromise as a betrayal, and from the White House, which was trying to balance worries about the economy and the president’s reelection campaign against the perceived costs of tough environmental policies.
?????
And the costs of not doing enough as the fraudulent fart-misters never tire of warning?
Despite a number of disappointments, however, Jackson has achieved some notable firsts, including the finding that carbon dioxide and five other gases that contribute to global warming meet the definition of pollutants under the Clean Air Act....
Jackson, a native of New Orleans who holds chemical engineering degrees from Tulane University and Princeton, has spent most of her professional career at the EPA....
This month, the EPA’s inspector general, prodded by Republicans in Congress, announced that he was opening an inquiry into Jackson’s use of a secondary e-mail account to conduct business inside the agency. Jackson has said she used the second account because her public e-mail address was widely known and that her e-mail alias — ‘‘Richard Windsor’’ — derived from the name of her dog and her former home in Windsor Township, N.J.
It is not known when the inquiry will be completed.
The REAL REASON she is LEAVING!
The REAL REASON she is LEAVING!
In a brief interview Wednesday evening, Jackson said she hoped to decompress after four intense years running the EPA, which has 17,000 employees and an $8 billion annual budget. She said she would probably do some consulting and public speaking but has not begun looking for a new job. She is thought to be a candidate for the presidency of Princeton.
She will be making out ju$t fine, folks.
She will be making out ju$t fine, folks.
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Related: EPA vacancy gives Obama a fresh chance to defend environment
And you see who he chose.
And austerity is always more acceptable when it has a woman's touch:
"Obama nominates Walmart Foundation head as budget chief" by Julie Pace | Associated Press, March 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday nominated Walmart Foundation president Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington’s heated partisan budget battles....
Burwell, 47, is a Washington veteran, having served as chief of staff to former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration, where Obama noted she was on a team that presided over three consecutive budget surpluses....
You have been warned, Americans.
Burwell has been running the Walmart Foundation, the retailer’s philanthropic wing in Arkansas. She previously was president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program, where Obama said she helped the organization ‘‘grow into a global force for good.’’
The genocidal Gates is like the US Navy?
Walmart president Mike Duke called Burwell a strong leader with a ‘‘clear vision for making big things happen.’’
‘‘She understands business and the role that business, government and civil society must play to build a strong economy that provides opportunity and strengthens communities across the country,’’ Duke said in a statement.
If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell would replace acting director Jeffrey Zients, who has been discussed as a contender for other top administration posts.
The introduction of Burwell as the budget nominee was greeted by strong applause, reflecting how well known she is in Washington. While in the Clinton administration, she worked closely with Jacob J. Lew, now Obama’s Treasury secretary, who recommended Burwell for the budget director’s job, which he held for both Clinton and Obama.
She shouldn't have any problem winning confirmation then.
--more--"
Also see:
Nominated For Your Consideration: On Drones Brennan Confirmation
Nominated For Your Consideration: Lew Sails Through Senate
Nominated For Your Consideration: Hamstrung Hagel
Those are the important first-string nominations.
And you see who he chose.
And austerity is always more acceptable when it has a woman's touch:
"Obama nominates Walmart Foundation head as budget chief" by Julie Pace | Associated Press, March 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday nominated Walmart Foundation president Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington’s heated partisan budget battles....
Burwell, 47, is a Washington veteran, having served as chief of staff to former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration, where Obama noted she was on a team that presided over three consecutive budget surpluses....
You have been warned, Americans.
Burwell has been running the Walmart Foundation, the retailer’s philanthropic wing in Arkansas. She previously was president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program, where Obama said she helped the organization ‘‘grow into a global force for good.’’
The genocidal Gates is like the US Navy?
Walmart president Mike Duke called Burwell a strong leader with a ‘‘clear vision for making big things happen.’’
‘‘She understands business and the role that business, government and civil society must play to build a strong economy that provides opportunity and strengthens communities across the country,’’ Duke said in a statement.
If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell would replace acting director Jeffrey Zients, who has been discussed as a contender for other top administration posts.
The introduction of Burwell as the budget nominee was greeted by strong applause, reflecting how well known she is in Washington. While in the Clinton administration, she worked closely with Jacob J. Lew, now Obama’s Treasury secretary, who recommended Burwell for the budget director’s job, which he held for both Clinton and Obama.
She shouldn't have any problem winning confirmation then.
--more--"
Also see:
Those are the important first-string nominations.
