As of today, we now have the last of the top energy and environment players in place. President-Elect Obama has named former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to be Secretary of Agriculture and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to Interior. See this, including a video of the announcement, from the WaPo. Obama said “How we harness our natural resources, from the farmlands of Iowa to the springs of Colorado, will speak not only to our quality of life, but to our economic growth and our energy future.” Salazar said he was looking forward to taking “the moon-shot on energy independence” and also to confronting “the dangers of global warming.” Vilsack said that Ag would help provide “American leadership on climate change.” Both nominees are unequivocal on climate change.
These departments have enormous influence over energy and the environment. USDA‘s role in biofuels is going to be critical, certainly, and Interior has the final say over much of what the extractive industries do.
As you know, Obama named his other key energy and environment team last week. It’s an impressive line-up both in the depth of technical expertise that the nominees have and in their government experience. Steven Chu, the next Secretary of Energy, is a Nobel laureate in physics. Lisa Jackson, who will head the EPA, is a chemical engineer. Nancy Sutley who will be chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality has excellent experience, most recently as Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles for Energy and Environment. Bill Richardson, at Commerce, a superb environmentalist and former Sec. of Energy, will also have a lot to contribute in creating the “new energy economy.”
Carol Browner, Clinton and Gore’s EPA Administrator, will coordinate many of the activities of these agencies from the White House. She has been named Coordinator for Energy and Climate. One would like to think she will have nearly equal status with Gen. Jones, the new National Security Advisor, and Larry Summers, the head of Obama’s National Economic Council. Climate change is certainly a security issue on any number of fronts and an economic issue – as we’ve long since come to realize. There is no greater issue on the foreign policy front these days, either, including trade, terrorism, or development. In fact, it impacts on all three.
In any event, there’s a ton of work to do for all these agencies and their new leadership. See, for instance, Hard Task for New Team on Energy and Climate from the NYT yesterday. Part of the task is going to be helping to move legislation through Congress and getting a good handle on the negotiations leading to Copenhagen next year. The good news is that nearly everybody in leadership positions from the President to his top officials to Senate and House leaders and their committee chairs all seem to be in accord , on the urgency of climate change, the need to transition to a low-carbon world, and to boost the economy by making it more energy efficient across the board and by weaning us from the dire environmental problems caused or exacerbated by fossil fuel use.
Steven Chu is particularly interesting in this regard. He appears to be genuinely passionate about moving to a low-carbon society and acutely aware of the dangers of global warming. See excerpts from an NPR interview from last year and this from Joe Romm at The Gristmill. Romm cites a recent WSJ blog item that references a rather salient quote from Chu: “Coal is my worst nightmare.” See also this important speech before the Copenhagen Climate Council last year in which Chu refers to climate change as a “clear and present danger.”
It’s fair to say that Obama has assembled a team highly capable of getting the job done on climate change and energy – and with the motivation to make it happen.
