Meet the people who might fill top environmental jobs in an Obama administration 8

Energy | EPA | Agriculture | Interior | Climate Czar

The Department of the Interior manages 500 million acres, about 20 percent of all U.S. land, and also wields significant control over energy reserves, dealing with coal and mineral deposits on public land, offshore oil, and many hydroelectric dams. National parks, national wildlife refuges, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs also fall under the department's umbrella. Fifteen of the last 16 interior secretaries have come from Western states, where most public land lies. Break that tradition at your own peril, Mr. President-elect.

Brian Schweitzer.

Brian Schweitzer
The bolo-tied governor of Montana is mentioned as a Rising Star of the Democratic Party often enough to have it engraved on his belt buckle. He advocates a use-'em-all approach to energy sources, including "clean coal," liquefied coal, and Montana oil as well as renewable sources. A rancher who chose a Republican as a running mate for lieutenant governor, Brian Schweitzer has a knack for talking about natural resources and land-use issues in down-to-earth language. "He can speak to the West," said Bill Becker. "He's shown a talent for bridging the gap between the new West and the old West. What that means in energy terms is bridging the gap between fossil energy and renewable energy."

Jamie Rappaport Clark

Jamie Rappaport Clark
Bill Clinton's former Fish and Wildlife Service director managed Endangered Species Act protections and oversaw a massive expansion of the National Wildlife Refuge System. After 20 years in government, Jamie Rappaport Clark landed at Defenders of Wildlife, where she, well, defends wildlife. She has testified in Congress against Bush's Interior Department, calling it to task for manipulating science to undermine the ESA. "There are few [people] if anybody who knows more about these issues than Jamie does," said Leda Huta, executive director of Endangered Species Coalition. "She has a very practical sense of the problems and potential fixes in the department." One issue: She was a military child who grew up in part in California and Okinawa, along with North Carolina and Georgia. It's tough to argue that makes her a Westerner, though a Changer-in-Chief might be willing to buck that tradition. (Read a Grist Q&A with Rappaport Clark.)

Jay Inslee.

Jay Inslee
The suburban Seattle congressman has earned the favor of conservationists through his leadership in protecting open spaces and wildlife. He sought to preserve roadless areas against Bush administration encroachment and has been one of the House's steadiest voices opposing logging on public lands. Jay Inslee has a lower political profile than Schweitzer and the other Western governors who could be offered this job. He wouldn't be a popular choice with Republicans, so Obama would have to think carefully about burning the political capital required to get Inslee's nomination confirmed. But his work on renewable energy, including his book Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, jives with Obama's focus. (Read a Grist interview with Inslee.)

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