Energy | EPA | Agriculture | Interior | Climate Czar
The nation's top pollution cop, the EPA's mission is to protect human health and the environment under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Superfund law, and other regulations. Many career staff, scientists, and environmentalists say that under Stephen Johnson that mission has been impossible to carry out, citing his refusal to quickly act on a U.S. Supreme Court order to evaluate greenhouse gases as a public risk, among other decisions. Industry groups say he's gotten a bad rap, but know the winds of change are blowing.
"I think industry groups are all going to have concerns about anybody McCain will pick. In my mind it's going to be Lieberman, or somebody like that," said Frank Maisano, an energy specialist at the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani (yes, that Giuliani). "Somebody like Sherry Boehlert who's a real champion of the environment."
Sherwood Boehlert.
Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood Boehlert, who retired last year after 24 years as a New York congressman, is still widely respected by Washington insiders as a consummate moderate Republican. He spent his entire career on the House Science Committee and is best known for his environmental policy work, including helping to design a pioneering cap-and-trade program to control acid rain, fighting for higher fuel-economy standards, and pushing to fund science and math education. He currently sits on the board of the bipartisan Alliance for Climate Protection, headed by former vice president Al Gore. (Read a Grist interview with Boehlert.)
Joe Lieberman.
Joe Lieberman
Many feel that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) deserves his pick of plum administration jobs for faithful support of his Senate colleague. As coauthor with McCain of Congress' first attempt at a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse-gas emissions, he could make a good EPA administrator -- or perhaps energy secretary.
Christopher Shays.
Christopher Shays
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) shares McCain's positions on many environmental issues, including developing wind, geothermal, and biofuel energy, exploring for oil off the coast, and building new nuclear plants. He coauthored a bipartisan bill to improve vehicle fuel efficiency, promote renewable energy, and repeal some tax breaks for fossil-fuel industries.
William K. Reilly.
William Reilly
William Reilly, a longtime director at DuPont and former president of the World Wildlife Fund, is an investment capitalist who still wins kudos for his tenure at EPA under the first President Bush. In 2007, he pulled off a coup through the leveraged buyout of TXU, which reduced plans for a dozen new coal-fired power plants to three. (Read a Grist interview with Reilly about water issues.)
Christine Todd Whitman.
Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and later EPA administrator during much of George W. Bush's first term, is a woman who could deliver the message loudly that a McCain administration would not be the same as a Bush administration when it comes to energy and the environment.
Mary Gade.
Mary Gade
Mary Gade said she was forced to quit as EPA administrator in the Midwest after tangling with Dow Chemical Co. over dioxin contamination. She is seen by many as a poster child for current agency abuses. She's also a Republican and corporate attorney who understands how EPA works.
David McIntosh.
David McIntosh
Conservatives say David McIntosh, a Newt Gingrich Republican who gave up his House seat for an unsuccessful run for Indiana governor back in 2000, would be dandy, while environmentalists say he would be a doozy. McIntosh, now a D.C. law partner, served as executive director of former vice president Dan Quayle's Council for Competitiveness, where he worked to roll back environmental regulations and push a rewrite of the Clean Air Act that would allow polluters to increase emissions without notifying the public.
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