Lisa Jackson.
EPA Administrator: Lisa Jackson (not officially announced)
Background on Jackson.
Some enviros have been critical of Jackson -- get the story.
Steven Chu.
Secretary of Energy: Steven Chu (not officially announced)
Background on Chu.
Watch Chu talk about climate change and renewable energy.
Carol Browner.
Energy Czar: Carol Browner (not officially announced)
Background on Browner.
Browner, who was EPA administrator during the entire Clinton administration, has been a long-time acolyte of Al Gore.
Nancy Sutley.
Chair of Council on Environmental Quality: Nancy Sutley (not officially announced)
Background on Sutley.
Hillary Clinton.
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton
Clinton -- who will be overseeing international climate negotiations -- had a strong climate and energy platform during her presidential run.
Read a 2007 interview with Clinton.
Bill Richardson.
Secretary of Commerce: Bill Richardson
Richardson will be charged with creating jobs, both green and otherwise, and with overseeing the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. He had an ambitious climate and energy platform during his presidential run, and has been an advocate for clean energy and climate action during his tenure as governor of New Mexico. In nominating him, Obama cited his experience as secretary of energy in the Clinton administration.
Read a 2007 interview with Richardson.
Janet Napolitano.
Secretary of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
Napolitano has spoken out against the border wall that divides Arizona from Mexico; the wall has been found detrimental to the environment.
James L. Jones.
National Security Advisor: James L. Jones
Some environmentalists are worried about Jones, noting that he serves on the board of Chevron Corp. and is head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, which is often at odds with enviros over energy issues.
Read up on Jones' energy views and how they may or may not matter within the National Security Council.
Peter R. Orszag.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Peter Orszag
Read about Orszag's views on curbing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Rahm Emanuel.
Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel
Emanuel -- who will be charged with running the White House and implementing the president agenda -- got high marks from the League of Conservation Voters during his time in the U.S. House.
Secretary of Interior
- Raúl Grijalva, Democratic representative from Arizona
Grist profile of Grijalva
Conservation scientists endorse Grijalva - Mike Thompson, Democratic representative from California
Background on Thompson - Kevin Gover, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian
Background on Gover - David Hayes, a partner at the law firm and lobby shop Latham & Watkins
Background on Hayes - Brian Schweitzer, governor of Montana
Rick Bass profiles Schweitzer, 2006 - Jamie Rappaport Clark, Fish and Wildlife Service director under President Clinton and current executive vice president at Defenders of Wildlife
Grist Q&A with Rappaport Clark, 2005 - Jay Inslee, Democratic representative from Washington state
Grist interview with Inslee, 2007 - Tony Knowles, former governor of Alaska
- John Kitzhaber, former governor of Oregon
- Ken Salazar, Democratic senator from Colorado and former executive director of Colorado Natural Resources Department
Secretary of Agriculture
- Charles Stenholm, former Democratic representative from Texas
- Dennis Wolff, secretary of agriculture for Pennsylvania
- Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa
Grist interview with Vilsack, 2007 - Tom Buis, a former aide to Sen. Tom Daschle and president of the National Farmers Union
- Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Democratic representative from South Dakota and former director of the South Dakota Farmers Union Foundation
- Jim Leach, former Republican representative from Iowa
- Collin Peterson, Democratic representative from Minnesota and chair of House Agriculture Committee
- John Salazar, Democratic representative from Colorado
- Sanford Bishop, Democratic representative from Georgia
- Progressive activists have offered up an alternative list of names
Secretary of Transportation
- Earl Blumenauer, Democratic representative from Oregon
- Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for the Bay Area
- Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania
- James Oberstar, Democratic representative from Minnesota and chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- Peter DeFazio, Democratic representative from Oregon and chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
- Janette Sadik-Kahn, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
- Jane Garvey, former head of Federal Aviation Administration
- Mortimer Downey, deputy transportation secretary under President Clinton
Obama garden drama, and other choice morsels from around the Web
Poverty near the “high hazard” coal ash sites
Comments View as Flat
CR Posted 2:26 am
14 Nov 2008
Secretary of Ag
I wish Obama would show more interest in conservation and sustainability. Having lived in Minnesota, I was dismayed to see Colin Peterson on the list. Although he's a democrat, he has a poor environmental record. A better choice would be moderate republican Jim Ramstad, also of Minnesota. According to the League of Conservation Voters, both Colin Peterson and Stephanie Sandlin voted against subsidy reform and grasslands protection in the farm bill, but Ramstad supported those reforms.
For other ideas, why not look to the staff and board of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Iowa? This is a good organization that manages to exist in the biggest conventional ag state in the country.
Permalink
Ndaves Posted 3:54 am
17 Nov 2008
NOAA?
Why are you not looking at who might head NOAA?
Permalink
kablume Posted 4:10 am
17 Nov 2008
Cabinet Members
The folks at the Backbone Campaign - backbonecampaign.org - have been working since 2003 on coming up with potential progressive candidates for cabinet offices.
It's worth a look to see who could be rounding out the list.
Permalink
Environmentman Posted 4:33 am
17 Nov 2008
[NEW] EPA Administrator
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Permalink
bobafeit Posted 12:37 am
18 Nov 2008
NOAA??
What about NOAA? NOAA is 75% of Department of Commerce. If we are going to maake a differnce in combatting climate change and increasing wind power, NOAA and our ocean should be at the top of the list!
Permalink
Salikah Posted 3:00 am
18 Nov 2008
Safe use of nuclear energy?
I'm told that the French have been making good use of nuclear energy, continuously re-using the spent fuel (?) that has always been the scary waste by-product of this source of energy? I say leave no stone unturned, if it leads to a zero-footprint, and will allow developing countries to improve their (own cultural) standards of living.
Permalink
mwildfire Posted 3:11 am
18 Nov 2008
McGinty
I don't know enough about most of the candidates to vote--from what little I know, I'd support Bill Richardson and Kathleen Sibelius. But maybe if i were from NM or KS, I wouldn't. Based on your interview, Kathleen McGinty, PA DEP head, sounds wonderful. But, although I've never lived in PA, I worked there for a small green group and I can tell you that McGinty was seen in a very cynical light. She liked to run around waving a green scarf, depicting herself as an environmentalist while cutting deals with companies. And I'm sure she's more politically ambitious than she admits. The much-touted RPS, often proposed as a model for other coal states like my own WV, went through when I was there. It sets tha standard for renewable percentages high because it sets the definition so low. Most importantly it includes COAL. See, it's not a RENEWABLE energy standard, it's an ALTERNATIVE energy standard. That way they got the coal industry on board, by allowing coal to qualify, via burning the "gob" piles of old waste coal. These continue to slowly leak toxins and sometimes catch fire, so people are thrilled to get rid of them--but don't realize the low-BTU piles will be returned to the tune of 2/3 of the original volume as ash--perhaps less toxic than the original gob, but meanwhile, there are the air emissions, including CO2. I do give her and Rendell credit for attracting Gamesa--Gamesa is begging for wind sites in WV and being given the cold shoulder by state officials, coal whores to a man. But surely we can set the bar higher than better-than-WV.
Permalink
Storm Dragon Posted 3:15 pm
18 Nov 2008
I still want to know...
Who's on the list to head the Department of Homeland Security?
Permalink
WWAGD?! Posted 1:31 pm
29 Nov 2008
More Bicycle Paths...Sir
Please consider the following petition to President-Elect Barack Obama.
Americans have said in a recent survey they would devote as much as 22 percent of transportation funding to pedestrian and bicycle projects.
Let's get our President to agree!
http://support.railstotrails.org/recovery
Permalink