"It's pretty clear that President-elect Obama's picks represent a 180-degree change in terms of what direction they're going to be heading on critical issues facing the country," said Anna Aurilio,

Interesting.  Dan Howitt.

It's good news to get Browner back in the show.  She engages in this environmental business with passion.  And the fact that both she and Obama agreed suggests to me that he will actually let her take the lead in energy/climate change without being manipulated by the White House.  I can't imagine her accepting the under any other conditions.  However, I'm not at all sure what it is about Lisa Jackson that qualifies her for the job as the nation's top environmental official.  She did a couple of interesting things with enforcement in New Jersey, but as far as I can tell, her record has otherwise been average.  I sense her choice involves concessions to other interests.  Certainly she should have the opportunity to show that she will lead EPA vigorously after eight years in the desert.  But there's little in her resume to show that she'll be the dynamic reformer the environment needs.

The Lisa Jackson pick is a disaster in the making.  Corzine himself said that she is "a very hard worker" but that she struggled mightily to help NJDEP "fulfill its mission."  EPA needs leadership and vision, not someone whose calling card is a willingness to burn the midnight oil but seemed incapable of overseeing an agency a fraction the size of EPA.  rough seas ahead for sure.