The Obama Green Team is in place. And now weīll see just
how much greener the United States will get in the years
to come.
The president-elect named Steven Chu energy secretary,
Lisa Jackson as head of the Environmental Protection
Agency, Nancy Sutley as chairwoman of the White House
council on environmental quality, Heather Zichal as a
presidential assistant on energy and climate change, and
former EPA chief Carol Browner as the energy and climate
change czar.
The appointments generally gathered praise from the
business community and environmentalists alike. They come
with strong credentials; Chu is a Nobel Prize winner. Many
believe theyīll make objective science the basis for many
policy decisions.
But the fact is, the green most of us are concerned
with right now involves economics more than the
environment. Obama has pledged to make energy and climate
change cornerstones to the nationīs economic recovery, and
that sounds great. With these appointments he again tied
the economy and national security to energy independence
and climate change issues.
Yet certainly, pragmatic decisions will need to be
made, and not every one will benefit both the economy and
the environment. Itīs encouraging that the Obama
appointments seem to fit that pragmatic mode. They are
well qualified both in the energy and environmental
arenas, but they also have sound management skills. That
mindset will be important as the country faces a lot of
tough decisions weighing numerous important factors.
In other words, with the economy in shambles, this
isnīt the time for narrow agendas. Itīs a time for making
decisions to get America back on its feet.
Not everyone agrees that the Obama environmental team
doesnīt have agendas. Carol Browner for one has been
criticized as someone who will push a liberal plate of
initiatives.
I hope that isnīt the case. The country doesnīt have
that kind of luxury right now.
Allan Gerlat is editor of
Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected
in
the Inbox archive.
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