Obama's 'Green Dream Team' is Warmly Received

Obama's 'Green Dream Team' is Warmly Received

Dec 12 - USA TODAY

One is a Nobel Prize winner overseeing research of alternative energy. The three others all have one thing in common: experience working for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Together, the group -- as the Associated Press has reported -- will make up President-elect Barack Obama's team to oversee energy and environment, a lineup that drew mostly praise Thursday from environmental and industry groups alike.

"This is clearly a green dream team," said Gene Karpinski, head of the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group. "These people have shown they can get the job done."

Obama has mustered an "impressive team of experienced and capable leaders," said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a group representing electric companies.

All the same, fulfilling Obama's goals of taking action on global warming and turning the country toward more sustainable energy "is very challenging, and they ought not to underestimate how difficult this is going to be," said Eileen Claussen of the non-profit Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Three of the four are EPA veterans. The most experienced is Carol Browner, Obama's pick for energy "czar." She would coordinate energy issues across the federal government. As head of the EPA during the Clinton administration, she won battles with other top officials to tighten air pollution limits and cut emissions from cars and trucks.

Her return, though, left some of her former adversaries concerned that the new administration will veer too far left.

"Carol Browner is a bad choice," said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "She worked for Al Gore and shares many of his wildest opinions."

Nancy Sutley, tapped as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was a special assistant to Browner before working as a top energy and environment official in California. Lisa Jackson, who would be the first African-American chief of the EPA, served for a short time in the agency's headquarters during the 1980s.

Only Steve Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist selected as secretary of Energy, has never been immersed in the rough-and-tumble of Washington politics. Supporters say Chu, who overhauled the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy, is up to the job of leading the department.

Chu is "one of the smartest people I know (and) wise," said Art Rosenfeld, a former Energy Department official now a member of the California Energy Commission. "I'm very pleased."

The Associated Press reported earlier this week that Obama has decided on Browner, Chu, Jackson and Sutley and will announce their appointments next week.

Sutley led the effort to cut huge amounts of air pollution emitted by the Port of Los Angeles as the city's deputy mayor for energy and environment, said Warner Chabot, incoming head of the California League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group. He described her as soft-spoken and modest but capable.

"In California, the roadside is littered with people who underestimated the effectiveness of Nancy Sutley," he said.

Jackson, who is currently New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's chief of staff, was described by both environmental and industry leaders as a pragmatist who listened to both sides during her two years as New Jersey's top environmental official. She helped push the state to become one of the first to adopt limits on pollutants that cause global warming.

"She is a fantastic asset," said Jim Leonard of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. "She was able to bridge the gap between the environmental community and the employer community."

The four will need every bit of expertise and diplomatic skill they have to overcome differences of opinion in Washington, said Bryan Mignone, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

"It is really a historic opportunity to move on those issues," Mignone said. "But that doesn't mean it's inevitable or easy. It's going to be incredibly difficult."