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Now the Barack Obama presidency begins, and with it his plans for the environment start to take clearer form. Time will tell how much reality will alter intentions.

Obama's nominees for two key environmental positions in his administration testified before Senate committees last week and outlined their goals. Lisa Jackson, Obama's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, emphasized that she will rely on the agency's career scientists and independent advisers when making policy decisions. She outlined five key environmental objectives: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cutting other air pollutants, addressing toxic chemicals, cleaning up hazardous waste sites and protecting water.

Meanwhile, the nominee for secretary of the Energy Department, Steven Chu, stressed a commitment to addressing climate change and energy independence for the United States. He said he believes global warming is a serious threat to the planet. He wants to move America toward energy independence for economic and national security reasons as well as the environmental benefits. Chu outlined a plan for a diverse alternative energy commitment, mproved energy efficiency, and carbon capture and sequestration, among other possibilities. He expressed a commitment to nuclear power and taking care of nuclear waste.

The plan is good. The priorities are right. The idea of a diverse alternative energy portfolio makes enormous sense, given that no one technology is a short-term answer of itself. Nuclear power is a smart if controversial choice to be part of the mix, as it has much more immediate payoff and in many ways is environmentally friendly. Jackson's point about relying on science and independent analysis is the right, common-sense approach to environmental problem solving.

But it's solving the economic crisis that will present the biggest common-sense challenge to the Obama administration and environmental management. That needs to weigh heavily in most environmental decisions that lie ahead.

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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