Jan 30, 2011

Another Washington climate czar down.

Here we go again...   just after Van Jones resigns White House position (GRIST)Energy Climate Czar Carol Browner vs US Pushes For 2 New Nuclear Reactors In Georgia [VIDEO]

Politico -  White House aides Monday were mum about what would happen to the Office of Energy and Climate Change, except to say that Browner, a former Senate staffer to Al Gore, believed energy issues would remain front and center for the president.

"Carol is confident that the mission of her office will remain critical to the president...who two years ago considered Browner the leader of a dream team on their issues said they were concerned about the latest shakeup on the eve of a State of the Union where the president is expected to move to the center.

"This does strike me as a quiet kill, so to speak," said a House Democratic aide who works on energy and environmental issues, including the 2009 cap-and-trade bill. "If there were a sacrificial lamb, it could have been on health care, financial issues, on a whole number of other things. But it's the climate czar that's going down.HTML clipboard

"I don't know the exact circumstances of it, but [by] the circumstantial evidence, I think the timing is frankly fairly frightening," the staffer added.HTML clipboard

The Obama administration is about to face a full assault from Hill Republicans and some moderate Democrats over the EPA's authority to regulate for greenhouse gases. Browner had experience dealing with an antagonistic GOP Congress while leading EPA under the Clinton administration. Environmentalists were hopeful she could have played the same role on Obama's team.

"She has been a tenacious advocate for a new clean energy future, and her articulate and strategic voice in the White House will be very missed," said Gene Karpinski, the president of the League of Conservation Voters. "We hope the administration continues to put a very strong person in this important position."

Haase - My hope is that our Administration selects a person who prioritizes people and our planet over politics... A "strong person would prove to our Administration that  we can save our economy, energy and environmental future by "fiscally proving sustainable energy is economically sustainable".

... when we want to make decades of energy efforts a reality and financially sustainable.... they will give me a call.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein
;-)