Obama’s green team (L-R): Carol Browner, Lisa Jackson, Nancy Sutley, and Steve Chu, with Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Rahm Emanuel.
Yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced his top energy and environment officials, a “Green Team” who will be leading the effort to fight global warming by building a sustainable economy. Obama selected Dr. Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy and Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. He announced two top White House officials: Nancy Sutley as chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and Carol Browner as chief energy and climate policy adviser, a new position advocated by the Center for American Progress. Obama also tapped Heather Zichal to be the Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. The Wonk Room takes a look at the five picks below.
CAROL BROWNER
Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
BACKGROUND: Browner, 52, ran the Environmental Protection Agency during the entire Clinton presidency. She has continued her leadership on energy and the environment since leaving the EPA. A principal at the Albright Group consulting firm and chair of the National Audubon Society, Browner is a director at the Center for American Progress, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, the League of Conservation Voters, and the National Brownfields Association. She has been a top adviser on Obama’s transition team, overseeing energy policy and meeting with environmental leaders.
QUOTES:
“When the government steps up and says there’s a requirement . . . what the government is doing is creating a market opportunity. American innovation and American ingenuity time and time again has risen to that challenge, and inevitably more quickly and at less cost than was anticipated.” [CAPAF, 12/1/08]
