Posted on 12/15/2013 8:19:16 AM PST by Libloather
Environmental groups believe John Podesta will be a force for change on climate issues at the White House.
The groups argue that for must of Obama’s years in office, an administration that took power at the height of the recession has prioritized helping the economy over other goals.
That’s created an uphill climb for advocates pushing the White House to take a tougher line in reducing carbon emissions and cleaning up polluters.
Podesta’s arrival as a White House adviser, which comes as unemployment hits a low point under Obama, is a pivotal moment, activists predict.
“The most significant thing about this partnership is that Podesta will help advocate the idea that you can have economic recovery and growth without sacrificing the environment,” said Elige Holstein, strategic director for the Environmental Defense Fund and a former colleague of Podesta in the Clinton administration.
A veteran Washington hand recruited by White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, Podesta is expected to play a central role helping agencies and departments implement the president's Climate Action Plan, unveiled earlier this year.
“He will advise on a range of issues with a particular focus on issues of energy and climate change,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney.
Officials and outside energy groups are particularly optimistic he’ll be able to advance the administration’s environmental agenda through administrative policy.
Podesta will help implement “executive actions where necessary when we can't get cooperation out of Congress,” Carney said.
Three key areas Podesta and the climate team will work on are Environmental Protection Agency rules on existing power plants, developing a comprehensive methane strategy, and developing new fuel economy standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
While Podesta's full portfolio won't be known until he arrives next year, an administration official said he'll probably spend time working with the Department of the Interior on its regulatory policies.
That’s likely to include administration decisions about how to lease out federal lands and what energy development and mining projects to permit.
It's a role he's played before.
During the Clinton administration, Podesta helped craft the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a regulation that helped conserve national forests from human encroachment by limiting logging and road construction.
And it involves questions that the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank he founded, has continued to monitor closely.
Earlier this year, CAP released an extensive report detailing the potential environmental damage that a proposed mine near Bristol Bay in Alaska would have on the environment.
The group warned the construction could indelibly harm the fragile ecosystem that enables the region’s salmon fisheries, and called the project a litmus test for conservation efforts.
Podesta is also expected to weigh in on key vacancies, including the administration's Council of Environmental Quality, which will lose its chairwoman and deputy director in the coming weeks.
“It couldn't be better timing with the personnel transition,” Holstein said.
There are already signs senior political staff are focused on climate issues.
On Tuesday, the White House held the first meeting of the administration's Task Force on Climate Preparedness, which McDonough attended — a first for many familiar with administration meetings.
“I've never seen a White House chief of staff come into a meeting with local officials,” said Jim Brainaird, mayor of Carmel, Indiana, and one of four Republicans on the president's task force.
McDonough told Brainard that when Podesta joins next year he would lead much of the collaboration and action on climate preparedness.
Podesta himself has telegraphed his intentions in public and private conversations about the White House’s direction.
In an interview with the Washington Post earlier this year, he said the president’s “path to success… is going to come through every single place that you can squeeze some authority which he has. That is where you’ve got to focus your attention and where you could spend your political capital."
There is one issue Podesta will not touch, however.
Podesta told the White House that he did not want to get involved with the administration's review of Keystone XL — the proposed TransCanada pipeline that would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to Gulf Coast refineries — due to his known opposition.
“This is a policy process that’s been in place for several years now, and having him enter that process at the very end or near the very end doesn’t seem to be the best way to carry out that process and to move it across the finish line,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Environmental activists aren't giving up so easily and have raised a petition calling for the White House to “free John Podesta” on Keystone XL.
Little Johnny Podesta brought in to pimp “global warming” huh? Just another con job by the commie libs to steal MORE of other peoples’ money.
translation: Executive Order
Podesta is heavily invested in green corporations through his foundation.
Clearly, whoever wrote this does not use the same English language as the rest of us.
When has Obama *EVER* prioritized helping the economy? Every thing he has done with respect to the economy has been to hinder and destroy it. I have yet to see signs of this "recovery" I keep hearing about.
Global Warming Nuts are members of a weird religious cult that worships “Mother Nature”. They are not serious scientific observers and the Leftwing statists use this issue, like all “environmental” ones as a control lever.
Translation 2: the rich pollute thus fund the poor...
Not that being gay of abortion are not purely polluting behavior
Deniers are of the unpure unadvanced. But liberals are of the progressed evolved race with specifically hand picked gay pdide superior genes.
“Deniers are of the unpure unadvanced. But liberals are of the progressed evolved race with specifically hand picked gay pdide superior genes.”
A quart of vodka makes a wonderful breakfast!
Haven't you got the narrative?
Haven't you been drinking your fluoride?
B0 Soetoro has turned the economy around, but has much more to do. He saved us from the worst depression since the Great Depression. He ended the Bush recession and put Americans back to work in good-paying private sector jobs with benefits, all while extending unemployment and expanding disability benefits.
Just watch the unemployment rate plunge. But our work is not yet finished.
More people than ever are not starving because B0 expanded food stamps (including over 10% of Mexico's population). But it is immoral to trim the growth of these growth industries, so there is more to be extended and expanded.
B0 saved the auto industry and all those good-paying union jobs.
His lightning-fast response to Superstorm Hurricane Sandy saved New York City and New Jersey.
B0 took back the oil industry from Cheney's cronies and made the USA the world's biggest producer early in his second term.
In his spare time B0 halted the rise in sea levels and temporarily halted Globull Warming. But there is much more to be done.
B0 paved the way to the “Arab Spring.” He brought democracy to Libya, ended the war in Iraq and soon in Afghanistan. He stopped Iran's nuclear weapons program without firing a shot.
He even got Bin Laden — while playing golf!
That's the narrative. Just try to beat that.
Drink up.
Bringing in an expert to pound the last few nails into the economic coffin; the president must have seen a little movement in the corpse.
Has Learned Podesta taken any more science courses than Cold Algore?
Has he passed any physics, mathematics, engineering, chemistry or other hard science courses?
Does he have a reputation for a little common sense?
I care not a whit for who or what he is hired to push. Does he know ANYthing about the subject?
The over-reach of this administration will reach critical mass soon, case in point.
You go with that Johnny!
“Podesta is heavily invested in green corporations through his foundation.”
Great. Another left-wing corporatist hack coming in to break the logjam and keep the money flowing to his friends.
I was being facetious with a drunk phone keyboard
Heh. What a hoot.
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