White House

Executive Order calls for climate adaptation

Presidential directive holds potential to move federal adaptation efforts forward, but implementation will be the key.

Cross-posted at The Berkeley Blog. Today, President Obama issued an Executive Order intended “to prepare the Nation for the impacts of climate change by undertaking actions to enhance climate preparedness and resilience.” In some respects, this order simply continues ongoing efforts. Under this administration, the executive branch has already been doing a great deal of …

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Deputy Director Named for CEQ

The White House has announced that Gary S. Guzy, former general counsel and counselor to the administrator of EPA during the Clinton administration and previously a senior attorney in DOJ’s environmental division, will  be named deputy director of the Council on Environmental Quality. Guzy has also been a partner at  Foley Hoag, a consultant to …

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A Good Week for Environmental Federalism

This has been a very good week for proponents of environmental federalism. On Tuesday, President Obama convened a Rose Garden ceremony to announce first-ever federal regulatory mandates specifically designed to address global warming. The federal government’s new CAFE standards for new cars and light trucks, beginning with the 2012 model year, will simultaneously reduce greenhouse …

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Ditching cap and trade (the phrase, not the proposal)

Looks like the White House is taking note of the same polling data Dan blogs about here on the public’s antipathy toward, or misunderstanding of, the phrase “cap and trade”.  This from the LA Times, in a story generally chronicling the administration’s efforts to figure out the best language and framing for its climate policies: …

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News Flash: White House Approves Endangerment Finding

ClimateWire (subscription required)  reports; U.S. EPA’s proposed endangerment finding cleared the White House review process yesterday, paving the way for an official announcement detailing the threats posed by global warming to both public health and welfare. President Obama’s EPA inherited the global warming review following an April 2007 Supreme Court decision that ordered the Bush …

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Jody Freeman to White House

According to press reports, Jody Freeman, a Harvard Law School professor, will be the counselor for energy and climate change in the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change — in other words, a senior advisor to Carol Browner.  Jody is well known to all of us, having been a long-time member of the …

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New federal appointees’ sharp differences will make EPA/OMB relationship one to watch

As Dan notes in an earlier post, Cass Sunstein has been selected to direct the White House office that oversees regulation by agencies, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and budget.   An in-depth article  in today’s Los Angeles Times discusses the controversy over his nomination among environmental and labor advocates.  From the Times: …

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