It is time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology

- President-elect Barack Obama

Obama said his team will be reviewing offshore drilling and whether to allow California to regulate its own tailpipe emissions. While formally announcing his first energy and environmental leadership picks, Obama praised California’s leadership, and said he was open to offshore drilling, but only if it was part of a comprehensive energy package to achieve energy independence. Furthermore, Obama said that his administration will value science and pay attention to the facts.

BREAK

Nobel Laureate Dr. Steven Chu was picked for Secretary of the Department of Energy. Dr. Chu has called coal his “worst nightmare.”

“If I were emperor of the world, I would put the pedal to the floor on energy efficiency and conservation for the next decade.” – Steven Chu

BREAK

Lisa Jackson will be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and she is the first African-American to lead the EPA.

BREAK

BREAK

Nancy Sutley was announced to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She will be leaving her current position as Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment for the city of Los Angeles, California.

BREAK

BREAK

Carol Browner will be the White House coordinator of energy and climate policy—a new White House position. Browner served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton Administration.

BREAK

BREAK

Democratic Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado to run the Interior Department

BREAK

BREAK

BREAK

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack will be Obama’s Agriculture Secretary.

BREAK

BREAK

BREAK

Jane Lubchenco will run NOAA, and the “appointment marks a shift for NOAA, which oversees marine issues as well as much of government’s climate work, [since] Lubchenco has criticized the agency in the past for not doing enough to curb overfishing.”

BREAK

BREAK

John P. Holdren will be Obama’s science adviser as director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, and assisting Holdren will be “Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander, a specialist in human genome research.”

A physicist renowned for his work on climate and energy, he’s received numerous honors and awards for his contributions and has been one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change. I look forward to his wise counsel in the years ahead.

- President-elect Barack Obama on Holdren

BREAK

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::