President-elect Obama’s announcement of his energy team clearly signals a dramatic change from the energy policy of all past presidents not only from the past administration. This team will oversee a new direction for future energy policy, especially pertaining to climate change.
With these appointments and in his remarks, the President-elect identifies several strong themes for future energy and environmental policy including: (1) A commitment to expanding the economy while protecting the environment; (2) creating a government office merging energy and the environment (this point is underscored by Carol Browner’s selection); (3) science and technology are to be in the forefront of energy and environmental policy (underscored with Stephen Chu’s nomination); and (4) that innovation in policy and technology will be encouraged (underscored by the nominations of Nancy Sutley, Lisa P. Jackson and Sen. Ken Salazar).
The President-elect’s remarks announcing the appointments are here. Read a New York Times story on the appointments and the challenges they’ll face, here. And read Climate Wire’s story, here.