The Huffington Post has interviewed Robert Kennedy Jr. on his being cosidered for the EPA position:
"You know what, I would be of service in any way that the administration asked me to be," Kennedy told the Huffington Post. "But I am also very happy and I believe I am being effective doing the stuff I am doing currently."...The appointment would represent a major and early victory for environmentalists and would undoubtedly please Kennedy's cousin, Caroline Kennedy and uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy - who was an instrumental Obama backer during the primary and is in poor health.
David Roberts at Grist Mill doesn't seem to be sold on Kennedy at EPA:
It might please Clinton and Kennedy, but by my count it will piss off just about everyone else. Enviros are still pissed about his opposition to Cape Wind. Sensible people are pissed about his naive acceptance of the phantom vaccine-autism connection. Many journalists are pissed that his overheated work on Republican vote theft in 2004 served to discredit more modest but verifiable theories. He's also, to put it bluntly, widely considered considered kind of an arrogant jerk -- which makes me like him more, but I don't know how it will play in a delicate and highly constrained bureaucratic position.
Two reporters at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer write:
He strikes us as a strange choice. Yes, he's unquestionably green and a magnificent orator... but he's not so much known for his administrative abilities. (He's a fascinating character in so many ways. Example: He got involved with the Riverkeeper organization after he was busted with a lot of heroin and sentenced to community service, which he served at Riverkeeper. He's been clean for years now and is said to not like to discuss this part of his life....
Finally, this Reuters article mentions:
These include Democratic Governors Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas, both of whom have pushed to limit greenhouse emissions...Mary Nichols, now head of California's Air Resources Board, has been active in opposing a state ballot proposition that she maintains would increase greenhouse emissions. As a member of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, she is seen as having the ability to work across party lines...Kathleen McGinty, Pennsylvania's former Environment Secretary, has also been mentioned as a possible EPA chief...Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, which does policy research on environment and sustainability, is also considered a potential candidate.
The speculation is all over the place.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment