Obama Transition - Interior

.
The Washington Post is reporting that David Hayes, a deputy secretary at the Interior Department under President Bill Clinton, has been tapped to oversee Obama's transition at the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department.

The WP report is based on a source "close to the transition." There is no confirmation on the transition website. In fact, there are no press releases at all posted there.

This WP report adds:

Other former Clinton officials said to be helping Obama's transition at environmental and energy agencies include: John Leshy, former solicitor at Interior; Donald J. Barry, former assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks at Interior; David B. Sandalow, former assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment and science; and Frank E. Loy, former under secretary of state for global affairs.

Most westerners will remember John Leshy. This us from his Hastings College of Law website:

John Leshy was born and raised in a village in southern Ohio. He received an A.B. cum laude from Harvard College in 1966 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School three years later. Upon graduation he litigated civil rights cases for the U.S. Department of Justice out of Washington, D.C. for three years, then moved to the Bay Area and worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council (a national nonprofit environmental group) for five years. In 1977 Professor Leshy returned to Washington to join the Carter Administration as Associate Solicitor for Energy & Resources. In 1980 he became Professor of Law at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. After twelve years in the classroom, Leshy took leave to serve as Special Counsel to Chairman George Miller of the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C., and then became leader of the Clinton-Gore transition team for the Interior Department. In early 1993 President Clinton appointed him to be Solicitor (General Counsel) of Interior where, following Senate confirmation, he served under Secretary Bruce Babbitt until the end of the Administration, the second-longest tenure of any Solicitor in the Department's 159 year history.

On Donald Barry, this is from his 1998 statement to a senate committee:

To begin with, I offer you my experience. I believe that my years in Washington, D.C. have provided me with a clear understanding of the varying roles and responsibilities of the office of Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. I have either worked in, or worked with, this particular office for almost a quarter of a century. From 1975 to 1986, I provided legal advice to the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks through various positions in the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of the Interior. Since my return to the Department as a political appointee in May of 1993, I have alternately served as the Counselor to the Assistant Secretary, the Deputy Assistant Secretary, and the Acting Assistant Secretary. Moreover, during the six years that I worked for the House of Representatives, I was responsible for the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee's Congressional oversight of the Assistant Secretary's office. It, thus, could be said that I have interacted with past Assistant Secretaries for Fish and Wildlife and Parks from a variety of angles. I, believe therefore, that I have the practical experience and insight that one would want in an Assistant Secretary. In addition to my familiarity with the office of Assistant Secretary, I have also worked for over 20 years with the two agencies that this office oversees: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. I served for 12 years as an attorney for the Fish and Wildlife Service, including 6 years as that agency's Chief Counsel. As a result of this prior professional relationship, I have long-standing personal ties with every Regional Director in the Service, and most of the agency's Field Supervisors as well. Moreover, I have worked closely with the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Jamie Clark, for many years, and believe that we have established a solid record of solving problems together.

For David Sandalow, here is some info from the Brookings Institution website:

Sandalow is currently executive vice president of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where he helps manage field-based conservation, advocacy, and research programs around the world. Prior to joining WWF, Sandalow served as assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment, and science in the Clinton administration, where he helped shape and implement U.S. diplomacy on a wide range of environment, science, and technology topics, including global warming, biotechnology, and the environmental standards of export credit agencies. Before joining the State Department, Sandalow served jointly as senior director for environmental affairs at the National Security Council and associate director for the global environment at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In those roles, he helped advise the president and vice president on global environment issues. Sandalow has been a member of the Sustainable Development Roundtable at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Environmental Law, and co-chair of the ABA's Annual Conference on Environmental Law.

On Frank Loy, this is from a 2006 press release by the Nature Conservancy:

The Nature Conservancy today announced the addition of a new member, Frank E. Loy, to its board of directors. As the former under secretary of state for global affairs from 1998 to 2001, Loy coordinated U.S. foreign relations on issues such as the environment, the promotion of democracy, human rights, refugees and humanitarian affairs and counter-narcotics. In this position he served as the chief U.S. negotiator for climate change, as well as for treaties on trade in genetically-modified agricultural products...Loy joins the board with in-depth knowledge of the environmental community, having served as board chairman of Environmental Defense, the League of Conservation Voters, and Resources For the Future. He currently serves on the boards of Environmental Defense, the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Resources for the Future, ecoAmerica and Population Services International.

As we learn more about this wing of the transition team, we'll post it here.