Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Obama nominees for USDA, EPA & Interior

President Obama announced nominations for key administration posts yesterday including Dr. Kathleen Merrigan as deputy secretary for the Agriculture Department and Joe Cannon, as the deputy administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. Coloradan Tom Strickland will head a key post on endangered species at the Interior Department. All the posts require Senate confirmation. Merrigan currently is an assistant professor and director of the agriculture, food and environment graduate program at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. Previously, she served as administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service during the final two years of the Clinton Administration. She has held a number of policymaking positions at state and federal level including working on the staff of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.). Merrigan has a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in environmental planning and policy, a Masters degree of public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and English from Williams College. If confirmed, Cannon will serve as deputy to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He currently is a professor of environmental law as well as the director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program at the University of Virginia. Cannon has served as senior counsel at Beveridge & Diamond law firm. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, Cannon served in numerous positions within the EPA during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton administrations, eventually rising to general counsel. Coloradan Tom Strickland, who currently is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's chief of staff, has been nominated as Interior's Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Strickland previously served as a U.S. Attorney in Colorado from 1999-2000 and managing partner at Hogan & Hartson's Denver office. Strickland ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Colorado against Wayne Allard in both 1996 and 2002...Feedstuffs

No comments: