yep just another loser lib. On Dec 17, 5:31 am, Florida Cracker 532 <[email protected]> wrote: > Obama: My Administration Will Value Science instead of Evangelical > dogma ! > http://www.truthout.org/121608EA > With a Nobel physicist and a former EPA chief on board, some expect > Obama's White House to break from what they see as the Bush > administration's record of overlooking science in favor of politics. > > Washington - With the nomination of Nobel Prize-winning physicist > Steven Chu for Energy secretary, President-elect Barack Obama made > sure no one missed the message in the resume. > > "His appointment should send a signal to all that my > administration will value science," Obama said during a Chicago news > conference Monday. "We will make decisions based on facts, and we > understand that the facts demand bold action." > > Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, > headlines a quartet of appointments that includes former > Environmental > Protection Agency chief Carol Browner as a coordinator of energy and > climate policy, former New Jersey environmental protection > commissioner Lisa Jackson as EPA director, and Los Angeles Deputy > Mayor Nancy Sutley to run the White House Council on Environmental > Quality. > > With this team, some environmentalists and former federal > research > scientists expect Obama's White House to break from what they view as > the Bush administration's record of overlooking science in favor of > politics. > > "It's such an incredible contrast, compared to the years of > darkness under the current administration, to see a scientist in such > a position of authority and influence in the Cabinet," said Alan > Nogee, who directs the Clean Energy Program for the Union of > Concerned > Scientists, which has accused the administration of silencing and > overruling scientists in policy-making. "It's night and day." > > Critics - including Nogee's organization and former EPA > Administrator Christie Todd Whitman - have complained about the > influence of industry lobbyists and ideologues on Bush administration > decision-making. > > Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Beverly Hills is among the Democrats who > repeatedly have accused top Bush officials, including Vice President > Dick Cheney and political adviser Karl Rove, with pressing federal > agencies to take positions that put them at odds with their own > scientists on energy, global warming and stem cell research. > > The critics say many high-ranking scientists have fled federal > jobs or have been forced from advisory panels in an effort to tilt > agency decision-making to be more favorable to corporate interests > or, > in at least one case, to help secure reelection of Republicans. > > In 2001, Waxman issued a 40-page report accusing the > administration of having "manipulated the scientific process and > distorted or suppressed scientific findings." In 2004, 60 prominent > scientists accused the administration of "misrepresenting and > suppressing scientific knowledge for political purposes." > > In 2006, the top climate scientist at NASA, James Hansen, said > the > Bush administration tried to gag him from speaking publicly after he > gave an academic lecture calling for prompt reductions in greenhouse > gases. > > On Monday, the Interior Department's inspector general issued a > report detailing how one administrator intervened in at least 13 > decisions under the Endangered Species Act. The official's "zeal to > advance her agenda has caused considerable harm to the integrity" of > the Endangered Species Act program, the report said, "as well as > potential harm to individual species. Her heavy-handedness has cast > doubt on nearly every ESA decision issued during her tenure." > > Jeremy Symons, former climate policy adviser at the EPA, was so > shaken after representing the EPA on Cheney's Energy Task Force in > 2001 that he left government to become a vice president at the > National Wildlife Federation. > > "There was no interest in considering the scientific evidence of > the impact our energy policy would have on the environment," Symons > said in an interview on Monday. "When science was brought up for > discussion, it was dismissed as not important to developing the > energy > plan." > > Obama stressed the importance of energy and climate policy to the > nation's economy and security on Monday - though he declined to say > when he plans to grant a waiver for California to begin regulating > greenhouse gas emissions. > > Chu, who won his Nobel Prize for developing methods to trap atoms > with lasers, has oriented the Berkeley lab to focus on renewable > energy and climate change. On Monday he stressed the Energy > Department's role in supporting scientists, public and private, and > innovations that he said "can transform the entire landscape of > energy > demand and supply." > > His appointment has won wide praise across industries and party > lines. Current Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement > that > Chu "understands the significance of our energy and environmental > challenges, and more importantly, understands the technical solutions > necessary to address them.... I hold him in the highest regard." > > A leading energy lobbyist said he was "cautiously optimistic" > about Chu and his fellow appointees. "I hope they do welcome science > first," said Scott Segal of Bracewell and Giuliani in Washington. > "But > that means being clear about it when the technology isn't ready to > solve climate issues. Good science cuts both ways. It also cuts > against unrealistic policy proposals that could endanger the U.S. > economy." > > Environmental groups lauded the appointees for their commitment > to > alternative fuels and fighting global warming. They welcomed them as > symbols of science ascendant. > > "I'm quite sure we'll have policy disputes with the Obama > administration," said Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist at Oceana, > a > nonprofit organization dedicated to ocean protection. "But we expect > that the facts of the case, whatever the issue is, will be out there > more. We expect more transparency. We expect scientists to be able to > speak more." > > Reid Detchon, executive director of the nonpartisan Energy Future > Coalition, which advocates for renewable energy, said he expected Chu > to be the first in a succession of "first-rate scientists" to advise > Obama and help restore what he calls eight years of damage to the > "scientific apparatus" of the federal government. > > "What political appointments can do," Detchon said, "political > appointments can undo." > > ------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
