The Obama Administration



Transcript of Obama Speech

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epa2012_0603




CEQ Readies Climate Adaptation Guide

WHITEFIELD, NH -- The White House is poised to soon release its guide for policymakers to consider climate change impacts in their decision-making, a move that a top administration official said shows that climate adaptation policies are moving forward even while comprehensive climate change legislation has stalled in Congress. Loren Labovitch, climate adaptation manger with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), told an Aug. 29 meeting of state environmental officials that the report -- due for release in...

Sunstein Sets High Bar For New Regulatory Review Executive Order

President Obama's regulatory review chief says there is broad support for how the White House currently addresses controversial issues like cost-benefit analysis when it reviews EPA and other agencies' regulations but he says the President could still decide to issue a new executive order revising the review process. Cass Sunstein, director of the Office of Management & Budget's (OMB) Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), told the House Judiciary Committee's administrative law panel that it is “up to the...

Democrats Target 'Polluters' In Upcoming Campaign, Legislative Efforts

Democratic candidates and their environmentalist allies are stepping up their efforts to run against industry "polluters" -- especially oil companies -- as they struggle to maintain control of Congress in this year's mid-term elections, an approach that observers say underlies their efforts to curb greenhouse gases (GHGs), reinstate expired Superfund taxes and strictly regulate toxic chemicals. But the Democratic messaging is alienating Republicans and appears to be doing little to bolster support for the legislative measures as Senate Democrats have...

Open Government Advocates Say Obama Regulatory Review Order Is Dead

Open government advocates say a long-pending Obama administration bid to revise a Clinton-era executive order (E.O.) to require more transparency and potentially lessen the White House's role in reviewing EPA and other agencies' rules appears dead, replaced by a narrower directive outlining transparency goals that had been expected as part of the revised E.O. In a further disappointment for the advocates, the memo that is seen as replacing a revised order focuses on transparency of government actions and does not...

EPA Survey Seen As Tentative Step To Addressing Workforce Criticisms

EPA is circulating to senior enforcement, permitting and other managers a survey of the “challenges” they face with existing agency workloads, which EPA union officials see as a tentative step toward addressing their long-running calls for the agency to conduct a major new workforce analysis to identify staffing shortfalls. However, one union official says that the survey falls short of their request in a number of ways. For example, the survey is being sent to senior managers and not individual...

Lack Of EPA Region IV Chief May Hurt Credibility, Reflect Internal Disputes

The lack of an Obama administration-appointed head of EPA Region IV -- the only agency region that still has an acting, non-permanent top official -- could be harming the region's credibility on high-profile issues, and reflect difficulties in finding a candidate willing to take over a region said to be suffering from internal fights, sources say. One environmental attorney in the region says there is "no legitimate reason" for the "unprecedented" delay in naming a regional administrator more than a...

EPA's New Information Administrator

One day after confirming EPA's new Inspector General (IG), senators June 23 by unanimous consent approved the nomination of Malcolm Jackson to be the agency's top environmental information official, a position that plays a key role managing EPA's pollution databases. Senators without debate approved Jackson's nomination as the new assistant administrator in EPA's Office of Environmental Information (OEI). The office “manages the life cycle of information to support EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment,” according to the...

Focused On Gulf Oil Spill, EPA Officials Pulled Away From Key Policymaking

With top EPA officials focused on the Gulf oil spill, many are being pulled away from work on several pending policy measures, though top agency officials are in some cases downplaying the effect their focus on the spill is having. EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe recently declined an industry request to meet over the agency's controversial assessment of the risks posed by arsenic, which industry fears will drive cost-prohibitive new regulatory requirements. It is not clear how industry plans to...

Administration Escalates Fight Over Resolution To Bar EPA Climate Rules

EPA and the White House are escalating their opposition to Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) pending resolution to bar the agency from regulating greenhouse gases (GHG) under the Clean Air Act, citing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a reason to pursue climate rules that could spur investment in cleaner alternatives than oil. The Obama administration June 8 issued a Statement of Administration Policy saying it “strongly opposes” the resolution, S.J. Res. 26, which is slated for a Senate floor...

EPA Eyes New Rule, Permit Process To Assess Climate Benefit Of Biomass

EPA has rejected a forest and paper industry push to exempt carbon dioxide (CO2) from biomass combustion from greenhouse (GHG) permit requirements, but is considering a new rule or permit provisions that could account for biomass' possible climate benefits -- an approach that could include controversial lifecycle assessments for the fuel. Industry groups such as the American Forest & Paper Association and the National Association of Forest Owners urged EPA and the White House to exempt CO2 emissions from biomass...

Obama Picks Region V, VIII Administrators

EPA has announced the new administrators for Region V, which covers the Midwest, and Region VIII, which covers six Western states. The two key regions involve a number of major industrial facilities as well as extensive coal, natural gas and other natural resources operations. EPA in April 21 press releases announced that Obama has selected Susan Hedman to be the next regional administrator for Region V, which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 tribal nations. The president...

OMB Official Expects Codification Of Reforms Prompting Tougher Regulations

Clarification Appended A key White House regulatory official says the approaches adopted in the first year of the Obama administration for reviewing agency rules have already resulted in stricter environmental requirements in some cases where they have been applied, even ahead of a pending executive order (E.O.) on regulatory review. Michael Fitzpatrick, associate administrator of the White House Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), told a Feb. 4 panel in Washington, DC, hosted by the watchdog group OMB Watch,...

Budgeting For New Executive Order

Activists are encouraging President Obama to issue a long-awaited executive order (E.O.) on regulatory review a year after he announced plans to do so, arguing it is needed to help limit agencies' analytical burdens given spending caps that EPA and other agencies will face in their upcoming fiscal year 2011 budgets. “In light of anticipated tightening of agency budgets, the administration must do everything it can to help agencies make efficient use of their time and resources,” Gary Bass, head...

Obama EPA Agenda 'Overload' Seen Risking Agency Credibility, Morale

The Obama EPA's ambitious agenda of major new regulatory, enforcement and other initiatives on climate change, air pollution, chemicals, and other issues is threatening to overwhelm agency resources, industry and other sources say, claiming the agenda could result in a loss of credibility and a drop in staff morale if the agency falls short of its goals. While the Obama administration generally has faced criticism for taking on too many different issues, sources say EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is a...

Obama EPA Changes To Bush-Era Policies Rankle Some Agency Staff

Obama EPA changes to Bush-era environmental policies are increasingly rankling some agency staff due to concerns that the overhauls are being made for political and not substantive reasons and without an effective strategy to replace the previous administration's programs, agency sources and observers say. Among the changes sparking concern are a push by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to regulate some types of coal ash as hazardous that staff say is consuming valuable resources and risks the future of EPA's coal...

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