OBAMA 2.O / ENVIRONMENT
as a nation to both prepare for the
changes in climate that are no longer avoidable and avoid changes in
climate that are unacceptable.”
A host of additional environmental issues will confront the
president over the next four years
— even as many of his key energy
and environmental lieutenants
have either announced their departures or are expected to do so
soon. These include Lisa Jackson
at EPA, Steven Chu at the Energy
Department, and Jane Lubchenco
at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Last week, Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar announced that he,
too, would be stepping down.
Strengthening of the Clean Water Act to protect headwaters and
wetlands, meanwhile, is high on
many groups’ agendas. Activists
will also be watching the EPA as
it completes a review of hydraulic fracturing — used by oil and
gas companies to exploit deep deposits of hydrocarbons — and its
impacts on water sources. Conservation groups have complained
that Obama has so far set aside
for protection fewer acres of land
than any recent president. They
want more. Calls for reforming
HUFFINGTON
01.27.13
oversight of toxic chemical production and handling — a woefully under-regulated industry,
according to activists, are also
gathering momentum, as are demands that Obama suspend oil
and gas exploration in the Arctic.
That last push comes after a
string of embarrassing missteps
by Shell Oil, which was granted
federal permits to plumb exploratory wells off the coast of Alaska
this year, only to founder amid
rough seas and an apparent inability to maintain control of its
drill ships.
“Hurricane Sandy: Mother Nature’s
revenge on the 2012 election?”
An investigation by the Department of Interior is underway, but
the tea leaves suggest that the
Obama administration will continue to chart its own course on
these issues.
“Developing America’s domestic energy sources is essential
for reducing our dependence on
foreign oil and creating jobs here
at home,” Salazar said earlier
this month, “and the administration is fully committed to exploring for potential energy resources in frontier areas
such as the Arctic.”