Obama To Use Executive Orders For Immediate Environmental Impact

WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said. "I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."

Podesta also said Obama is working to build a diverse Cabinet. That includes reaching out to Republicans and independents _ part of the broad coalition that supported Obama during the race against Republican John McCain. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been mentioned as a possible holdover.

"He's not even a Republican," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. "Why wouldn't we want to keep him? He's never been a registered Republican."

Obama was elected on a promise of change, but the nature of the job makes it difficult for presidents to do much that has an immediate impact on the lives of average people. Congress plans to take up a second economic aid plan before year's end _ an effort Obama supports. But it could be months or longer before taxpayers see the effect.

Obama could use his executive powers to at least signal that Washington is changing.

"Obama's advantage of course is he'll have the House and the Senate working with him, and that makes it easier," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "But even then, having an immediate impact is very difficult to do because the machinery of government doesn't move that quickly."

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Presidents long have used executive orders to impose policy and set priorities. One of Bush's first acts was to reinstate full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. The restrictions were first ordered by President Reagan and the first President Bush followed suit. President Clinton lifted them soon after he occupied the Oval Office and it wouldn't be surprising if Obama did the same.

Executive orders "have the power of law and they can cover just about anything," Tobias said in a telephone interview.

Bush used his executive power to limit federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights who argue that destroying embryos is akin to killing a fetus. Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's. Many moderate Republicans also support the research, giving it the stamp of bipartisanship.

On drilling, the federal Bureau of Land Management is opening about 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling. Bush administration officials argue that the drilling will not harm sensitive areas; environmentalists oppose it.

"They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah," Podesta said. "I think that's a mistake."

Two top House Republicans said there is a willingness to try to work with Obama to get things done. But they said to expect Republicans to serve as a check against the power held by Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress.

"It's going to be a cheerful opposition," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "We're going to carry those timeless principles of limited government, a strong defense, traditional values, to the American people."

Pence, of Indiana, is expected to take over the No. 3 leadership post among House Republicans.

In other transition matters, Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, would not say whether Obama would return to the Senate for votes during the postelection session this month. Obama's presence would be extraordinary, given his position as president-elect, especially if Congress takes up a much-anticipated economic stimulus plan.

"I think that the basic approach has been he's going to be here in Chicago, setting up his economic, not only his economic team, but the policies he wants to outline for the country as soon as he gets sworn in, so we hit the ground running," Emanuel said.

Also, Emanuel would not commit to a Democratic proposal to help the auto industry with some of the $700 billion approved by Congress to for the financial bailout.

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a letter Saturday to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the bailout to include car companies.

Podesta appeared on "Fox News Sunday," as did Pence, and CNN's "Late Edition," where Reid also was interviewed. Emanuel spoke on ABC's "This Week" and CBS' "Face the Nation."

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On the Net:

Transition office: http://change.gov/

Comments

[zbearlady]

At long last, I have real hope that our Commander and Chief will truly care about our environment and use his powers to protect and preserve -rather than to squander and destroy!

I live on 65 acres of pristine wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. I see myself as a humble steward of this paradise...and I am inspired every day to make our world a better place.

I was inspired by Barack Obama to write this song/video, about our need to 'awaken' and change our ways for our children -our future generations. It is my gift of love to the planet and I hope it inspires all who see it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gi3VNLhHq4

[ohmercy]

Oh- this is rich:

""It's going to be a cheerful opposition," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "We're going to carry those timeless principles of limited government, a strong defense, traditional values, to the American people.""

Too bad they didn't try to enforce those timeless values of limited government and fiscal responsibility when they had complete control--- instead they let the idiotking and his handlers run wild.

[blastit]

I'm going to start a green club on my college campus, and I plan on doing work in the community , green is the way of the future.

[mindylovessarah2]

The Sarah Palin Lies...

http://oxyz.info/1s

If you have any problems with this link, please feel free to contact me, [e-mail].

[whit4brains]

Virus trol.l

[IslandPress]

The Bush administration has "been busy issuing end-of-term regulations that will considerably increase environmental protection challenges," says Elizabeth Grossman, author and e-waste expert.

Among Bush's new rules are a proposal that would make it impossible to use the Endangered Species Act to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and global warming even when they harm a listed species, and a revision of how power plants measure their emissions that could result in greater overall emissions.

http://blog.islandpress.org/231/elizabeth-grossman-last-minute-bush-administration-actions

She says "Environmental advocates have great expectations for what an Obama administration can achieve...":

[Chicagowill]

Obama has already said he intends to review and rescind many of Bush's last minute executive orders. Do this thought experiment. Suppose you thought you wanted to take advantage of Bush's last minute changes. You might think, "OK, Bush has said I may do A, but Obama has said he will review Bush's executive orders and will quickly rescind those he does not agree with. Is it worth my while to do A for two months, only to be forbidden from doing it in two months?" In most cases, people would say, "It's not worth the bother." Just by telegraphing his intentions, he has removed much of the potency of what Bush has proposed.

[Whatashame]

If he close Guantanamo he can save a lot of money. Transfer the prisons to a US high security jail and use the money to fund some of the more immediate things.

[ShanaJones]

The fact that Obama is moving so aggressively is heartening. Today, the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), a think-tank of legal scholars, delivered to the Obama transition team a slate of seven proposed Executive Orders designed to achieve innovative and meaningful federal action on health, safety and the environment. One of these recommendations addresses revoking the two Bush orders (EO 13211 and 13212) that made it easier to develop energy resources on public lands -- exactly what this article talks about. The slate of recommended Executive Orders also includes two particularly innovative proposals on climate change. One would direct agencies of the government to measure, report, and reduce their respective carbon footprints, an order aimed at reducing the federal government"s estimated 1.4-percent share of the nation"s contribution of greenhouse gases.

A second climate change order would direct agencies to consider the global warming implications of their actions. One very meaningful example of such consideration: the National Highway Traffic Safety sets vehicle mileage standards. Under the Bush Administration, it declined to consider global warming as a factor, and so produced relatively weak standards. Were the Obama Administration to contemplate global warming in such calculations, it would likely produce more stringent standards.

The report is available online at www.progressivereform.org/CPR_ExecOrders_Stroke_of_a_Pen.pdf.

[hortonhearsawho]

Hey Sarah, this is Executive power....watch and learn.....

[HenryClay]

It's almost as exciting to watch what Obama will undo, as to watch what he intends to do.

[JayeSF]

This is the way to do it. Quick reversals...no drama in congress...and the reinstatement of science as the governing policy.

[RW012]

Now that Obama is in office, I believe that he will create a stimulus plan that will include creating a new green collar economy, which I'm extremely excited about. Obama of course can't do this all by himself. We're going to have to organize and take action. I think that the book The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones, should be a must read for everyone. ( You can listen to an interview with Van Jones here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnORjtCAqfw )
We need to build a movement, that builds our economy while at the same time saves our planet and makes us less reliant on foreign oil.
Obama does have all our email addresses, and I hope that he uses his leadership and our email addresses to inspire such a movement.

[Nomadius]

Will Obama prove to have some of the least common of the senses: Common Sense

Learning from our history and learning from other's success stories would probably not fix this country but certainly help in achieveing a lot .

The commitments indicated that he is looking forward to
- Reduce carbon emissions
- Reduce dependency on foreign oil
- Create Jobs

How come "Public Transportation" almost never appears in the political agendas ?

The benefit list of having a good public transportation network deserves some atention

¢ Lower carbon monoxide emissions
¢ Reduce the country's dependency on foreign oil
¢ Reduce the citizen's dependency on cars & fuel.
¢ Boost infrastructure therefore jobs, perhaps maybe a way to recycle the Auto-industry lost jobs.
¢ Reduce the amount of wasted hours in traffic therefore boost productivity and quality of life as well as family life.
¢ Reduce traffic accidents, injuries and deaths and all the associated costs (insurance, prosecutions etc. etc.) especially among youth and seniors giving to both groups more freedom to move without risking their life and other"s life.
¢ Gives an opportunity to the least favored, the poor, to escape the downward spiral by being able to get a job and get to it without the need of a car.

[JayeSF]

...the interesting thing about your points (and they are good ones) is that, in this article it talks about bailing out the auto industry.

Why ? As a rule, the US auto industry is responsible for the foot-dragging and outright obstructionism which has resulted in global warming, gas shortages, and environmental degradation. All of the heads of the auto industry are far-right wingers. The ultimate example of mega-corporations run amok.

I dunno...I mean...if taxpayer money is gonna be used to save the auto industry...I think the Obama administration has to attach some serious conditions regarding:

min. MPG standards, min % of autos produced which must be hybrids, and min % of the bailout $ which must be used for developing electric vehicles.

In which instance, I sorta hope that nothing progresses until after 1/20 on this....

[labman57]

Hopefully, Obama will reverse the "scorch the earth" environmental deregulation policies that Bush and Cheney have been trying to implement during their final weeks in power.

[adefalco33]

Obama stressed that this campaign is about us. How do we contact the campaign to offer input and suggestions??

[EndangeredJackalope]

change/DOTgov is their President-Elect website. It has a place where you can submit stories from the election, thoughts, ideas, etc.

Don't expect a "comment" phone line where you can submit suggestions to Obama's team. If you have an idea, get it rolling yourself - if it actually had enough merit/value to it, it would build up its own reputation and interest that might attract national office attention someday.

In all seriousness, if you have an idea, hash it out yourself and try putting it into practice where you live. Maybe get your state delegate's office behind it, or even your Congressman or Senator, if its actually that fruitful an idea.