Closing Statement. A Missed Opportunity to Revitalize the CEQ

• Author: Leslie Carothers
• Position: President
• Pages: 60-60

Page 60 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2009, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, March/April 2009

ELI Report

President Obama’s choices for

White House environmental

staf‌f have received high marks

from the green community. Carol

Browner, the assistant to the presi-

dent for energy and climate change,

earned a national reputation as the

smart and battle-tested administra-

tor of EPA in the Clinton years.

Nancy Sutley, conf‌irmed by the Sen-

ate as the new chair of the Council

on Environmental Quality, has been

a California state and city environ-

mental of‌f‌icial praised as a highly

ef‌fective problem solver by those

who have worked with her. What is

disappointing to many is the missed

opportunity to revive and strengthen

the role of the CEQ by making the

president’s lead advisor on energy

and climate change also serve as the

council’s chair.

Created in 1969 by the National

Environmental Policy Act, CEQ was

conceived as a small but high-pow-

ered staf‌f of‌f‌ice to the president with

the responsibility for policy develop-

ment, coordination, and assessment

of the administration’s environmen-

tal agenda, all functions critical to

making the big federal bureaucracy

more ef‌fective. But the council has

seen its role decline over the years.

e Clinton administration sought

unsuccessfully to abolish it to dem-

onstrate White House cost-cutting.

Despite some capable chairs, the

Council has generally lacked both

the resources and the charge to help

the president march the federal gov-

ernment in a more environmentally

sustainable direction.

Last October, a group of seasoned

environmental leaders, including

f‌ive former CEQ chairs from both

parties, was convened by the Jackson

Foundation to formulate ideas for a

new administration. e group pro-

duced a concise set of recommenda-

tions for the council that merited

more attention than they received.

For the ultimate cross-cutting is-

sue of climate change, the group rec-

ommended a lead role for CEQ in

coordinating national policy. ey

called for an executive order direct-

ing all federal agencies to identify

programs in their areas that contrib-

ute to climate change, to assess how

it will af‌fect their missions, and to

report to the council on how they

will reduce impacts and, where nec-

essary, adapt to them. CEQ would

review these plans; collect and ana-

lyze state, local, and private ef‌forts;

and make recommendations to the

president.

e group also recommended

guidance on incorporating climate

impact evaluations under NEPA

environmental assessments and a

broad executive order and rules

to implement the visionary sus-

tainability policies of the 1969

act — something ELI researchers

have advocated for years. Review of

budget impacts like federal subsidies

af‌fecting energy and resource devel-

opment and the environment was

also proposed.

e report recommends doubling

the staf‌f of 24, f‌illing the deputy

position, and choosing a person of

“national credibility and stature” to

head the council. e Green Group,

an informal alliance of environmen-

tal organizations, made similar rec-

ommendations and stressed CEQ’s

unique “experience, mandate, and

location” as the focal point for a

potent White House strategy to deal

with climate and energy issues.

e Council’s environmental

performance and program assess-

ment role should also be revived.

Although CEQ’s annual report to

Congress was foolishly eliminated

by a paperwork reduction statute in

the 1990s, the council should report

to the president and the public on

progress in selected areas. Adminis-

trator Christie Whitman improved

EPA’s performance reporting during

her tenure, but CEQ is the only

agency able to evaluate environmen-

tal progress across the whole federal

government, shine the light on good

results, and reinforce accountability

for shortfalls.

Certainly Ms. Browner has the

professional heft and apparently the

ear of the president to advance the

climate and energy agenda, and Ms.

Sutley brings impressive skills to her

post. But it is still too bad that the

new administration did not make

the CEQ chair his energy and cli-

mate change advisor, restoring the

Council’s stature, and providing the

support of a dedicated staf‌f. is

qualif‌ies as a missed opportunity

and will demand close cooperation

between the two leaders so that

overlapping responsibilities do not

impede potent policy advocacy

for the environment in the White

House.

Closing Statement

A Missed Opportunity to Revitalize the CEQ

Leslie Carothers

President