Matching Needs and Expectations

• Author: Elliott P. Laws
• Position: Former EPA Assistant Administrator and former President for Safety, Health & Environment of Texaco, is Senior Counsel at Crowell & Moring
• Pages: 14-14

Page 14 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2009, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Jan./Feb. 2009

Business and NGOs

alike will not likely

see their agendas

completely fulll ed

By Elliott P. Laws

Matching Needs

and Expectations

At the time I am writing this col-

umn, President-elect Barack

Obama has yet to announce who will

be leading the environmental pro-

tection ef‌fort in his administration.

ere has been much speculation as

to who that person would be — from

glamorous names such as Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. to state environmental

of‌f‌icials from California, Pennsylva-

nia, or New Jersey; to heads of NGOs

such as Jonathan Lash at the World

Resources Institute; to a sitting gov-

ernor such as Kathleen Sibelius of

Kansas. Speculation of this type is

almost as common in Washington,

D.C., as congressional hearings, and

they miss the mark as often. Regard-

less of whom Obama selects, his en-

vironmental chief will be expected to

deliver on a range of issues that will

likely have impacts far beyond typical

environmental concerns, for decades

to come.

ere has to be some mixture of

excitement and fear facing this new

administration, as the challenges be-

fore it dwarf all of those in memory.

at mixture will be especially preva-

lent at EPA. Usually in times like

these — war, recession, high unem-

ployment –— environmental issues

can be expected to fade from the front

pages. An EPA administrator would

receive the old admonition to be seen

and not heard. However, unlike past

crises environmental issues are in the

forefront — primarily in the form of

climate change and energy. It is no-

table that when the government is

lending billions of dollars to Citibank

and debating the very existence of the

big three automakers that one of the

f‌irst actions of the incoming Obama

administration will likely be to grant

California a Clean Air Act waiver to

allow it to regulate greenhouse gases

from mobile sources. e expecta-

tions for success that many Obama

supporters have are high.

ose expectations are high in the

environmental community — perhaps

too high. e ongoing f‌inancial col-

lapse in the United States and abroad

has changed the landscape in ways

that could not have been imagined as

recently as August, when Obama ac-

cepted the Democratic nomination

for president. With the federal gov-

ernment having committed nearly $1

trillion in an attempt to save f‌inancial

institutions across the country; with

Congress considering an economic

stimulus package that could cost an

additional $500–750 billion; with

the United States still

conducting wars in

Afghanistan and Iraq,

the expectation that

EPA’s budget will ex-

perience signif‌icant

increases over the

Bush years is hardly

a reasoned view. It’s

not just the mind boggling challenge

facing us on the economy, it’s also the

dif‌f‌icult decisions that must be made

to address climate change; it’s the need

to seriously address the nation’s nearly

suicidal dependence on foreign oil;

and it’s myriad other issues that will

all require hard choices and sacrif‌ice.

ose expectations are probably

low in the business community — as

they normally are when the country

shifts from a Republican to a Demo-

cratic administration. And similarly,

those expectations are perhaps too

low. I believe if this president will be

true to one of his campaign prom-

ises, it is to govern in a way that puts

partisanship on the sidelines. He has

already proved that commitment

by sending a strong signal to Senate

Democrats that he does not wish to

see retaliation against Senator Joe Lie-

berman (I-Connecticut) for his sup-

port not only of John McCain, but

also Republican senatorial candidates

in Minnesota, Maine, and Oregon.

What Obama signaled with that po-

sition is that he is not going to put

partisanship ahead of his plans to

help America. He is looking at new

alliances and will work with people

who were not shy in their opposition

to his election as he works as presi-

dent.

We as a nation are facing an uncer-

tain future. e environment is likely

going to play a larger role in the lives

of average Americans than it has since

its heyday in the 1970s. Whoever is

selected as EPA administrator will

have the monumental task of rallying

an agency suf‌fering from low morale,

with precious few additional resources,

to make decisions in perhaps the most

hotly debated and controversial area of

environmental law and policy ever.

is administrator

will make recommen-

dations and decisions

that will have implica-

tions not only the very

future of the United

States, but likely for

the world as well. To

the NGO community,

the challenge is not to be disappointed

as this president makes decisions that

balance multiple important consider-

ations and will often decide that an-

other consideration must trump the

environmental choice. To the business

community, the challenge is to be more

optimistic and to show the initiative

and courage necessary to work with this

new administration and its traditional

allies to solve the monumental prob-

lems facing the world.

Elliott P. Laws, f o rm e r E PA

Assistant Administrator and former President

for Safety, Health & Environment of Texaco, is

Senior Counsel at C rowell & Moring. He can

be reached at elaw s@crowell.com.

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