Bush Team Still Haunts Environmentals

Bush Team Still Haunts Environmentals

by Erika Lovley


Environmentalists who see this year as their best hope for a major global warming bill can’t seem to escape a familiar foe: former Bush administration officials they fought year after year on energy and climate issues.

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee debates its ambitious cap-and-trade bill, environmentalists will find James Connaughton, President George W. Bush’s top environmental adviser, advocating for Constellation Energy. Karen Harbert, a top Bush Energy Department official, is now heading the energy practice at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — a leading critic of Democratic climate change proposals. And F. Chase Hutto III, Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy and environment adviser, has formed ClearView Energy Partners, aimed at helping businesses navigate climate change legislation.

“Like salmon swimming upstream to spawn, they are returning to their natural habitat: big industry,” said Center for American Progress Action Fund climate strategy director Daniel J. Weiss.

To be sure, the revolving door phenomenon is nothing new, and ex-Bush energy and environment advisers were bound to land with the industries they regulated — or, in some cases, deregulated.

But the quick transition from setting policy to directly fighting the environmental policies of the Obama administration may have a real impact on the Capitol Hill debate.

“We’re glad to be rid of the Bush administration, but we’ll never really get rid of the legacy, and these folks will still be in demand by someone,” said Greenpeace research director Kert Davies. “We’re not done by a long shot.”

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/15-4