Obama’s “Cave” on EPA Ozone Standard Was Not Unexpected

This most recent Obama cave was not unexpected.

There were obvious political signs, most recently the disaster on the debt limit.

But even within the narrower realm of environmental policy, for anyone paying attention, its been part of a pattern of political decision-making and pro-corporate policy priorities that was telegraphed many months ago.  See: Obama Watch

The Obama policy was made transparent when he bowed down before the US Chamber of Commerce and appointed new Chief of Staff – see: Browner Departure Just Another Sign That Obama Is In Full Retreat.

And lets not forget Obama’s Executive Order on Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, ahem, apologies for the euphemism and spin, I meant “Red Tape”.

That Obama regulatory policy is  now being implemented by this so called “cave”, which is just another example of the Obama Administration’s policy.

The policy was originally virtually established by the appointments of Cass Sunstein as head of OMB’s OIRA and Lisa Jackson (a politically spinning “pliant technocrat”) at EPA. see:  WHY LISA JACKSON SHOULD NOT RUN EPA

In our experience, Lisa Jackson is cut out of the same professional cloth as the current administrator, Stephen Johnson  a pliant technocrat who will follow orders. If past is prologue, one cannot reasonably expect meaningful change if she is appointed to lead EPA.

Today, even the NY Times noted some of the pattern:

“Reaction from environmental advocates ranged from disappointment to fury, with several noting that in just the past month the administration had tentatively approved drilling in the Arctic, given an environmental green light to the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas and opened 20 million more acres of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling.

But is is far worse than that. Just some of the lowlights:

• Obama supported offshore drilling, just weeks before the BP Gulf blowout.
• Lisa Jackson over-rode her scientists recommendations and allowed toxic dispersants to make the spill problem worse.
• Obama sandbagged the world at Copenhagen global warming summit.
• Obama sided with major polluters in a key global warming Supreme Court case
• EPA has punted on many major regulations.
• EPA backtracked on greenhouse gas emissions regulations.
• (Note: and lets not forget throwing Van Jones under the bus)
  

Cass Sunstein and Lisa Jackson are to the environment exactly what Larry Summers, Bob Rubin, and Tim Geithner are to Wall Street and economic policy.

And we close with the last straw – which should force Lisa Jackson’s resignation, as her role has now become equivalent to the time when Colin Powell called Christie Whitman the “Wind Dummy” in the Bush Administration – Whitman also got rolled on regulatory issues and was a weak an ineffective EPA administrator: that friends tried to cover for:

Cass Sunstein does Obama’s Dirty Deed: