OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A Washington state lawmaker has apologized for saying that bicyclists contribute to climate change with their heavy breathing.
Republican Rep. Ed Orcutt, of Kalama, is the ranking minority member of the state's House Transportation Committee. He apologized Monday for writing in an email last week that 'the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider.'
He was responding to bike store owner who was upset about a proposed fee on some new bicycle purchases. Orcutt is a fiscal conservative and believes cyclists should help pay for the upkeep of roads.
Orcutt says he was trying to say that bicyclists don't have a zero carbon footprint but that it was poorly worded.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Winter Storm Warning Issued for Chicago
A winter storm warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for Northern Illinois, Chicago, and Northwest Indiana, beginning at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and lasting until midnight. Snow will start to fall as early as Monday evening in Chicago's southern and western suburbs, with accumulations of about an inch before the more severe weather begins.
The worst of the snow will be late Tuesday afternoon into the evening, with snow projected to fall at a rate of over an inch per hour. This will make Chicago's evening commute especially treacherous for those travelling. Last week's storm hit at around the same time, causing several businesses and local schools to close early and cancel evening activities. Many people heeded the storm's warning and stayed off the roads, making the commute much better than expected. Both O'Hare and Midway airports are expected to cancel flights Tuesday evening as the storm passes through.
Storm projections have the most snow falling around the Midway airport area, as well as the far north suburbs. The northern suburbs have endured most of the brunt of the storms that swept through the Chicago area in the last two weeks. This storm's projected totals are in the 7-10-inch range; however, forecasters are being conservative in their predictions. The last two storms were supposed to wallop the city but stayed under the 6-inch mark. Perennial WGN-TV weather expert Tom Skilling says that this will be Chicago's biggest single snowfall of the season. Amy Seeley with the National Weather Service told the Chicago Tribune that the worst part of the snow will be during rush hour Tuesday evening and cautioned against travel.
The winds will pick up while the storm moves through Chicago, creating poor visibility, but the storm won't bring bitter cold. The temperatures are expected to hover around freezing and move back up into the mid-30s and 40s as the storm leaves town. If the storm does dump the over 10 inches of snow the computer models are predicting, it will bump the area past the snowfall average we usually see this time of year. For a winter that began balmy and dry, it seems to want to leave with a reminder for Chicagoans of how nice they had it in December.
The worst of the snow will be late Tuesday afternoon into the evening, with snow projected to fall at a rate of over an inch per hour. This will make Chicago's evening commute especially treacherous for those travelling. Last week's storm hit at around the same time, causing several businesses and local schools to close early and cancel evening activities. Many people heeded the storm's warning and stayed off the roads, making the commute much better than expected. Both O'Hare and Midway airports are expected to cancel flights Tuesday evening as the storm passes through.
Storm projections have the most snow falling around the Midway airport area, as well as the far north suburbs. The northern suburbs have endured most of the brunt of the storms that swept through the Chicago area in the last two weeks. This storm's projected totals are in the 7-10-inch range; however, forecasters are being conservative in their predictions. The last two storms were supposed to wallop the city but stayed under the 6-inch mark. Perennial WGN-TV weather expert Tom Skilling says that this will be Chicago's biggest single snowfall of the season. Amy Seeley with the National Weather Service told the Chicago Tribune that the worst part of the snow will be during rush hour Tuesday evening and cautioned against travel.
The winds will pick up while the storm moves through Chicago, creating poor visibility, but the storm won't bring bitter cold. The temperatures are expected to hover around freezing and move back up into the mid-30s and 40s as the storm leaves town. If the storm does dump the over 10 inches of snow the computer models are predicting, it will bump the area past the snowfall average we usually see this time of year. For a winter that began balmy and dry, it seems to want to leave with a reminder for Chicagoans of how nice they had it in December.
Obama rounds out Cabinet with EPA, Energy picks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced his nominees to lead a new U.S. push to tackle climate change on Monday, choosing an air quality expert to run the Environmental Protection Agency and a nuclear physicist to head the Department of Energy.
In a widely expected move, Obama selected agency veteran Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as EPA administrator and scientist Ernest Moniz from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take over for Steven Chu as Energy secretary.
Obama also announced his choice to lead the White House budget office - Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Walmart Foundation, a charitable group with ties to giant retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
McCarthy and Moniz Round out the team Obama hopes will carry out his second term energy agenda. They join Sally Jewell, nominated last month to run the Interior Department.
The trio will be at the forefront of divisive issues surrounding the extent of U.S. natural gas exports and a possible move into crude oil exports, hydraulic fracturing and climate change.
The president, whose effort to establish a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions failed in his first term, prominently raised the issue of global warming in his Inaugural and State of the Union addresses earlier this year.
He urged Congress to embrace a market-based mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or face executive action from his administration to achieve the same goal.
McCarthy, currently the assistant EPA administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, has worked for Democrats and Republicans in the past, including Obama's 2012 presidential opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
'Gina has focused on practical, cost-effective ways to keep our air clean and our economy growing,' Obama said at the White House, ribbing McCarthy for her Boston accent.
'She's earned a reputation as a straight shooter. She welcomes different points of views,' he said.
Environmentalists and congressional Democrats largely welcomed her nomination, but she is likely to face tough grilling from Republicans, who have accused her of promoting policies that cost jobs.
Moniz, meanwhile, would become the go-to person for Obama's goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and establishing America as a leader in clean energy technology.
A former undersecretary of energy during the Clinton administration, Moniz is currently director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from industry heavyweights including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco for academic work on projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
'Ernie knows that we can produce more energy and grow our economy while still taking care of our air, our water and our climate,' Obama said.
Moniz's selection was greeted with less enthusiasm from the environmental community.
'Ernest Moniz ... has a history of supporting dirty and dangerous energy sources like gas and nuclear power with polluting partners including BP, Shell, Chevron and Saudi Aramco,' said clean energy advocate Courtney Abrams of Environment America.
'We are concerned about the Department of Energy's priorities given this track record and hope Moniz will focus on clean, renewable ways to get our energy that don't put our families and our environment in harm's way.'
NATURAL GAS, NUCLEAR
Elgie Holstein, chief of staff at the Energy Department when Moniz was hired during the Clinton administration, dismissed complaints that Moniz is too supportive of natural gas.
'I think the view that he is some sort of fracking fiend is entirely misplaced. He has a very balanced view of that,' said Holstein, who is now with the Environmental Defense Fund.
One of the first decisions facing Moniz will face at the helm of the Energy Department is whether to allow exports of natural gas to more than the current list of countries.
A 2011 MIT study on the future of natural gas, chaired by Moniz, said the United States should not 'erect barriers to natural gas imports or exports.'
Many manufacturers and some lawmakers are concerned more exports will mean higher natural gas prices for consumers and companies. Moniz is likely to be questioned about the issue during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Energy analysts cautioned against placing too much weight on Moniz' involvement in the study advocating against restrictions on exports.
'Moniz may contribute, but we don't think he alone will decisively shift top-level debate within the White House policy ranks,' Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners said in a research note regarding gas exports.
Moniz may be able to make a bigger stamp on nuclear power. His background as a nuclear physicist and work as a member of the administration's commission on nuclear waste has sparked some hopes that he may be able to bolster support for nuclear power at the department.
'The real question mark is the nuclear side because of his expertise, but I think it's a real opportunity,' said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Texas.
BUDGET DIRECTOR
The choice of Burwell to become director of the White House budget office had also been widely expected.
All three nominations require confirmation by the Senate.
Obama appears to have delayed some Cabinet appointments, whose names were well known for weeks, until after the March 1 deadline for massive spending cuts known as 'sequestration.'
Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement to delay those cuts on Friday, threatening other policy priorities in the president's second term agenda.
Burwell will be instrumental in steering the budget process that will encapsulate Obama's stated goal of reducing the U.S. deficit while investing in areas such as education and clean energy technology that are necessary for U.S. competitiveness.
Raised in West Virginia and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Burwell, 47, returns to an agency where she was once deputy director - one of a number of roles she had in the Clinton administration, including a stint as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Ayesha Rascoe and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Jackie Frank)
In a widely expected move, Obama selected agency veteran Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as EPA administrator and scientist Ernest Moniz from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take over for Steven Chu as Energy secretary.
Obama also announced his choice to lead the White House budget office - Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Walmart Foundation, a charitable group with ties to giant retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
McCarthy and Moniz Round out the team Obama hopes will carry out his second term energy agenda. They join Sally Jewell, nominated last month to run the Interior Department.
The trio will be at the forefront of divisive issues surrounding the extent of U.S. natural gas exports and a possible move into crude oil exports, hydraulic fracturing and climate change.
The president, whose effort to establish a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions failed in his first term, prominently raised the issue of global warming in his Inaugural and State of the Union addresses earlier this year.
He urged Congress to embrace a market-based mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or face executive action from his administration to achieve the same goal.
McCarthy, currently the assistant EPA administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, has worked for Democrats and Republicans in the past, including Obama's 2012 presidential opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
'Gina has focused on practical, cost-effective ways to keep our air clean and our economy growing,' Obama said at the White House, ribbing McCarthy for her Boston accent.
'She's earned a reputation as a straight shooter. She welcomes different points of views,' he said.
Environmentalists and congressional Democrats largely welcomed her nomination, but she is likely to face tough grilling from Republicans, who have accused her of promoting policies that cost jobs.
Moniz, meanwhile, would become the go-to person for Obama's goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and establishing America as a leader in clean energy technology.
A former undersecretary of energy during the Clinton administration, Moniz is currently director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from industry heavyweights including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco for academic work on projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
'Ernie knows that we can produce more energy and grow our economy while still taking care of our air, our water and our climate,' Obama said.
Moniz's selection was greeted with less enthusiasm from the environmental community.
'Ernest Moniz ... has a history of supporting dirty and dangerous energy sources like gas and nuclear power with polluting partners including BP, Shell, Chevron and Saudi Aramco,' said clean energy advocate Courtney Abrams of Environment America.
'We are concerned about the Department of Energy's priorities given this track record and hope Moniz will focus on clean, renewable ways to get our energy that don't put our families and our environment in harm's way.'
NATURAL GAS, NUCLEAR
Elgie Holstein, chief of staff at the Energy Department when Moniz was hired during the Clinton administration, dismissed complaints that Moniz is too supportive of natural gas.
'I think the view that he is some sort of fracking fiend is entirely misplaced. He has a very balanced view of that,' said Holstein, who is now with the Environmental Defense Fund.
One of the first decisions facing Moniz will face at the helm of the Energy Department is whether to allow exports of natural gas to more than the current list of countries.
A 2011 MIT study on the future of natural gas, chaired by Moniz, said the United States should not 'erect barriers to natural gas imports or exports.'
Many manufacturers and some lawmakers are concerned more exports will mean higher natural gas prices for consumers and companies. Moniz is likely to be questioned about the issue during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Energy analysts cautioned against placing too much weight on Moniz' involvement in the study advocating against restrictions on exports.
'Moniz may contribute, but we don't think he alone will decisively shift top-level debate within the White House policy ranks,' Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners said in a research note regarding gas exports.
Moniz may be able to make a bigger stamp on nuclear power. His background as a nuclear physicist and work as a member of the administration's commission on nuclear waste has sparked some hopes that he may be able to bolster support for nuclear power at the department.
'The real question mark is the nuclear side because of his expertise, but I think it's a real opportunity,' said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Texas.
BUDGET DIRECTOR
The choice of Burwell to become director of the White House budget office had also been widely expected.
All three nominations require confirmation by the Senate.
Obama appears to have delayed some Cabinet appointments, whose names were well known for weeks, until after the March 1 deadline for massive spending cuts known as 'sequestration.'
Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement to delay those cuts on Friday, threatening other policy priorities in the president's second term agenda.
Burwell will be instrumental in steering the budget process that will encapsulate Obama's stated goal of reducing the U.S. deficit while investing in areas such as education and clean energy technology that are necessary for U.S. competitiveness.
Raised in West Virginia and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Burwell, 47, returns to an agency where she was once deputy director - one of a number of roles she had in the Clinton administration, including a stint as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Ayesha Rascoe and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Jackie Frank)
Snowstorm hits north central U.S., heading toward mid-Atlantic
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A blizzard roared into North Dakota on Monday and was expected to dump up to a foot of snow in neighboring Minnesota before moving east over the mid-Atlantic states, where it could bury the Washington area with its biggest snowfall of the winter, the National Weather Service said.
Blowing snow and drifts up to 3 feet left parts of northeast Montana and the northwest North Dakota oil region with visibility at a quarter of mile under blizzard conditions that were expected to last into Monday afternoon, the weather service said.
Grand Forks, on the eastern border with Minnesota, reported 6 inches of snow on Monday morning and was expecting about 10 inches overall.
The North Dakota transportation department is recommending 'no travel' on numerous roads across the northwestern part of the state where there is a blizzard, and a stretch of Interstate 94 from west of Fargo to east of Bismarck.
The state, known for winter blizzards, took the latest storm in stride.
'It's a normal late winter storm for us,' said Adam Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area expected a couple of inches of snow Monday from a separate storm system and up to 10 inches of snow from the main winter storm, mostly overnight into Tuesday morning, the weather service said.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had 98 flight cancellations on Monday morning and O'Hare International Airport 38, FlightAware.com reported.
Overall, the winter storm is expected to stretch across North Dakota, much of Minnesota, northern Iowa, western Wisconsin and then into northern Illinois later on Monday.
Northeastern Illinois, including Chicago, was forecast to receive 6 to 9 inches of snow overall, starting from Monday night and becoming more intense Tuesday, spanning the morning and evening rush hours, the weather service said.
The storm was forecast to move east, reaching the Ohio Valley, the mid-Atlantic states and the Washington area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
'This will be certainly the biggest snowstorm for the winter in this area,' said National Weather Service forecaster Bruce Sullivan, who is in Maryland.
Forecasting models varied, but the system could dump anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow over northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Sullivan said.
It will bring a cold, dry snow over the mountains of Virginia and a heavy, wet snow east of Washington, he said.
One of the more challenging aspects is predicting how much snow would fall on or east of heavily traveled Interstate 95 in Virginia and Maryland, forecasters said.
'We are into March now. It may start out as a little bit of rain and just how quickly it changes into snow will impact how much we get,' Sullivan said.
(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton and Ian Simpson; Editing by Vicki Allen, Philip Barbara and Richard Chang)
Blowing snow and drifts up to 3 feet left parts of northeast Montana and the northwest North Dakota oil region with visibility at a quarter of mile under blizzard conditions that were expected to last into Monday afternoon, the weather service said.
Grand Forks, on the eastern border with Minnesota, reported 6 inches of snow on Monday morning and was expecting about 10 inches overall.
The North Dakota transportation department is recommending 'no travel' on numerous roads across the northwestern part of the state where there is a blizzard, and a stretch of Interstate 94 from west of Fargo to east of Bismarck.
The state, known for winter blizzards, took the latest storm in stride.
'It's a normal late winter storm for us,' said Adam Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area expected a couple of inches of snow Monday from a separate storm system and up to 10 inches of snow from the main winter storm, mostly overnight into Tuesday morning, the weather service said.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had 98 flight cancellations on Monday morning and O'Hare International Airport 38, FlightAware.com reported.
Overall, the winter storm is expected to stretch across North Dakota, much of Minnesota, northern Iowa, western Wisconsin and then into northern Illinois later on Monday.
Northeastern Illinois, including Chicago, was forecast to receive 6 to 9 inches of snow overall, starting from Monday night and becoming more intense Tuesday, spanning the morning and evening rush hours, the weather service said.
The storm was forecast to move east, reaching the Ohio Valley, the mid-Atlantic states and the Washington area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
'This will be certainly the biggest snowstorm for the winter in this area,' said National Weather Service forecaster Bruce Sullivan, who is in Maryland.
Forecasting models varied, but the system could dump anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow over northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Sullivan said.
It will bring a cold, dry snow over the mountains of Virginia and a heavy, wet snow east of Washington, he said.
One of the more challenging aspects is predicting how much snow would fall on or east of heavily traveled Interstate 95 in Virginia and Maryland, forecasters said.
'We are into March now. It may start out as a little bit of rain and just how quickly it changes into snow will impact how much we get,' Sullivan said.
(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton and Ian Simpson; Editing by Vicki Allen, Philip Barbara and Richard Chang)
Snowstorm to hit north central U.S., mid-Atlantic
(Reuters) - A snowstorm was forecast to hit the north central United States on Monday and move eastward over the mid-Atlantic states, giving the Washington area its biggest snowfall of the winter, the National Weather Service said.
Blizzard and winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of Montana, the Dakotas and the upper Midwest, National Weather Service forecaster Bruce Sullivan said.
The storm was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of snow from North Dakota to northern Iowa and Illinois on Monday.
Heavier amounts of up to a foot of snow are possible in the upper Midwest and some areas could see freezing rain, leading to hazardous travel conditions, forecasters said. Temperatures in the 20s and 30s were expected.
The storm was forecast to move east, reaching the Ohio Valley, the mid-Atlantic states and the Washington area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
'This will be certainly the biggest snowstorm for the winter in this area,' said Sullivan, who is in Maryland.
Forecasting models varied, but the system could dump anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow over northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Sullivan said.
It will bring a cold, dry snow over the mountains of Virginia and a heavy, wet snow east of Washington, he said.
One of the more challenging aspects of the storm is predicting how much snow would fall on or east of heavily traveled Interstate 95 in Virginia and Maryland, the forecasters said.
'We are into March now. It may start out as a little bit of rain and just how quickly it changes into snow will impact how much we get,' Sullivan said.
'Every computer model we're showing right now has Washington getting some snow.'
(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)
Blizzard and winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of Montana, the Dakotas and the upper Midwest, National Weather Service forecaster Bruce Sullivan said.
The storm was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of snow from North Dakota to northern Iowa and Illinois on Monday.
Heavier amounts of up to a foot of snow are possible in the upper Midwest and some areas could see freezing rain, leading to hazardous travel conditions, forecasters said. Temperatures in the 20s and 30s were expected.
The storm was forecast to move east, reaching the Ohio Valley, the mid-Atlantic states and the Washington area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
'This will be certainly the biggest snowstorm for the winter in this area,' said Sullivan, who is in Maryland.
Forecasting models varied, but the system could dump anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow over northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Sullivan said.
It will bring a cold, dry snow over the mountains of Virginia and a heavy, wet snow east of Washington, he said.
One of the more challenging aspects of the storm is predicting how much snow would fall on or east of heavily traveled Interstate 95 in Virginia and Maryland, the forecasters said.
'We are into March now. It may start out as a little bit of rain and just how quickly it changes into snow will impact how much we get,' Sullivan said.
'Every computer model we're showing right now has Washington getting some snow.'
(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)
Readers Write: The advantages of a decreasing Western birth rate
PLUSES OF A DECLINING BIRTHRATE
I was very surprised and dismayed that in the Feb. 4 article 'Behind a looming baby bust' there was no mention of the problem of overpopulation worldwide. The burgeoning birthrate adds to the problems of global warming, pollution, hunger, disease, and warfare. Perhaps in the United States it is desirable to have more babies from the standpoint of the economy, but if a broader global view is taken, a decreased birthrate seems like a good thing.
Lynda Sayre
Big Sur, Calif.
Reducing the population in Europe, North America, Japan, and Russia could help improve the imbalance between Earth's natural resources and population. The true measure of overpopulation is the ability of ecological processes to break down human waste such as CO2.
Human population should be managed, rather than societies having to react to the consequences of too many or too few people. That management of numbers need not be as desperate as the Chinese effort, but could be as simple as removing the US dependent tax deduction that rewards having more children than the planet can support. As populations shrink, the gross national product could actually shrink without negatively affecting the standard of living.
David M. Fitch
Astoria, Ore.
The article asserts that with a decreased US birthrate there won't be enough workers to maintain product output or to be able to support 'unproductive' seniors, which make up a higher proportion of the population. But didn't John Yemma's UpFront column in this same issue ('Machines versus people') point out that fewer people are needed to maintain productivity each year as machines replace them? So why do we need more kids who will grow up facing fewer jobs?
Germany's economy is the envy of the necktie set, and that nation's birthrate is way below replacement. It's the same with Sweden, which consistently ranks among the best places in the world to live. A world where a person has only three functions - to work enough to consume enough and to raise enough babies so our numbers can increase - isn't a very satisfying one, at least to me.
Robert Weeden
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Related stories
Become a part of the Monitor community
I was very surprised and dismayed that in the Feb. 4 article 'Behind a looming baby bust' there was no mention of the problem of overpopulation worldwide. The burgeoning birthrate adds to the problems of global warming, pollution, hunger, disease, and warfare. Perhaps in the United States it is desirable to have more babies from the standpoint of the economy, but if a broader global view is taken, a decreased birthrate seems like a good thing.
Lynda Sayre
Big Sur, Calif.
Reducing the population in Europe, North America, Japan, and Russia could help improve the imbalance between Earth's natural resources and population. The true measure of overpopulation is the ability of ecological processes to break down human waste such as CO2.
Human population should be managed, rather than societies having to react to the consequences of too many or too few people. That management of numbers need not be as desperate as the Chinese effort, but could be as simple as removing the US dependent tax deduction that rewards having more children than the planet can support. As populations shrink, the gross national product could actually shrink without negatively affecting the standard of living.
David M. Fitch
Astoria, Ore.
The article asserts that with a decreased US birthrate there won't be enough workers to maintain product output or to be able to support 'unproductive' seniors, which make up a higher proportion of the population. But didn't John Yemma's UpFront column in this same issue ('Machines versus people') point out that fewer people are needed to maintain productivity each year as machines replace them? So why do we need more kids who will grow up facing fewer jobs?
Germany's economy is the envy of the necktie set, and that nation's birthrate is way below replacement. It's the same with Sweden, which consistently ranks among the best places in the world to live. A world where a person has only three functions - to work enough to consume enough and to raise enough babies so our numbers can increase - isn't a very satisfying one, at least to me.
Robert Weeden
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Related stories
- Focus: Behind the falling US birthrate: too much student debt to afford kids?
- Opinion: World population hits 7 billion, but there are easy ways to curb growth
- The Monitor's View: Is the West's baby bust being busted?
- Bringing up baby in baby-scarce Germany
- The Monitor's View: Obama's lowdown on higher education and student loan debt
Become a part of the Monitor community
Obama to announce picks for EPA, Energy: official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will announce his intent on Monday to nominate air quality expert Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy, a White House official said.
McCarthy would likely become the face of Obama's latest push to fight climate change. Currently the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, she would replace Lisa Jackson, who has stepped down as EPA chief.
Moniz, a former undersecretary of energy during the Clinton administration, is director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from industry heavyweights including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco for academic work on projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
Moniz would replace Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who is stepping down.
The White House said Obama would make a personnel announcement at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT). The president also plans to announce his choice of Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Walmart Foundation, to become director of the White House budget office.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Vicki Allen)
McCarthy would likely become the face of Obama's latest push to fight climate change. Currently the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, she would replace Lisa Jackson, who has stepped down as EPA chief.
Moniz, a former undersecretary of energy during the Clinton administration, is director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from industry heavyweights including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco for academic work on projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
Moniz would replace Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who is stepping down.
The White House said Obama would make a personnel announcement at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT). The president also plans to announce his choice of Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Walmart Foundation, to become director of the White House budget office.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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