Industry lobbyists fear President-elect Bill Clinton's choice of Carol Browner to head the Environmental Protection Agency could signal a return to hard-line regulation.
Browner, 37, is secretary of Florida's department of environmental regulation, the third largest state environmental agency in the nation with 1,500 employees.
She previously worked for Citizen Action, was on the staff of Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.), and then was legislative director for Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.).
When Chiles was elected Florida's governor 2 years ago, he recruited her to run the state environmental enforcement agency. Most recently, she has been Gore's liaison with the transition team.
WHO'S IN CONTROL
At Clinton's economic summit last week, Browner cited the need to streamline environmental permitting for industry and avoid conflict through better communication.
Industry will wish her success on that. The refining industry in particular will need a flexible EPA if it is to meet tougher gasoline standards required by law.
But the fact is Brown's appointment makes it clear-not that anyone had any doubts-that Clinton has ceded control of environmental policy to Vice President-elect Gore.
When Clinton erred on EPA history during his introduction of Browner, Gore corrected him. Clinton readily admitted, "Al knows more about it than I do."
During Clinton's economic summit, Gore chaired the discussion on the relationship between economic growth, technology, and environmental safeguards, Oilmen have good reason to be nervous about Gore's role in the Clinton administration. In all their big fights in Congress, Gore always was on the other side.
Another bad omen for the oil industry came last week when the National Commission on the Environment, a private group, released "Choosing a Sustainable Future."
The report recommended a $6/ton tax on carbon fuels, increasing to $30/ton in 5 years. That would equate to a $3.85/bbl tax on oil and 480/Mcf tax on natural gas at the end of 5 years. It also urged a 20/gal jump in the federal gasoline tax rising to an extra $1/gal in 5 years.
Although the Clinton transition team hasn't endorsed the report, it seems everyone advising the Clinton team on energy and environmental issues has.
Signatories to the report include Gus Speth, president of World Resources Institute and head of the energy and environment transition team, and Douglas Costle, a former EPA administrator who heads the Department of Energy team.
MCLARTY APPOINTMENT
Partially offsetting the negative news was Clinton's appointment of long time friend Thomas McLarty, chairman of Arkla Inc., to be his chief of staff.
McLarty will be Clinton's closest adviser, and because of his experience in the gas industry he may be able to prevent the new president from taking rash steps that would further cripple U.S. energy production.
Of course, it also would help if Clinton makes sensible choices for the secretaries of the Energy and Interior departments.
Frontrunners for those jobs are believed to be retiring Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colo.), former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, and Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.)
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
