Transcript
12:27 Fred Barbash:
Hello everyone and welcome to the 2nd edition of the Scouting Report, a live web chat produced by The Brookings Institution and Politico as part of Brookings Presidential Transition Project. I’m Fred Barbash, Politico Senior Editor, and I’ll be moderating today’s chat. On hand to answer your questions is Brookings Managing Director William Antholis. William is an expert on climate change and is here today to talk about aspects of the Presidential Transition related to climate change and energy security. Let’s get started.
I’d like to kick things off with a question we received via email this morning.
How will governing institutions need to change, both in the White House and Congress, to better address energy security challenges?
12:29 William Antholis: First, I think that the Obama team will move ahead and create a new National Energy Security Council, to work alongside the NSC and NEC. Then, you will see internal reorganization within the Department of Energy and other key cabinet agencies, to raise the priority of green energy, energy efficiency, and, of course, addressing climate change. Within EPA, climate change will likely become the single most important subject for the agency. In Congress, there are currently four or five subcommittees related to energy. These could rise to full committees of their own standing. There will probably be a committee shuffle in Congress.
12:30 Fred Barbash: William: This alone sounds like about four years of work, creating new structures, reorganizations, especially. How quickly could this realistically proceed? Don't you worry it could become bogged down in internal conflicts?
12:32 William Antholis: Exactly right. If you're in a leadership position, you have to take this in waves. In the first year, the White House effort can proceed pretty quickly, with a core staff of about seven or eight people. In the agencies, the top leadership will pull together working groups quite quickly. But after the first year, people will start to identify the boxes that need to be redrawn -- many of which will require legislation.
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