Sam Wright Bodman Is The Wrong Man For The Job

Sam Bodman, Bush's choice for Energy Secretary, has big shoes to fill - big, big shoes! Lots of information is being made public about him, after the flap that was the unassailable "Berned" Kerik.

Bodman is supposed to be this scientific whiz (he taught at MIT), yet the National Academy of Sciences giggled like little girls in response to his report on climate change awhile back. A fly on the wall told me scientists said, "What @$%&* language is this guy speaking?" Okay, the fly was John Podesta.

 

With his 14 years at the helm of Cabot Corp., a Boston-based chemical company with a spotty environmental record, Bodman has left conservationists worried about the affects his tenure may have on the nation’s natural resources. Okay, we're talking teeth chattering, nail-biting fear, folks.

Washington, D.C. is a far cry from Boston's Seaport Lane, where Bodman got his start in global dealings. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show Cabot Corp. had a weak environmental record, and paid hefty fines on two occasions during Bodman’s 14-year tenure. (Currently, Cabot’s Boyertown and Reading, PA, facilities are at the center of legislation alleging decades old beryllium poisoning.)

Refrains of “Sam who?” echoed through the Capitol following the announcement. Deputy Treasury Chief, Bodman, 66, is a mystery to industry insiders. Experts claim his selection is strategic, meant to allow Vice President Cheney a firmer grip on the department.

Karen Wayland, legislative director for Natural Resources Defense Council, told Reuters, “I think it’s pretty clear over the last four years that the energy plan the administration is pushing is taking its direction from the Vice President’s office.”

Cheney heads a task force Bush created in his first term. The National Energy Policy Development Group boasts high-ranking administration officials as members. Spencer Abraham, the outgoing energy secretary, repeatedly rebuffed environmental advocates who tried to schedule meetings with the group. Abraham allotted significant portions of time, however, to the energy industry.

A 2002 New York Times article revealed the President’s development group met secretly with energy executives at least one hundred times during Bush’s first five months in office. According to the Federal Election Commission, total contributions from energy and natural resources industries to the Republican camp exceeded $11 million in 2000, more than double what was donated to the Gore campaign. The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks the effect of money in politics, noted Bush received almost $4.5 million from the energy/natural resource industry for his 2004 election campaign.

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Don Evans - Bodman's former boss, the man who championed him to follow Abraham - steadily opposed environmental initiatives during his tenure as commerce secretary. Along with lobbyist and former RNC chair Haley Barbour, Evans convinced the administration to reverse its campaign promise of increased blockages on carbon dioxide emissions, a 2002 AP article suggested.

 

 

The Center for American Progress, John Podesta’s Washington think-tank, said Don Evans, as Bush’s campaign manager, raised more money from oil and gas industries in the 2000 race than the 10-year tallies of every other candidate on record. (Podesta served as Bill Clinton’s Chief-of-Staff, 1998-2001).

 

If Sam Bodman wins Senate approval, the former president of Fidelity Investments will utilize one-third of the Energy Department’s annual budget for environmental responsibilities like clearing the nation’s nuclear waste. Bodman will manage development of “clean-coal” technologies and hydrogen powered automobiles, both items on the president’s agenda. He will also be in charge of helping push through completion of a nuclear waste disposal center in the Yucca Mountains of Nevada.

 

Bodman’s biggest challenge, however, will be convincing the public that the way to independence from foreign energy is through an oilrig in Alaska. He must get Congress to agree with President Bush’s long-term goal of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

 

 

Drilling in the 19 million acre refuge has been intensely debated for two decades. Henry Lee, an environment and energy professor at Harvard University, said oil from the refuge would not make a dent in overwhelming national need. In a 2003 interview with Knight Ridder News Service, Lee said administration predictions are inflating potential yields. Estimations of 1.4 million barrels per day are based on oil in the ground; they discount production factors that swallow a significant amount of surplus.

All this really hits home for me. George Bush is a guy with character. I don't think that's phony. He believes what he does is good. Cheney, however, has the environment and the energy supply in his back pocket. Maybe this is just me - post election depression- but I didn't vote for Dick Cheney to be president.

In a VP smackdown, I'm going with the cute lil' loyah.

 

A frequent contributor to online and print publications, Moore is best known for her massive collection of Tom Snyder quotes. "You know the two things I like best about Larry King? His face!"

Visit her blog, updated semi-weekly, where she rips on Visa, why the world is the way it is, and other earth shattering topics.

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