Part AA of Third Release of HQ-FOI-01268-12

633 Pages·2013·7.71 MB·English

Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Adora Andy/DC/USEPA/US To Richard Windsor
10/06/2010 10:16 AM cc Alisha Johnson, Arvin Ganesan, Betsaida Alcantara, Brendan
Gilfillan, David McIntosh, Michael Moats, Seth Oster
bcc
Subject Re: POLITICO: RAHM TAKES LABOLT
!!!
Richard Windsor "The boys" ??? ----- Original Messa... 10/06/2010 10:15:39 AM
From: Richard Windsor/DC/USEPA/US
To: Adora Andy/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, David McIntosh/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Seth
Oster/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Arvin Ganesan/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Brendan
Gilfillan/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Betsaida Alcantara/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Alisha
Johnson/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Michael Moats/DC/USEPA/US@EPA
Date: 10/06/2010 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: POLITICO: RAHM TAKES LABOLT
"The boys" ???
Adora Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: Adora Andy
Sent: 10/06/2010 10:13 AM EDT
To: Richard Windsor; David McIntosh; Seth Oster; Arvin Ganesan; Brendan
Gilfillan; Betsaida Alcantara; Alisha Johnson; Michael Moats
Subject: POLITICO: RAHM TAKES LABOLT
Emanuel takes LaBolt with him
By: Carol E. Lee
October 6, 2010 12:00 AM EDT
A member of President Barack Obama’s close-knit team is leaving the White House to
work for former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral bid in Chicago, POLITICO has
learned.
Ben LaBolt, a native Chicagoan and one of Obama’s longest-serving press aides, will
serve as Emanuel’s campaign’s communications director, according to sources with
knowledge of the hire. LaBolt will leave his job as an assistant White House press
secretary by the end of October, sources said.
Emanuel was looking for someone with Chicago roots and a combative side for the
campaign he launched Sunday, just two days after leaving his White House post. LaBolt,
29, was born and raised in the Chicago area and understands the city’s media and
political worlds. He’s also known for his push-back on reporters writing stories he
perceives as unflattering and for serving as the point person on thorny issues. The hire
has been in the works for days, with the final details ironed out Tuesday.
LaBolt is a veteran in the Obama press operation who served as Obama's press
secretary when he was in the Senate and worked on his presidential campaign from the
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
start. In January 2009, he become one of a handful of spokesmen to work under White
House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
LaBolt has been tasked with handling several high-profile controversie for Obama. During
the campaign it was speculation about the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate, and
later it was questions about the indictment and subsequent trial of former Illinois Gov.
Rod Blagojevich.
His official White House portfolio includes issues that fell within the departments of
Energy, Interior, Commerce and Justice. So he’s handled press for Obama’s Supreme
Court nominees and worked on the BP oil spill – the politics of it, not the nitty-gritty details
of the response. His duties have also at times included acting as spokesman for the
White House Counsel’s office and Carol Browner, Obama’s top adviser on energy and
climate change.
Prior to his time with Obama, LaBolt served as press secretary and legislative assistant to
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). A graduate of Middlebury College, he’s also worked at the
Democratic National Committee, on Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign and as
press secretary for Sherrod Brown’s successful 2006 Senate campaign in Ohio.
LaBolt’s departure will be a loss for his White House colleagues, with whom he has close
friendships and has shared tight working quarters on a daily basis since the beginning of
the Obama campaign in 2007. He will be the first of the small circle of press aides – “the
boys” as they’re known – to leave the White House.
Not that Obama’s communications shop hasn’t seen its share of change.
Former EMILY’s List executive director Ellen Moran left her position as White House
communications director less than three months after Obama took office after it became
clear the job wasn’t the right fit. Veteran Democratic strategist Anita Dunn took over in the
interim until Dan Pfeiffer was permanently given the job in November 2009.
Deputy communications director Jen Psaki was promoted from deputy press secretary
shortly after Pfeiffer moved up. Psaki was replaced by Amy Brundage, who had been
regional communications director. And Caroline Hughes became a press assistant when
Priya Singh left to become an aide to United Nations ambassador Susan Rice.
LaBolt’s replacement has not been named.
Adora Andy
Deputy Associate Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education
202-564-2715
[email protected]
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Adora Andy/DC/USEPA/US To "Shawn Garvin", "Peter Silva", "Richard Windsor", "Bob
Perciasepe", "Diane Thompson", "Bob Sussman", "David
10/12/2010 08:58 AM
McIntosh", "Seth Oster", "Arvin Ganesan", "Stephanie
Owens", Sarah Pallone, "Dru Ealons"
cc "Betsaida Alcantara", "Brendan Gilfillan", "Alisha Johnson"
bcc
Subject HEADS UP: Manchin Ad shoots Climate Bill (Literally)
In a new Manchin Ad in WV, the Governor is walking through the wilderness, holding a single-barrel shot
gun with scope. He uses gun imagery and language to show he protects the 2nd amendment and his
NRA endorsement. He uses words like "defend West VA," "take on Washington." The kicker: "I sued EPA
and I'll take dead aim [aims gun downrage at target, pulls trigger, shot rings out] at the climate bill."
[Reveal close up of Climate Bill hanging from target with a bullet hole through the middle] "Because it's
bad for West Virginia."
###
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Betsaida To Richard Windsor
Alcantara/DC/USEPA/US
cc
09/22/2010 01:26 PM
bcc
Subject Re: Greenwire -- WHITE HOUSE: Cabinet meeting yields
'environmental justice' pledges
Also had greenwire change headline. It wasn't an official cabinet mtg which the headline implies. They've
changed that as well. I'll share the rest of the articles as soon as they post.
Betsaida Alcantara
----- Original Message -----
From: Betsaida Alcantara
Sent: 09/22/2010 12:56 PM EDT
To: Richard Windsor
Subject: Greenwire -- WHITE HOUSE: Cabinet meeting yields 'environmental
justice' pledges
i had a nice talk to this greenwire reporter. here's his article. all good
WHITE HOUSE: Cabinet meeting yields 'environmental justice' pledges (Wednesday, September 22,
2010)
Gabriel Nelson, E&E reporter
During a meeting this morning at the White House, the heads of U.S. EPA, the Interior Department, the
Transportation Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed to update
their environmental justice plans by next fall and to restart a long-dormant panel that was created to
address that issue.
The Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice, formed in 1994 by President Clinton under
Executive Order 12898, had not convened at the Cabinet level since the middle of the Clinton
administration, EPA said today. The agencies will now meet monthly to discuss environmental justice,
with their top officials gathering for follow-up Cabinet sessions in April and October of next year.
Today's meeting showed that the individual agencies have already made environmental justice a priority,
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Greenwire today.
"There's a lot of legwork that goes into the kind of work we heard from each one of the agencies in the
room," Jackson said, explaining why the panel hadn't gathered since President Obama took office. "None
of these agencies, and certainly not my own, have waited in terms of impacting and acting on
environmental justice."
Attorney General Eric Holder presented a plan to improve enforcement under Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, she said. HUD Secretary
Shaun Donovan discussed the fair distribution of disaster relief funding, and DOT Secretary Ray LaHood
outlined the agency's role in promoting sustainable development.
Since the start of her tenure, Jackson has made environmental justice a priority at EPA, listing it in a draft
strategic plan as one of the agency's seven priorities for the next five years. As part of the so-called
"Environmental Justice Tour," she has joined members of the Congressional Black Caucus on visits to
areas facing environmental distress.
EPA is currently taking comment on draft guidance, released earlier this summer, that tells employees
how to factor environmental justice into their decisions. The agency is also working on a screening tool
that uses demographic and pollution data to identify pockets of people who have suffered more than most
(Greenwire, July 30).
The administration announced today that it will schedule regional "listening sessions" on environmental
justice next year and hold a White House forum on the topic. Though President Obama is drawing intense
fire from Republicans, who say his regulatory agenda has slowed the recovery of the economy, Jackson
said the meeting on environmental justice was not an effort to respond to that criticism.
"This meeting wasn't about politics," she said. "A clean environment is not a political issue -- every
American wants and demands a clean and healthy environment."
Today's meeting was also attended by Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Environmental Quality; Carol Browner, the White House climate and energy adviser and a former EPA
director; John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Melody
Barnes, director of the White House Office of Domestic Policy; and Martha Johnson, head of the General
Services Administration.
"This country was built on the promise of equal opportunity for all of us, yet low-income families and
minority communities shoulder a disproportionate amount of pollution and environmental degradation,"
Sutley said in a statement. "We cannot and will not ignore these disparities."
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Betsaida To Richard Windsor
Alcantara/DC/USEPA/US
cc
12/04/2009 10:07 AM
bcc
Subject Re: POLITICO: Lisa Jackson
this is such a nice little present on a cloudy Friday morning here :)
we'll post on facebook.
Richard Windsor Nice opening! ----- Original Messag... 12/04/2009 10:03:40 AM
From: Richard Windsor/DC/USEPA/US
To: Betsaida Alcantara/DC/USEPA/US@EPA
Date: 12/04/2009 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: POLITICO: Lisa Jackson
Nice opening!
Betsaida Alcantara
----- Original Message -----
From: Betsaida Alcantara
Sent: 12/04/2009 10:02 AM EST
To: Richard Windsor
Cc: Allyn Brooks-LaSure
Subject: POLITICO: Lisa Jackson
Lisa Jackson
By: Alexander Burns
December 3, 2009 11:57 PM EST
Of all the Obama administration officials headed to Copenhagen, Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson may be the one most directly engaged in
the fight against global warming.
Since last April, when the EPA issued a ruling calling climate change a threat to public
health, Jackson has been positioning her agency to start placing restrictions on carbon
emissions. And even in the initial announcement of the EPA’s decision to label carbon a
pollutant, Jackson framed the move in terms of comprehensive energy reform.
“This pollution problem has a solution — one that will create millions of green jobs and
end our country’s dependence on foreign oil,” Jackson said.
The former New Jersey environmental protection commissioner has reassured legislators
that she does not intend to dictate the kinds of large-scale regulatory shifts under
consideration in Congress.
“Even as the president and the members of his Cabinet move forward under existing
authority, we continue urging Congress to pass a new clean energy law,” Jackson told a
Senate panel in late October. “Only new legislation can bring about the comprehensive
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
and integrated changes that are needed to restore America’s economic health and keep
the nation secure over the long term.”
But the EPA’s steps toward curbing emissions are unmistakable: The agency recently
proposed a new rule requiring power plants exceeding a certain carbon output to
demonstrate that they are minimizing emissions to the greatest degree possible.
So far, the White House has Jackson’s back. In a recent news briefing, press secretary
Robert Gibbs cast steps toward regulating carbon as legal necessities.
“There’s a Supreme Court order that this is an issue that has to be dealt with,” Gibbs
said. “The president has said throughout this process that the way to deal with this is
through legislation. That’s what we’re trying to do, and that’s what we hope to do.”
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Betsaida To Richard Windsor, Bob Perciasepe, Bob Sussman, Nancy
Alcantara/DC/USEPA/US Stoner, Brendan Gilfillan, Adora Andy, Diane Thompson,
Arvin Ganesan, David McIntosh, Daniel Kanninen, Bob
05/11/2011 01:45 PM
Sussman
cc
bcc
Subject Politico: GOP slams EPA's 'war on coal'
GOP slams EPA's 'war on coal'
By Darren Samuelsohn
POLITICO Pro
5/11/11 1:32 PM EDT
House Republicans slammed the EPA Wednesday for waging a "war on coal" that has left
industry struggling to meet a shifting landscape of environmental regulations.
About a dozen GOP members of a Transportation and Infrastructure panel unloaded on the
Obama administration for tightening standards last spring on mining companies that need Clean
Water Act permits and also for banning mine operators from filling stream valleys with rock
waste — a critical step in mountaintop removal mining.
EPA acting water chief Nancy Stoner defended her agency's work, explaining that it is taking
industry concerns into account even as it follows legal requirements to protect public health and
the environment. “We've stood our ground based on peer-reviewed science,” she said.
But Republicans weren't buying her arguments, complaining that the EPA has skirted advice
from the Army Corps of Engineers and state officials, including in mining heavyweight West
Virginia.
"Actions speak louder than words," said West Virginia Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.
“You are running roughshod as an agency,” added Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).
Before Stoner could testify, GOP lawmakers made her sit through 90 minutes of complaints from
an opening panel of mining industry advocates.
Mike Carey, head of the Ohio Coal Association and a frequent critic of Democratic
environmental policies, singled out EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who he said has been
waging a “war on coal” dating back to her time atop the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection.
There, Carey complained that Jackson had blocked construction of new coal plants. "She may
not be calling for a moratorium today, but her regulatory policies are certainly creating them," he
said.
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Several green activists who filled the hearing room burst out at one point in protest of the
GOP-led hearing, prompting Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) and committee staff to threaten their
removal from the room. Three people then put tape over their mouths in protest.
Environmentalists got some help from the Democratic end of the dais. California Rep. Laura
Richardson said Carey's comments targeting Jackson were "a little over the top, in my opinion."
"We don't attack our administrator," she said. "I don't believe we allow people giving testimony
[to do that] either."
Subcommittee ranking member Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) also defended the Obama administration,
citing the EPA's clearance rate on Clean Water Act mining permits held over from the George
W. Bush administration.
Release 3 - HQ-FOI-01268-12 All emails sent by "Richard Windsor" were sent by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson