(Energy Adviser) "Carol Browner to leave White House"

[Clio the Leo]

Shot...

Kerry: Obama to embrace 'major initiatives' on climate in SOTU
By Michael O'Brien - 01/24/11 04:05 PM ET

President Obama is likely to announce "major initiatives" on energy and climate change in his State of the Union address, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Monday.

Kerry, the informal leader of the Senate effort to pass legislation to rein in global warming, encouraged the president to announce ambitious plans on energy and climate policy during Tuesday's speech, and said he expected Obama to do so.

"I hope that the president tomorrow, in his SOTU address, will embrace major initiatives — I expect him to," Kerry said on WBUR radio in reference to energy and climate legislation.

Kerry had sought, with the Obama administration's support, to craft bipartisan legislation with Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that addressed energy and climate issues. But those talks eventually collapsed, and Republican senators refused to agree to move ahead with a much more scaled-down energy bill toward the end of last year.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/139753-kerry-obama-to-embrace-major-initiatives-on-climate-in-sotu

Chaser...

Carol Browner to leave White House
By MIKE ALLEN | 1/24/11 8:43 PM EST Updated: 1/24/11 8:48 PM EST

Carol M. Browner, President Barack Obama’s energy adviser, plans to leave the White House in coming weeks, White House officials said Monday night.

Browner, who is Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, was EPA administrator for all eight years under President Bill Clinton, and is one of the most experienced Washington hands in the West Wing.

Her calm, authoritative television presence during the BP oil disaster made her one of the few officials whose stature was enhanced in the aftermath of the Gulf catastrophe. But passage of a comprehensive energy bill, the chief goal of her office, seems unlikely under the House Republican majority.

Her departure comes as the West Wing undergoes a heavy makeover, including the arrival of Chief of Staff William Daley, a rare outsider in the top echelons of this administration.

Browner is likely to stay in Washington, but her future plans are undecided, according to colleagues.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48098.html