Monday, March 02, 2009

Obama Nominates Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of HHS

President Barack Obama has nominated Kansas governor Kathleen, right, to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Governor Sebelius has a very strong environmental record. She supports climate change mitigation, recyclying and increased renewables energy use. Governor Sebelius established a voluntary Renwable Portfolio Standard to requires utilties in the state to provide electricity using renewables in the following percentages: 10% by 2010, 20% by 2020 and [later increased to] 25% by 2025. She also called for a 10 percent reduction in overall energy use. (EXECUTIVE ORDER 08-03)

Governor Sebelius rejected the construction of a huge coal plant on the grounds that carbon dioxide is a pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act. Last fall, the Secretary of the Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment (KDHE), Rod Bremby, turned down permits for the building of two new mega-huge coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. Bremby cited the plants' potential CO2 emissions of up to 11 million tons a year and said the state of Kansas couldn't ignore the dangers of global warming. Kansas relies on coal-fired plants to provide 75 percent of its electricity. (DOE) (Everyday Citizen)

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