Today is a historic day with Barack Obama becoming our 44th president. With that change in Washington we’ll be having our own changes in Arizona with Janet Napolitano joining the Obama team as United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Many changes will come with that, but for this blog what might change in Arizona’s environmental policies? Here are a couple articles that speculate what may come.
Governor change could alter Az climate policy
PHOENIXM — The potential exit of Gov. Janet Napolitano for a position in the Obama administration could mean changes in state climate policies.Environmental groups, elected officials and other political watchers say that a new Republican administration under Jan Brewer would likely significantly reduce Arizona’s involvement in the Western Climate Initiative.Napolitano was an active and founding member of the regional effort, which brings several Western states together to limit and reduce man-made greenhouse gases, among other things… link
Jan Brewer’s move to governor could shift climate, budget priorities
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s expected exit to serve as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary under Barack Obama will leave Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer as governor and put Republicans in control of the Legislature and governor’s office.
That could result in the state pulling back from Napolitano-backed efforts on climate change, emissions caps, increased health insurance and education spending. It also could push the state forward on immigration controls and penalties for businesses hiring illegal immigrants and abortion rights restrictions, according to officials familiar with Brewer and Napolitano.
“I think we can kiss goodbye to the climate change efforts and any leadership on that,” said Sandy Bahr, state coordinator for the Sierra Club environmental group. “I don’t think much of the environmental progress will stay. With this legislature and Jan Brewer, we are in a world of hurt when it comes to protecting the state’s resources.”…. link
No related posts.
James Towner | Posted in 
Subscribe to Feed
January 20th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Thanks for the links, James. I really don’t know much about Jan Brewer, it is nice to see a couple views of how AZ could change. I am so happy that Obama is coming in but I am really sad to see Napolitano go. I am sure she will do great things in Washington.