Obama Hires Green Cap-and-Trade Advocate to Advise Him on Economics of Energy

"It s clear Obama is keeping his radical environmental agenda alive and well," Tom Borelli of our Free Enterprise Project says, "By bringing the so-called economic brains of cap-and-trade in the White House, Obama can still execute his war on fossil fuels... Hiring an economist from the [Environmental Defense Fund] will keep environmentalists happy."

Tom's remarks appeared in an Amanda Carey article in The Daily Caller.

Carey's article begins: On Monday, the Obama administration announced it had hired an environmental economist from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to join the National Economic Council. ...Nat Keohane, a long-time advocate of cap and trade, will now be advising President Obama on the economics of energy and environmental issues.

With Keohane s addition, it now looks like the Obama administration is preparing to go to battle against congressional Republicans who balk at the prospect of any environmental legislation. But Keohane s hire also represents something else the continuation of Obama placing global warming alarmists in positions to have major influence on environmental policy.

While Keohane has never acted as a lobbyist, he heavily pushed for energy legislation like cap and trade while at EDF. The EDF is also a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership a lobbying coalition of businesses and environmental groups that pushes energy legislation... Carey also said, "Keohane... compare[d] cap and trade to other landmark pieces of legislation from the more liberal Congresses. 'Remember, some of the most important laws in our nation s history social security, civil rights, the Clean Air Act were all seen as imperfect, but all of them ended up changing the nation profoundly.'"

Dr. Keohane, we agree that cap-and-trade could change the nation profoundly. It's just that a job-killing, put-the-feds-in-charge-of-a-key-unit-of-production profound change such as cap-and-trade would be bad for us.