Obama’s Interior Pick Seen Promoting Expanded Energy
From Bloomberg
By Jim Snyder
Sally Jewell, nominated to be U.S. Interior secretary, won praise from environmentalists as a conservation champion and from business groups that said she understands the importance of energy development on public land.
How well the head of a retail chain and former oil engineer manages the expectations of both camps will help determine if President Barack Obama can balance efforts to combat climate change with the push to extract more energy as a way to boost the economy, Joshua Freed, vice president for clean energy at The Third Way, said yesterday in an e-mail.
Naming “a businesswoman with a background in both sides of the mission is a great step,” said Freed, whose group says it promotes “pragmatic solutions” to public policy debates.
Jewell, 56, started working at Mobil Oil Corp. in 1978, moved into commercial banking then joined retailer Recreation Equipment Inc. in 2000 as chief operating officer. She is an outdoors enthusiast who climbed the 14,400-foot Mount Rainier, highest point in Washington state, several times.
