Barack’s bringin’ eco back

If there was any doubt about Barack Obama’s commitment to environmental causes, much of it has been quelled by several recent appointments.

The president-elect has named Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, and Lisa Jackson, a former New Jersey commissioner of environmental protection, as the director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Other top White House advisers include Carol Browner, a former EPA administrator under Bill Clinton, and Nancy Sutley, who has served as deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment.

The news from Obama’s camp was welcomed by prominent enviros, including Daniel Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who told the Washington Post, “I think it’s a great team.”