Mr. Podesta can be of particular assistance to the interior secretary, Sally Jewell. Ms. Jewell, an engineer by training, had earned widespread praise as chief executive of REI, the recreational equipment retailer and the nation’s largest consumer cooperative. But in her present job, there are enemies everywhere, and, unlike most of her predecessors, she came to it with little political and policy making experience, and no strong connections to the White House.
Mr. Podesta could help her fill those gaps, not least because he believes deeply in the Interior Department’s mission. It was at his urging, and that of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, that Mr. Clinton became something of a born-again environmentalist in his later years, promoting Everglades restoration, protecting vast areas of the national forests from commercial exploitation, saving redwood forests in California and establishing a dozen or so major national monuments by presidential proclamation.
Crucially, Mr. Podesta also persuaded Mr. Clinton to veto any congressional attempt to undercut basic environmental law. (Urgent memo to Mr. Podesta: A water resources bill doing just that to the bedrock Environmental Policy Act could soon land on Mr. Obama’s desk.)
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