OBAMA TAPS UTECH AS TOP CLIMATE CHANGE ADVISOR

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/15/13

President Barack Obama appointed Dan Utech to take the reins as his top energy and climate change advisor this week, replacing Heather Zichal, who left the administration to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Utech, who served as Zichal’s deputy, will help coordinate the President’s Climate Action Plan, which is at a critical juncture as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and other federal agencies are moving forward to implement the plan in the coming months amid fierce opposition from Congressional Republicans and high-emitting industries.

Prior to joining the White House’s energy and climate team in 2010, Utech served as a senior advisor to former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and earlier as an aide to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. While working as Clinton’s aide, he helped craft an amendment to climate legislation that would have limited the use of federal government subsidies for carbon capture and storage technology once it was commercialized. Dan Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, said that Utech was a great pick as he had a big hand in constructing the Climate Action Plan along with Zichal and others. “It’s good that he’ll be responsible for implementing it because he helped design it,” he said.