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BOSTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Saying America has to lead,
former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd
Whitman today urged President-Elect Barack Obama to take bold steps on energy
and the environment when he takes office.
"No doubt, the new president and the next Congress will be under enormous
pressure to put economic growth at the top of the agenda, to the exclusion of
nearly everything else," Whitman said at the Greenbuild International
Conference. "The Obama administration should resist that temptation and lay
out an ambitious energy agenda."
Indeed, said Whitman, doing right by the environment should be part of any
strategy to spur economic growth.
"Putting the environment at the top of your priority list is not ignoring
the country's economic needs. It's essential to the country's economic needs,"
she said.
The Whitman Strategy Group (http://www.whitmanstrategygroup.com), a
sustainability consulting firm the former New Jersey governor founded after
leaving the EPA, has made a specialty out of helping companies meet their
environmental goals while improving their bottom lines through such
initiatives as energy efficiency programs, environmental management systems,
carbon trading and sustainable building practices.
Whitman said she hoped the Obama agenda would include investing in wind
farms, nuclear power plants and clean-coal technology -- plans that will
create jobs and reduce fossil fuel consumption.
Pointing out that buildings consume nearly half the world's energy,
Whitman said Americans must also dedicate themselves to creating greener
buildings and communities.
She noted that her firm is the primary environmental advisor for New
Songdo City, a master-planned metropolis and showcase for green urbanism
rising on the outskirts of Seoul, Korea. Virtually every aspect of the city --
from infrastructure to architecture, transportation, utilities, density and
open space -- is being designed with environmental protection and
sustainability in mind and providing lessons that can be applied in towns and
cities worldwide.
About The Whitman Strategy Group
Founded by former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and
New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and a team of top advisors, the
Whitman Strategy Group offers unparalleled environmental expertise gained at
the highest levels of federal and state government to help companies meet and
exceed their sustainability goals without impinging on profitability.
SOURCE The Whitman Strategy Group
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