Hold your applause

Our Only President has nominated Steve Johnson, currently the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to head the agency, Reuters said on Monday. He would be the first professional scientist in the post.

Some environmental groups, apparently anxious for some good news, expressed hope that because Johnson "was not plucked from the Republican farm team," that agency decisions will be based on public benefit rather that politics.

Fat chance:

Bush said ... one of Johnson's responsibilities would be to push Congress to pass the administration's "Clear Skies" plan....

Johnson, who turns 54 this month, said he would carry out an environmental agenda "while maintaining our nation's economic competitiveness."

What's more, he was praised by the director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, an utility industry lobbying group that has actively opposed tightened air pollution standards.

Oh, and then there's this:

When Johnson was asked by a Japanese newspaper last year whether the United States might rejoin the Kyoto agreement, he responded: "That question is easy, and it's no."

So his job is to push for Shrub's bogus Dirty Skies plan and "economic competitiveness" must be our top priority. (It was, after all, that, not the environment, that must be "maintained.") Utility lobbyists love him and Kyoto? BFD.

A "professional scientist," huh? Then again, so were the folks who ran the Tuskegee experiment.