Carol M. Browner
Encyclopedia
Carol Martha Browner is an American
lawyer, environmentalist, and businesswoman, who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Browner previously served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001.
Browner grew up in Florida
and graduated from the University of Florida
and the University of Florida College of Law. After working for the Florida House of Representatives
, she was employed by Citizen Action
in Washington, D.C.
She became a legislative assistant for Senators Lawton Chiles
and Al Gore
. Browner then headed the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation
from 1991 to 1993, where she turned it into one of the most active departments in the state government.
She was the longest-serving administrator in the history of the EPA, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency. During her tenure, she reorganized the agency's enforcement structure and oversaw two new programs designed to create flexible partnerships with industry as an alternative to traditional regulation. She started a successful program to deal with contaminated lands in urban areas. She took the lead within the administration in defending existing environmental laws and budgets, and was the driving force behind a stringent tightening of air quality standards that led to a prolonged political and legal battle.
Afterward, Browner became a founding member of the Albright Group
and Albright Capital Management during the 2000s. She also served on a number of boards of directors and committees dealing with environmental issues. Her director role in the Obama administration was sometimes informally referred to as the "Energy Czar
" or "Climate Czar". Her efforts towards getting comprehensive climate and energy legislation passed in Congress came to no avail, but she assumed a prominent role in the federal government's response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
during 2010. She left her position in 2011 and the job itself was abolished shortly thereafter.
, Browner is the daughter of Isabella Harty-Hugues and Michael Browner, both of whom were professors at Miami Dade Community College, in social science and English respectively. She has two younger sisters. Browner grew up in South Miami, and her hikes in the nearby Everglades
– only a bicycle ride away from her house – gave her a close connection to the natural world: "I was very shaped by growing up in that kind of environment where nature was right there."
Browner received her B.A.
degree from the University of Florida
in 1977, majoring in English. She then graduated from the University of Florida College of Law with a J.D.
degree in 1979.
Committee on Government Operations. There she helped revise Florida's Conservation and Recreational Lands Program. In 1983, she moved to Washington, D.C.
and worked as associate director for the national Citizen Action
group, a grassroots lobbying organization that was active in environmental issues.
Browner met Michael Podhorzer, a specialist in health-care issues at Citizen Action, in 1983. They married in 1987 and lived in Takoma Park, Maryland
. They have a son, Zachary, born in 1987.
Between 1986 and 1988, Browner served as chief legislative assistant to Democratic
U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles
from Florida. In that role, she worked on a complex negotiation to expand Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve
as well as on a ban on offshore drilling
nearby the Florida Keys
. During 1989, she served as a legal counsel for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She was not averse to in-field investigation, and once dived in coastal waters to do research while pregnant.
From 1988 to 1991, Browner worked as legislative director for Senator Al Gore
, and became known as a Gore protégé. She helped prepare amendments to the Clean Air Act
and managed Gore's legislative staff.
from 1991 to 1993, while living in Tallahassee. It was the nation's third-largest such state agency, with 1,500 employees and a budget of some $650 million. There she believed that economic development and environmental protection did not have to be in conflict with each other. She revitalized the demoralized department and turned it into one of the most active in the Florida state government. She shortened the amount of time it took the department to review development permits for wetlands-affected areas and for manufacturing plants; in doing so, she annoyed some environmentalists who thought that the streamlined procedures diminished public review.
Browner pushed for the halting of construction of new hazardous waste plants and municipal waste incinerators, on the grounds that health and environment consequences were insufficiently known. She brokered a deal with Walt Disney World that would allow it to build on wetlands it owned, in exchange for $40 million of work by Disney to restore endangered wetlands nearby. She pleased environmentalists by persuading Chiles, who had become governor, to negotiate a settlement to a federal lawsuit regarding damage to Everglades National Park
and forcing the Florida sugar industry to bear much of the $1 billion cost. The head of Florida's largest business trade association described dealing with Browner: "She kicks the door open, throws in a hand grenade, and then walks in to shoot who's left. She really doesn't like to compromise. [But she] has done a pretty good job down here. People have more complaints with the way she does it than what she does."
, Browner served as transition director for Vice President-elect Gore. President-elect Bill Clinton
announced her as his choice for Environmental Protection Agency head on December 11, 1992. While both Clinton and Gore had criticized the George H. W. Bush administration's commitment to environmental protection during the campaign, the selection of Browner – who was described by The Washington Post
as having "the mind and training of an attorney-legislator but the soul of an activist" – was seen as an indication that Gore's ardent environmentalism had won out over Clinton's more pro-business mindset. Clinton later wrote that he had not known her, but that Chiles had recommended her highly and Gore had requested she be named. The pick, along with several others of Gore protégés that Clinton made, helped solidify the vice president's position within the administration. At her confirmation hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
, Browner came across as pragmatic and allayed fears that she would be excessively influenced by or tied to Gore. She was confirmed by the unanimous consent of the United States Senate
on January 21, 1993.
She and Podhorzer returned to Takoma Park, Maryland
, and he continued to work at Citizen Action
. Her long-term goal was "to leave the world a slightly better place," and she practiced various environmentally beneficial practices at home. She avoided the Nannygate
problems of some of Clinton's other early female nominees by having never used a nanny. She continued to lead an active outdoor life via bicycling, skiing, and jogging.
, reorganized several awkward and inefficient agency enforcement structures into a single Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
. The EPA's regional offices were permitted flexibility in reworking their own enforcement structures, however, which led to some bureaucratic conflicts.
Browner found criticism from both sides of environmental issues and battled many environmentalists, who objected to her support for repeal of the 1958 Delaney clause
regarding permissible levels of carcinogens in foods. Her announcement in May 1993 that the EPA would impose a moratorium on new incinerator and industrial furnace licensing drew support from environmentalists, however. A move by Clinton to elevate the EPA and Browner to Cabinet-level status failed in late 1993 to gain sufficient Congressional support. Many of her legislative desires had to take a back seat to the higher-priority 1993 Clinton health care plan.
When the Republican Party
took control of Congress after the 1994 U.S. elections
, Browner took the lead for the Clinton administration in successfully fighting efforts by the Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives, to amend the Clean Water Act
and to rollback other environmental regulations. She was able to work in a bipartisan manner, though, with Republicans in helping craft amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act
and passage of the Food Quality Protection Act
. During the budget-cutting negotiations surrounding the federal government shutdown in 1995, Browner successfully protected the EPA's review and enforcement powers and managed to gain over $750 million in increased spending for the agency. Her bureaucratic effectiveness illustrated what one of her top aides characterized as her talent: "an extreme focus on a single issue where she is completely certain that she is right."
Two initiatives begun by the Clinton administration under Browner's tenure were part of its "reinventing government" program
and sought to realize the notion of environmental contract
s as a way of expanding the EPA's flexible public-private partnerships, as an alternative to traditional regulation. Project XL in 1995 was designed to find common sense, cost effective solutions to environmental issues at individual facilities, while the Common Sense Initiative in 1994 was targeted at efforts involving entire industry sectors, rather than dealing with issues on a crisis-by-crisis, pollutant-by-pollutant basis. Project XL had mixed results, with some success stories but an uncertain legal basis regarding enforcement and less active participation than envisioned. The more ambitious Common Sense Initiative, which somewhat resembled the environmental covenants appearing in some European countries and also incorporated the viewpoints of environmental justice
, showed limitations in some areas but successes in the printing
and metal finishing and plating
industries before being concluded in 1998.
In March 1995, Browner and the EPA were charged by the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs with violating the federal Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S. Code § 1913) by faxing unsolicited material opposing the Republican-sponsored regulatory reform package to various corporations and public-interest groups. Browner denied the accusation, saying the charge was an attempt to keep her from debating a possible rollback of health and environmental protections.
As EPA administrator, Browner started the agency's successful Brownfields Program in 1995. The program helped facilitate cleanups of brownfield land
s and their contaminated facilities, especially in urban areas, by empowering states, communities, and assorted stakeholders in economic development. It leveraged more than $1 billion in public and private funds for cleanups and created thousands of new jobs, while enabling hundreds of communities to bring idle properties back into productive use.
's National Ambient Air Quality Standards
regarding permissible levels of the ground-level ozone
that makes up smog
and the fine airborne particulate matter that makes up soot
. The decision came after months of public review of the proposed new standards that became the most divisive environmental debate of the decade. There was a long and fierce internal discussion within the administration, with opposition from the president's economic advisers echoing strong objections from some industry groups who said the costs of the new standards would far outweigh any benefits and that Browner had exaggerated the degree of certainty behind the EPA's scientific reviews on the matter. Over eighty environmental and health groups, who had grown quite frustrated with the administration's preference for minimal-cost incremental actions in the area, pressured Vice President Gore to take a stand on the matter, but he remained silent. Browner's adamant defense in favor of the new standards was conducted almost single-handedly, in private meetings, Congressional testimony, and public debate, and had come in the face of a silence from the White House that had put at risk her standing within the administration. Some within the administration objected to her unwillingness to modify her stance and even suggested she be fired for insubordination. Ultimately, Gore lent behind-the-scenes support in favor of the new regulations, which was a key factor in Clinton's final decision in Browner's favor. Overall, the New York Times termed Browner's actions "a remarkable piece of bureaucratic bravura" and Time
magazine labelled Browner the "Queen of Clean Air". As the decision was announced, one which would affect hundreds of American cities and towns, Browner said: "These new standards will provide new health protections to 125 million Americans, including 35 million children."
The change to the standards had to survive Congressional review, but the support of Republicans from the northeast, especially New York Senator Al D'Amato
, helped compensate for Democrats opposed to them. The new regulations were challenged in the courts by industry groups as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's nondelegation principle and eventually landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, whose 2001 unanimous ruling in the case now titled Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc.
largely upheld Browner's and the EPA's actions. Browner and the EPA also took action against air pollution caused by motor vehicles, issuing standards in 1999 that for the first time included light truck
s and sport utility vehicle
s to meet the same emission standards as cars, and that would require the sulfur
content of gasoline
to be reduced by 90 percent over five years.
During her tenure, Browner also began efforts to deal with global warming
, giving the EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions causing climate change, although the EPA under the following George W. Bush administration
chose not to use that authority. Several other policies of hers were reversed in the Bush administration as well.
During Browner's tenure, there were many reports from African American employees of racism directed at them from a network of "good old boys" who dominated the agency's middle management. The most known of these reports involved policy specialist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
, who in 1997 filed suit against the agency; in 2000, the court found the EPA guilty of discrimination against Coleman-Adebayo, and awarded her $300,000. Coleman-Adebayo said that Browner allowed the problems to persist rather than trying to clean them up. In an October 2000 Congressional hearing on the matter, Browner emphasized that minorities had tripled in number in the agency's senior rank during her time as administrator, but was unable to explain why the culprits in Coleman-Adebayo's case had not been dismissed and in some cases had been promoted. Congressional dissatisfaction with the situation and the EPA's treatment of Coleman-Adebayo led to passage of the No-FEAR Act
in 2002, which prohibits federal managers and supervisors from engaging in unlawful discrimination and retaliation.
In the final days of the Clinton administration, D.C. District Judge
Royce C. Lamberth
ordered the EPA to preserve under the Freedom of Information Act all documents possibly relevant to last-minute EPA regulation issuances. In 2003, Lamberth found the EPA in contempt for not having preserved Browner's files, but did not find Browner or other officials in contempt. Browner had said that she had not been aware of the court order and that the computer material she had removed was not work-related.
During her EPA tenure, Browner became unpopular with a number of industry groups, especially utilities and heavy manufacturing, as well as with conservatives
in Congress, who thought businesses were stifled by her policies. She also battled the Treasury Department at times, and sometimes opposed Clinton himself, who tended to give priority to economic growth over environmental considerations. Nonetheless, Browner was the longest-serving administrator in the history of the agency, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency – and in the type of position that often sees turnover every three or four years. Robert W. Collin, author of a 2005 text on the agency, assessed her as "one of the ablest administrators ever to lead the EPA," and wrote that she was "completely fearless in her engagement with controversial environmental issues." Clinton himself later stated that Browner had accumulated a long list of important achievements.
, a "global strategy group" headed by former U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright
. As a principal, Browner assisted businesses and other organizations with the challenges of operating internationally, including complying with environmental regulations and climate change. Coca-Cola
and Merck & Co.
have been among the clients for such international assistance. She also became a founding member and principal of Albright Capital Management, an investment advisory company. During 2002, she taught classes at the study abroad program of her alma mater, now named the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.
Browner is now married to former Congressman Thomas Downey. The marriage, his second, her third, took place on June 21, 2007, in Riverhead, New York. Downey heads a lobbying firm representing clients in the energy industry. In 2006, she and Downey collaborated on behalf of Dubai Ports World
, but were unable to persuade Senator Charles Schumer
to their viewpoint during the Dubai Ports World controversy
.
Browner joined the board of the National Audubon Society
in 2001 and became chair in 2003; her term expired in 2008. She also joined the board of the Alliance for Climate Protection
, an organization founded by Gore in 2006. In 2008, she joined the board of APX, Inc., which specializes in technology infrastructure for the environmental commodities markets including those for carbon offsets and the CDM Gold Standard
. She was also on the founding board of the Center for American Progress
as well as the boards of the Alliance for Climate Protection
and the League of Conservation Voters
. She left all of these boards in late 2008 when she was named to serve in the Obama administration. Until summer 2008 she was a member of Socialist International
's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, although the commission's web site still had her listed as a member in January 2009.
Her income in 2008 was between $1 million and $5 million from lobbying firm Downey McGrath Group, where her husband was a principal. She also reported $450,000 in "member distribution" income, plus retirement and other benefits from the Albright Group.
Browner retained a political voice during her business career, describing the George W. Bush administration
as "the worst environmental administration ever." She also stated that global warming
is "the greatest challenge ever faced". In the 2008 presidential election
, she was a strong supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton
's bid for the Democratic nomination. After Clinton lost her bid, Browner campaigned for Barack Obama
in several battleground states and in League of Conservation Voters
events.
On December 15, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama
named Browner as Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Officially known as the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
, she acted as a coordinator for environmental, energy, climate, transport and related matters for the federal government. Her position was sometimes informally described as the "Energy Czar
" or the "Climate Czar". It did not require Senate confirmation. Her participation on the Commission for a Sustainable World Society drew criticism from some Republican members of Congress, but the Obama transition team said there was nothing wrong with it. In any case, her power and influence relied primarily on persuasion: "I don't have any independent policymaking authority. It's not like when I was at EPA and I could depend on regulation."
Browner's deputy assistant was Heather Zichal
, a former legislative director for Senator John Kerry
.
The early months of the Obama administration found her working well with the Cabinet members. She was a key negotiator between the administration and automakers in formulating the new United States emission standards in May 2009, and also was a member of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry
that bailed out American automakers. She successfully urged incorporation of tens of billions of dollars for renewable energy programs into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
. She was a central player in negotiation with Congress of the United States Carbon Cap and Trade Program
, seemingly more so than U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu
, and continued to stress its importance despite the Obama health care plan being the top legislative priority overall. Environmentalists viewed her as a critical liaison to the White House. By September 2009, Republican members of Congress expressed concern that her access to the president had usurped power from other agencies. She also became a brief target of fervent anti-"czar" radio and television commentator Glenn Beck
, following the Van Jones
resignation.
In October 2009, Browner conceded that congressional passage of the cap-and-trade legislation before the end of year was unlikely, and feared its absence would harm prospects for meaningful international agreement at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference in December. By the next month, she moderated her concern, but expressed opposition to any congressional "slicing and dicing" that would separate energy and climate concerns. Attempts to pass any kind of climate legislation collapsed in July 2010 due to lack of enough votes in the Senate; Browner appeared on behalf of the administration and said, "Obviously, everyone is disappointed that we do not yet have an agreement on comprehensive legislation."
In 2010, Browner became a key part of the administration team handling, and one of the more visible administration figures in issuing public comments about, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico
. In late May 2010 she assessed the spill as "probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country" and said that the administration was "prepared for the worst". She added that "I think what the American people need to know that it is possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August, when the relief wells will be finished." Mike Allen
of Politico
later wrote that "[Browner's] calm, authoritative television presence during the BP oil disaster made her one of the few officials whose stature was enhanced in the aftermath of the Gulf catastrophe."
With Republicans taking over the House of Representatives following the 2010 midterm elections
, chances of climate and energy legislation passing that embodied Browner's and the administration's goals were essentially nil, and Obama conceded as much. As the Obama administration neared its two-year mark and a number of personnel changes were underway, there was a possibility that Browner might be named to another position with broader responsibilities, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. But that did not come to pass.
Instead, in late January 2011, White House officials disclosed that Browner would be leaving her position in the fairly near future. Browner said of her unexpected decision, "[there's] no back story – it was just time to go" and that she felt "honored to have a second ... chance to serve." League of Conservation Voters
president Gene Karpinski
characterized Browner as a "tenacious advocate on our issues" who would be "sorely missed", while a member of the law and energy industry lobbying firm Bracewell & Giuliani
said Browner's exit was a good development and that "Her departure may be part of a legitimate effort to pay careful attention to addressing some of the real regulatory obstacles in the way of job creation in the United States." Browner left the White House during March 2011. Her general responsibilities were taken over by her second-in-command, Heather Zichal, from a position within the U.S. Domestic Policy Council
.
In late February 2011, while Browner was still in place, the House voted to eliminate the Director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy position altogether. While the move was part of an overall effort to get rid of Obama's "czars", Browner was a particular focus of it. Representative Steve Scalise
, who led the effort, said of Browner, "Let her leave, and take the funding, too." In the mid-April 2011 federal spending agreement
that averted a possible government shutdown, funding for the position was indeed eliminated (as were three other "czar" roles, most of which were similarly vacant). Obama issued a signing statement
protesting the move and saying he would not abide by it, but the point was largely moot as the positions in question, including the Browner one, had already been moved inside the Domestic Policy Council.
in April 2011 as a Distinguished Senior Fellow and a member of the organization's Executive Committee. She also rejoined the Albright firm, now known due to merger as the Albright Stonebridge Group
, as a Senior Counselor whose responsibilities included providing strategic services to clients in assorted areas of environmental impact. She continued to speak publicly on environmental issues and indicated she was "disappointed" by the Obama administration's September 2011 decision to drop toughening of low-altitude ozone levels in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
.
magazine's Woman of the Year Award, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association's Advocate for Children Award, the South Florida Chapter of the Audubon Society's Guy M. Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Environmental Achievement Award from the New York State Bar Association
. In 1998 she received Vice President Gore's Hammer Award for helping to make government cost less and work better. In 2000, she received the American Lung Association
's President's Award for leadership towards "the toughest action in a generation to safeguard public health from the threats posed by air pollution."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer, environmentalist, and businesswoman, who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
The White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy is a new government entity in the United States created by President Barack Obama. Its first director is Carol Browner, who was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for the eight years of the Bill Clinton administration...
in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Browner previously served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States federal government's Environmental Protection Agency, and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The Administrator is...
during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001.
Browner grew up in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and graduated from the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
and the University of Florida College of Law. After working for the Florida House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
, she was employed by Citizen Action
Citizen Action
Citizen Action was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s.-History:...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
She became a legislative assistant for Senators Lawton Chiles
Lawton Chiles
Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. was an American politician from the US state of Florida. In a career spanning four decades, Chiles, a Democrat who never lost an election, served in the Florida House of Representatives , the Florida State Senate , the United States Senate , and as the 41st Governor of...
and Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. Browner then headed the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation
Florida Department of Environmental Regulation
Florida Department of Environmental Regulation was the agency which, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, handled regulation, management, conservation, compliance and enforcement of a wide range of environmental and natural resource activities in the state of Florida, USA...
from 1991 to 1993, where she turned it into one of the most active departments in the state government.
She was the longest-serving administrator in the history of the EPA, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency. During her tenure, she reorganized the agency's enforcement structure and oversaw two new programs designed to create flexible partnerships with industry as an alternative to traditional regulation. She started a successful program to deal with contaminated lands in urban areas. She took the lead within the administration in defending existing environmental laws and budgets, and was the driving force behind a stringent tightening of air quality standards that led to a prolonged political and legal battle.
Afterward, Browner became a founding member of the Albright Group
Albright Group
The Albright Group is an international strategy consulting firm founded in 2001 by former United States Secretary of State in the Clinton administration Madeleine Albright and based in Washington, D.C....
and Albright Capital Management during the 2000s. She also served on a number of boards of directors and committees dealing with environmental issues. Her director role in the Obama administration was sometimes informally referred to as the "Energy Czar
Energy Czar
Energy Czar is a nickname, using the political term "czar", for the person in the Government of the United States given authority over energy policy within the executive branch...
" or "Climate Czar". Her efforts towards getting comprehensive climate and energy legislation passed in Congress came to no avail, but she assumed a prominent role in the federal government's response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
during 2010. She left her position in 2011 and the job itself was abolished shortly thereafter.
Early life and education
Born in Miami, FloridaMiami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Browner is the daughter of Isabella Harty-Hugues and Michael Browner, both of whom were professors at Miami Dade Community College, in social science and English respectively. She has two younger sisters. Browner grew up in South Miami, and her hikes in the nearby Everglades
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
– only a bicycle ride away from her house – gave her a close connection to the natural world: "I was very shaped by growing up in that kind of environment where nature was right there."
Browner received her B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in 1977, majoring in English. She then graduated from the University of Florida College of Law with a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree in 1979.
Early career
During 1980 and 1981, Browner worked as General Counsel for the Florida House of RepresentativesFlorida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
Committee on Government Operations. There she helped revise Florida's Conservation and Recreational Lands Program. In 1983, she moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and worked as associate director for the national Citizen Action
Citizen Action
Citizen Action was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s.-History:...
group, a grassroots lobbying organization that was active in environmental issues.
Browner met Michael Podhorzer, a specialist in health-care issues at Citizen Action, in 1983. They married in 1987 and lived in Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City," is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone...
. They have a son, Zachary, born in 1987.
Between 1986 and 1988, Browner served as chief legislative assistant to Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles
Lawton Chiles
Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. was an American politician from the US state of Florida. In a career spanning four decades, Chiles, a Democrat who never lost an election, served in the Florida House of Representatives , the Florida State Senate , the United States Senate , and as the 41st Governor of...
from Florida. In that role, she worked on a complex negotiation to expand Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in southern Florida, about 45 miles west of Miami. The Big Cypress, along with Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, became the first national preserves in the United States National Park System when they were...
as well as on a ban on offshore drilling
Offshore drilling
Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...
nearby the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
. During 1989, she served as a legal counsel for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She was not averse to in-field investigation, and once dived in coastal waters to do research while pregnant.
From 1988 to 1991, Browner worked as legislative director for Senator Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, and became known as a Gore protégé. She helped prepare amendments to the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act (United States)
The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law enacted by Congress, and signed by President Richard Nixon on December 31, 1970 to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency to develop and enforce regulations to protect the general public from...
and managed Gore's legislative staff.
Secretary of Environmental Regulation for Florida
As Secretary of Environmental Regulation, Browner headed the Florida Department of Environmental RegulationFlorida Department of Environmental Regulation
Florida Department of Environmental Regulation was the agency which, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, handled regulation, management, conservation, compliance and enforcement of a wide range of environmental and natural resource activities in the state of Florida, USA...
from 1991 to 1993, while living in Tallahassee. It was the nation's third-largest such state agency, with 1,500 employees and a budget of some $650 million. There she believed that economic development and environmental protection did not have to be in conflict with each other. She revitalized the demoralized department and turned it into one of the most active in the Florida state government. She shortened the amount of time it took the department to review development permits for wetlands-affected areas and for manufacturing plants; in doing so, she annoyed some environmentalists who thought that the streamlined procedures diminished public review.
Browner pushed for the halting of construction of new hazardous waste plants and municipal waste incinerators, on the grounds that health and environment consequences were insufficiently known. She brokered a deal with Walt Disney World that would allow it to build on wetlands it owned, in exchange for $40 million of work by Disney to restore endangered wetlands nearby. She pleased environmentalists by persuading Chiles, who had become governor, to negotiate a settlement to a federal lawsuit regarding damage to Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a national park in the U.S. state of Florida that protects the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest...
and forcing the Florida sugar industry to bear much of the $1 billion cost. The head of Florida's largest business trade association described dealing with Browner: "She kicks the door open, throws in a hand grenade, and then walks in to shoot who's left. She really doesn't like to compromise. [But she] has done a pretty good job down here. People have more complaints with the way she does it than what she does."
Nomination and confirmation
After the 1992 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
, Browner served as transition director for Vice President-elect Gore. President-elect Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
announced her as his choice for Environmental Protection Agency head on December 11, 1992. While both Clinton and Gore had criticized the George H. W. Bush administration's commitment to environmental protection during the campaign, the selection of Browner – who was described by The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
as having "the mind and training of an attorney-legislator but the soul of an activist" – was seen as an indication that Gore's ardent environmentalism had won out over Clinton's more pro-business mindset. Clinton later wrote that he had not known her, but that Chiles had recommended her highly and Gore had requested she be named. The pick, along with several others of Gore protégés that Clinton made, helped solidify the vice president's position within the administration. At her confirmation hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
The United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is responsible for dealing with matters related to the environment and infrastructure.-Members, 112th Congress:...
, Browner came across as pragmatic and allayed fears that she would be excessively influenced by or tied to Gore. She was confirmed by the unanimous consent of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on January 21, 1993.
She and Podhorzer returned to Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City," is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone...
, and he continued to work at Citizen Action
Citizen Action
Citizen Action was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s.-History:...
. Her long-term goal was "to leave the world a slightly better place," and she practiced various environmentally beneficial practices at home. She avoided the Nannygate
Nannygate
Nannygate was a 1993 political controversy in the United States wherein the nomination of Zoë Baird, and near-nomination of Kimba Wood, for U.S. Attorney General were withdrawn due to the hiring of illegal aliens as nannies or the failure to pay taxes for them...
problems of some of Clinton's other early female nominees by having never used a nanny. She continued to lead an active outdoor life via bicycling, skiing, and jogging.
First four years
At the EPA, Browner supervised some 17,000 employees and a $7 billion budget. Early in her administration, she angered some EPA employees by publicly stating that the organization lacked management accountability and discipline and was wasting taxpayer money. Soon after taking office, Browner and her top aides, including assistant administrator for enforcement Steven HermanSteve Herman (EPA)
Steve Herman was a senior administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency .He is notable for playing an important role in several high-profile cases.After leaving the EPA Herman became a director of Beveridge & Diamond....
, reorganized several awkward and inefficient agency enforcement structures into a single Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is the law enforcement arm of the Environmental Protection Agency. It is made up of special agents and other employees.-Mission:...
. The EPA's regional offices were permitted flexibility in reworking their own enforcement structures, however, which led to some bureaucratic conflicts.
Browner found criticism from both sides of environmental issues and battled many environmentalists, who objected to her support for repeal of the 1958 Delaney clause
Delaney clause
The Delaney Clause is a 1958 amendment to the Food, Drugs, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, named after Congressman James Delaney of New York.It said:...
regarding permissible levels of carcinogens in foods. Her announcement in May 1993 that the EPA would impose a moratorium on new incinerator and industrial furnace licensing drew support from environmentalists, however. A move by Clinton to elevate the EPA and Browner to Cabinet-level status failed in late 1993 to gain sufficient Congressional support. Many of her legislative desires had to take a back seat to the higher-priority 1993 Clinton health care plan.
When the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
took control of Congress after the 1994 U.S. elections
United States elections, 1994
The 1994 elections in the United States were held on November 8, 1994. This was the year known as the Republican Revolution, in which members of the Republican Party stormed back to majorities in the House and Senate...
, Browner took the lead for the Clinton administration in successfully fighting efforts by the Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives, to amend the Clean Water Act
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...
and to rollback other environmental regulations. She was able to work in a bipartisan manner, though, with Republicans in helping craft amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
The Safe Drinking Water Act is the principle federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency is required to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states, localities, and water...
and passage of the Food Quality Protection Act
Food Quality Protection Act
The Food Quality Protection Act , or H.R.1627, was passed unanimously by Congress in 1996 and was signed into law by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on August 3, 1996...
. During the budget-cutting negotiations surrounding the federal government shutdown in 1995, Browner successfully protected the EPA's review and enforcement powers and managed to gain over $750 million in increased spending for the agency. Her bureaucratic effectiveness illustrated what one of her top aides characterized as her talent: "an extreme focus on a single issue where she is completely certain that she is right."
National Partnership for Reinventing Government
National Partnership for Reinventing Government , originally the National Performance Review, was an interagency task force to reform the way the U.S. federal government works in the Clinton Administration.The NPR was created on March 3, 1993...
and sought to realize the notion of environmental contract
Environmental contract
An environmental contract is a way of expressing the rights and responsibilities of citizens, businesses and the state when it comes to the environment....
s as a way of expanding the EPA's flexible public-private partnerships, as an alternative to traditional regulation. Project XL in 1995 was designed to find common sense, cost effective solutions to environmental issues at individual facilities, while the Common Sense Initiative in 1994 was targeted at efforts involving entire industry sectors, rather than dealing with issues on a crisis-by-crisis, pollutant-by-pollutant basis. Project XL had mixed results, with some success stories but an uncertain legal basis regarding enforcement and less active participation than envisioned. The more ambitious Common Sense Initiative, which somewhat resembled the environmental covenants appearing in some European countries and also incorporated the viewpoints of environmental justice
Environmental justice
Environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." In the words of Bunyan Bryant,...
, showed limitations in some areas but successes in the printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
and metal finishing and plating
Plating
Plating is a surface covering in which a metal is deposited on a conductive surface. Plating has been done for hundreds of years, but it is also critical for modern technology...
industries before being concluded in 1998.
In March 1995, Browner and the EPA were charged by the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs with violating the federal Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S. Code § 1913) by faxing unsolicited material opposing the Republican-sponsored regulatory reform package to various corporations and public-interest groups. Browner denied the accusation, saying the charge was an attempt to keep her from debating a possible rollback of health and environmental protections.
As EPA administrator, Browner started the agency's successful Brownfields Program in 1995. The program helped facilitate cleanups of brownfield land
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
s and their contaminated facilities, especially in urban areas, by empowering states, communities, and assorted stakeholders in economic development. It leveraged more than $1 billion in public and private funds for cleanups and created thousands of new jobs, while enabling hundreds of communities to bring idle properties back into productive use.
Second four years
Perhaps Browner's biggest triumph came in 1997, when she convinced Clinton to support a stringent tightening of the Clean Air ActClean Air Act (United States)
The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law enacted by Congress, and signed by President Richard Nixon on December 31, 1970 to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency to develop and enforce regulations to protect the general public from...
's National Ambient Air Quality Standards
National Ambient Air Quality Standards
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under authority of the Clean Air Act that apply for outdoor air throughout the country...
regarding permissible levels of the ground-level ozone
Tropospheric ozone
Ozone is a constituent of the troposphere . Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it drive many of the chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night...
that makes up smog
Smog
Smog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
and the fine airborne particulate matter that makes up soot
Soot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
. The decision came after months of public review of the proposed new standards that became the most divisive environmental debate of the decade. There was a long and fierce internal discussion within the administration, with opposition from the president's economic advisers echoing strong objections from some industry groups who said the costs of the new standards would far outweigh any benefits and that Browner had exaggerated the degree of certainty behind the EPA's scientific reviews on the matter. Over eighty environmental and health groups, who had grown quite frustrated with the administration's preference for minimal-cost incremental actions in the area, pressured Vice President Gore to take a stand on the matter, but he remained silent. Browner's adamant defense in favor of the new standards was conducted almost single-handedly, in private meetings, Congressional testimony, and public debate, and had come in the face of a silence from the White House that had put at risk her standing within the administration. Some within the administration objected to her unwillingness to modify her stance and even suggested she be fired for insubordination. Ultimately, Gore lent behind-the-scenes support in favor of the new regulations, which was a key factor in Clinton's final decision in Browner's favor. Overall, the New York Times termed Browner's actions "a remarkable piece of bureaucratic bravura" and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine labelled Browner the "Queen of Clean Air". As the decision was announced, one which would affect hundreds of American cities and towns, Browner said: "These new standards will provide new health protections to 125 million Americans, including 35 million children."
The change to the standards had to survive Congressional review, but the support of Republicans from the northeast, especially New York Senator Al D'Amato
Al D'Amato
Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and family:...
, helped compensate for Democrats opposed to them. The new regulations were challenged in the courts by industry groups as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's nondelegation principle and eventually landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, whose 2001 unanimous ruling in the case now titled Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc.
Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc.
Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc., , was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in which the Environmental Protection Agency's National Ambient Air Quality Standard for regulating ozone and particulate matter was challenged by the American Trucking Association along with...
largely upheld Browner's and the EPA's actions. Browner and the EPA also took action against air pollution caused by motor vehicles, issuing standards in 1999 that for the first time included light truck
Light truck
Light truck or light duty truck is a U.S. classification for trucks or truck-based vehicles with a payload capacity of less than 4,000 pounds...
s and sport utility vehicle
Sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...
s to meet the same emission standards as cars, and that would require the sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
content of gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
to be reduced by 90 percent over five years.
During her tenure, Browner also began efforts to deal with global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, giving the EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions causing climate change, although the EPA under the following George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
chose not to use that authority. Several other policies of hers were reversed in the Bush administration as well.
During Browner's tenure, there were many reports from African American employees of racism directed at them from a network of "good old boys" who dominated the agency's middle management. The most known of these reports involved policy specialist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo was a senior policy analyst for the United States Environmental Protection Agency . Beginning in 1996, she filed complaints alleging that a company from the United States was mining vanadium in South Africa and harming the environment and human health. The EPA did not...
, who in 1997 filed suit against the agency; in 2000, the court found the EPA guilty of discrimination against Coleman-Adebayo, and awarded her $300,000. Coleman-Adebayo said that Browner allowed the problems to persist rather than trying to clean them up. In an October 2000 Congressional hearing on the matter, Browner emphasized that minorities had tripled in number in the agency's senior rank during her time as administrator, but was unable to explain why the culprits in Coleman-Adebayo's case had not been dismissed and in some cases had been promoted. Congressional dissatisfaction with the situation and the EPA's treatment of Coleman-Adebayo led to passage of the No-FEAR Act
No-FEAR Act
The Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that seeks to discourage federal managers and supervisors from engaging in unlawful discrimination and retaliation...
in 2002, which prohibits federal managers and supervisors from engaging in unlawful discrimination and retaliation.
In the final days of the Clinton administration, D.C. District Judge
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a federal district court. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a...
Royce C. Lamberth
Royce C. Lamberth
Royce C. Lamberth is a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, serving as its Chief Judge....
ordered the EPA to preserve under the Freedom of Information Act all documents possibly relevant to last-minute EPA regulation issuances. In 2003, Lamberth found the EPA in contempt for not having preserved Browner's files, but did not find Browner or other officials in contempt. Browner had said that she had not been aware of the court order and that the computer material she had removed was not work-related.
During her EPA tenure, Browner became unpopular with a number of industry groups, especially utilities and heavy manufacturing, as well as with conservatives
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
in Congress, who thought businesses were stifled by her policies. She also battled the Treasury Department at times, and sometimes opposed Clinton himself, who tended to give priority to economic growth over environmental considerations. Nonetheless, Browner was the longest-serving administrator in the history of the agency, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency – and in the type of position that often sees turnover every three or four years. Robert W. Collin, author of a 2005 text on the agency, assessed her as "one of the ablest administrators ever to lead the EPA," and wrote that she was "completely fearless in her engagement with controversial environmental issues." Clinton himself later stated that Browner had accumulated a long list of important achievements.
Business career
After the Clinton administration, Browner became a founding member of the Albright GroupAlbright Group
The Albright Group is an international strategy consulting firm founded in 2001 by former United States Secretary of State in the Clinton administration Madeleine Albright and based in Washington, D.C....
, a "global strategy group" headed by former U.S. Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
. As a principal, Browner assisted businesses and other organizations with the challenges of operating internationally, including complying with environmental regulations and climate change. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
and Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
have been among the clients for such international assistance. She also became a founding member and principal of Albright Capital Management, an investment advisory company. During 2002, she taught classes at the study abroad program of her alma mater, now named the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.
Browner is now married to former Congressman Thomas Downey. The marriage, his second, her third, took place on June 21, 2007, in Riverhead, New York. Downey heads a lobbying firm representing clients in the energy industry. In 2006, she and Downey collaborated on behalf of Dubai Ports World
Dubai Ports World
DP World is a major operator of marine ports with 49 terminals in operation and a further 9 under development across 31 countries. In 2010, DP World handled nearly 50 million TEU across its portfolio from the Americas to Asia...
, but were unable to persuade Senator Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
to their viewpoint during the Dubai Ports World controversy
Dubai Ports World controversy
The Dubai Ports World controversy began in February 2006 and rose to prominence as a national security debate in the United States. At issue was the sale of port management businesses in six major U.S...
.
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
in 2001 and became chair in 2003; her term expired in 2008. She also joined the board of the Alliance for Climate Protection
Alliance for Climate Protection
The Alliance for Climate Protection was founded in 2006 by Nobel laureate and former United States Vice President Al Gore. The Alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to educating the global community about the urgency of implementing comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis...
, an organization founded by Gore in 2006. In 2008, she joined the board of APX, Inc., which specializes in technology infrastructure for the environmental commodities markets including those for carbon offsets and the CDM Gold Standard
CDM Gold Standard
The Gold Standard is the world's only independent standard for creating high-quality emission reductions projects in the Clean Development Mechanism Joint Implementation and Voluntary Carbon Market. It was designed to ensure that carbon credits are not only real and verifiable but that they make...
. She was also on the founding board of the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
as well as the boards of the Alliance for Climate Protection
Alliance for Climate Protection
The Alliance for Climate Protection was founded in 2006 by Nobel laureate and former United States Vice President Al Gore. The Alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to educating the global community about the urgency of implementing comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis...
and the League of Conservation Voters
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
. She left all of these boards in late 2008 when she was named to serve in the Obama administration. Until summer 2008 she was a member of Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, although the commission's web site still had her listed as a member in January 2009.
Her income in 2008 was between $1 million and $5 million from lobbying firm Downey McGrath Group, where her husband was a principal. She also reported $450,000 in "member distribution" income, plus retirement and other benefits from the Albright Group.
Browner retained a political voice during her business career, describing the George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
as "the worst environmental administration ever." She also stated that global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
is "the greatest challenge ever faced". In the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, she was a strong supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's bid for the Democratic nomination. After Clinton lost her bid, Browner campaigned for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in several battleground states and in League of Conservation Voters
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
events.
Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
On November 5, 2008, Browner was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.On December 15, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
named Browner as Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Officially known as the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
The White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy is a new government entity in the United States created by President Barack Obama. Its first director is Carol Browner, who was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for the eight years of the Bill Clinton administration...
, she acted as a coordinator for environmental, energy, climate, transport and related matters for the federal government. Her position was sometimes informally described as the "Energy Czar
Energy Czar
Energy Czar is a nickname, using the political term "czar", for the person in the Government of the United States given authority over energy policy within the executive branch...
" or the "Climate Czar". It did not require Senate confirmation. Her participation on the Commission for a Sustainable World Society drew criticism from some Republican members of Congress, but the Obama transition team said there was nothing wrong with it. In any case, her power and influence relied primarily on persuasion: "I don't have any independent policymaking authority. It's not like when I was at EPA and I could depend on regulation."
Browner's deputy assistant was Heather Zichal
Heather Zichal
Heather Zichal is the Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, serving in the Barack Obama administration since 2009. Following the early 2011 departure of Carol Browner from the administration, Zichal gained the general responsibility of coordinating the administration's...
, a former legislative director for Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
.
The early months of the Obama administration found her working well with the Cabinet members. She was a key negotiator between the administration and automakers in formulating the new United States emission standards in May 2009, and also was a member of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry
Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry
The Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry is an ad hoc group of United States cabinet-level and other officials that was formed to deal with the financial bail out of automakers Chrysler Corporation and General Motors....
that bailed out American automakers. She successfully urged incorporation of tens of billions of dollars for renewable energy programs into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. She was a central player in negotiation with Congress of the United States Carbon Cap and Trade Program
United States Carbon Cap and Trade Program
The United States Carbon Cap-and-Trade Plan is a policy being proposed by President Barack Obama that would essentially put a price on carbon dioxide emissions by auctioning off permits to emit the gas...
, seemingly more so than U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Steven Chu
Steven Chu is an American physicist and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and...
, and continued to stress its importance despite the Obama health care plan being the top legislative priority overall. Environmentalists viewed her as a critical liaison to the White House. By September 2009, Republican members of Congress expressed concern that her access to the president had usurped power from other agencies. She also became a brief target of fervent anti-"czar" radio and television commentator Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
, following the Van Jones
Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, and attorney. Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations. In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California non-governmental organization working for alternatives to violence...
resignation.
In October 2009, Browner conceded that congressional passage of the cap-and-trade legislation before the end of year was unlikely, and feared its absence would harm prospects for meaningful international agreement at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference in December. By the next month, she moderated her concern, but expressed opposition to any congressional "slicing and dicing" that would separate energy and climate concerns. Attempts to pass any kind of climate legislation collapsed in July 2010 due to lack of enough votes in the Senate; Browner appeared on behalf of the administration and said, "Obviously, everyone is disappointed that we do not yet have an agreement on comprehensive legislation."
In 2010, Browner became a key part of the administration team handling, and one of the more visible administration figures in issuing public comments about, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. In late May 2010 she assessed the spill as "probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country" and said that the administration was "prepared for the worst". She added that "I think what the American people need to know that it is possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August, when the relief wells will be finished." Mike Allen
Michael Allen (journalist)
Michael Allen is the chief political reporter for Politico, and writes the daily Playbook; in April 2010, the New York Times called him "The Man The White House Wakes Up To."...
of Politico
Politico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
later wrote that "[Browner's] calm, authoritative television presence during the BP oil disaster made her one of the few officials whose stature was enhanced in the aftermath of the Gulf catastrophe."
With Republicans taking over the House of Representatives following the 2010 midterm elections
United States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
, chances of climate and energy legislation passing that embodied Browner's and the administration's goals were essentially nil, and Obama conceded as much. As the Obama administration neared its two-year mark and a number of personnel changes were underway, there was a possibility that Browner might be named to another position with broader responsibilities, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. But that did not come to pass.
Instead, in late January 2011, White House officials disclosed that Browner would be leaving her position in the fairly near future. Browner said of her unexpected decision, "[there's] no back story – it was just time to go" and that she felt "honored to have a second ... chance to serve." League of Conservation Voters
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
president Gene Karpinski
Gene Karpinski
Gene Karpinski is the president of the League of Conservation Voters .Karpinski is a graduate of Brown University and Georgetown University Law Center. Upon receipt of his J.D. in 1977, Karpinski joined Congress Watch, a division of Public Citizen, as field director...
characterized Browner as a "tenacious advocate on our issues" who would be "sorely missed", while a member of the law and energy industry lobbying firm Bracewell & Giuliani
Bracewell & Giuliani
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP is an international law firm based in Houston, Texas, that began in 1945. The firm has over 470 lawyers, and has United States offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Hartford, San Antonio, Seattle, Dallas, and Austin, and overseas offices in Dubai, and London...
said Browner's exit was a good development and that "Her departure may be part of a legitimate effort to pay careful attention to addressing some of the real regulatory obstacles in the way of job creation in the United States." Browner left the White House during March 2011. Her general responsibilities were taken over by her second-in-command, Heather Zichal, from a position within the U.S. Domestic Policy Council
United States Domestic Policy Council
The Domestic Policy Council of the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering domestic policy matters, excluding economic matters, which are the domain of the National Economic Council...
.
In late February 2011, while Browner was still in place, the House voted to eliminate the Director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy position altogether. While the move was part of an overall effort to get rid of Obama's "czars", Browner was a particular focus of it. Representative Steve Scalise
Steve Scalise
Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party...
, who led the effort, said of Browner, "Let her leave, and take the funding, too." In the mid-April 2011 federal spending agreement
2011 United States federal budget
The 2011 United States federal budget is the United States federal budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 2011, which is October 2010–September 2011. The budget is the subject of a spending request by President Barack Obama...
that averted a possible government shutdown, funding for the position was indeed eliminated (as were three other "czar" roles, most of which were similarly vacant). Obama issued a signing statement
Signing statement
A signing statement is a written pronouncement issued by the President of the United States upon the signing of a bill into law. They are usually printed along with the bill in United States Code Congressional and Administrative News ....
protesting the move and saying he would not abide by it, but the point was largely moot as the positions in question, including the Browner one, had already been moved inside the Domestic Policy Council.
Return to business and advocacy
Browner rejoined the Center for American ProgressCenter for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
in April 2011 as a Distinguished Senior Fellow and a member of the organization's Executive Committee. She also rejoined the Albright firm, now known due to merger as the Albright Stonebridge Group
Albright Stonebridge Group
The Albright Stonebridge Group is a global strategy company led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albrightand former National Security Advisor Samuel Berger, and former Senator Warren Rudman...
, as a Senior Counselor whose responsibilities included providing strategic services to clients in assorted areas of environmental impact. She continued to speak publicly on environmental issues and indicated she was "disappointed" by the Obama administration's September 2011 decision to drop toughening of low-altitude ozone levels in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
National Ambient Air Quality Standards
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under authority of the Clean Air Act that apply for outdoor air throughout the country...
.
Awards and honors
In April 1997, Browner received the Outstanding Mother of the Year Award from the National Mother's Day Committee "for her dedication to providing 'children with a safer, healthier world.'" Browner also has received GlamourGlamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
magazine's Woman of the Year Award, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association's Advocate for Children Award, the South Florida Chapter of the Audubon Society's Guy M. Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Environmental Achievement Award from the New York State Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association , with 77,000 members, is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States.-History:The State Bar was founded with a constitution that dates to 1877...
. In 1998 she received Vice President Gore's Hammer Award for helping to make government cost less and work better. In 2000, she received the American Lung Association
American Lung Association
The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.-History:...
's President's Award for leadership towards "the toughest action in a generation to safeguard public health from the threats posed by air pollution."
External links
- Carol M. Browner - EPA History: EPA's Administrators