Obama Plans to Erase Bush's Environmental Mark

Whoever Barack Obama picks for the top posts at the EPA and the Interior Department will likely be put straight to work reversing the course those agencies have been on for eight years, the Washington Post reports. Obama has made it plain that he plans to undo many of the environmental rules enacted under his predecessor. Two early ones likely to go: a rule denying California the ability to regulate tailpipe emissions, and a decision that global warming doesn't affect public welfare.

The EPA is likely to be given added muscle to help tackle climate change in concert with the Interior Department. Many names are in the mix to head the agencies, and the eventual choices will face huge expectations from green groups. Sen. Barbara Boxer said she expects Obama to choose  "people who really care about the issues they're in charge of, someone who believes in their mission and not someone who's going to undermine their mission. That's a sea change." (More Department of the Interior stories.)