KU News Release

KU law professor part of effort to influence President-elect Obama’s first acts in office

Robert L. Glicksman

LAWRENCE — A report co-edited by a University of Kansas law professor urges President-elect Barack Obama to issue seven executive orders during his first 100 days in office that would safeguard public health and the environment.

Robert L. Glicksman, the Robert W. Wagstaff Distinguished Professor of Law, contributed to the paper as a member-scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform, a nonprofit research and educational organization aimed at protecting health, safety and the environment through analysis and commentary.

Issued shortly after the November election, the report, titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment by the Stroke of a Pen: Seven Executive Orders for the President’s First 100 Days,” was circulated to more than 1,700 people in Congress and the advocacy community by mail and e-mail. It has since garnered attention from mainstream and environmental media outlets and bloggers.

Glicksman said the seven areas covered by the paper have two things in common.

“First, they are all areas that cry out for a different policy direction that provides greater protection for public health, safety and the environment than currently exists or that creates greater opportunities for public input into the governmental policymaking processes,” he said. “Second, they all involve areas in which the president can achieve the results we suggest by acting unilaterally through the issuance of executive orders. No congressional participation is necessary, which allows President-elect Obama to move quickly without running the risk that the initiatives we suggest will get bogged down in the legislative process.”

The recommendations, outlined in full detail in the report, are to:

— Curb the federal government’s contribution to climate change
— Make climate change a priority in federal agency decision making
— Account for children in decisions about toxins
— Overhaul rules and institute checks to ensure environmental justice
— Restore government transparency
— Respect state authority to protect citizens from hazards
— Promote ecological integrity and public participation in stewardship of public lands

“We selected the seven orders we recommend because, if issued, they would be symbolic of the Obama administration’s commitment to enhancing protection of health, safety and the environment, while also achieving significant substantive protections,” Glicksman said.

The Washington Post, Seattle Post Intelligencer, U.S. News and World Report, Inside EPA and the Huffington Post are among the media outlets that have mentioned the report.

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