Energy Czar

Carol Browner started her career working as General Counsel for the Florida House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations from 1980 to 1981. In 1983, she worked as Associate Director for Citizen Action (founded by Ralph Nader), a lobbying group active in environmental issues. From 1986 to 1988, she worked as Chief Legislative Assistant to Senator Lawton Chiles (D) from Florida. She was instrumental in banning off-shore drilling near the Florida Keys. From 1988 to 1991, she worked as Legislative Director for (then) Senator Al Gore and became known as a Gore protégé. From 1991 to 1993, she headed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, increasing its size to over 1,500 employees with a budget of $650 Million dollars.

After the 1992 elections, she took on the role of Transition Director for Vice-President Elect Gore, and later that year was appointed as President Clinton’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. She served in that capacity throughout the Clinton Presidency becoming the longest serving EPA Director in history. In 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.
As EPA Administrator, Browner started the Agency's successful “brownfields” program. The program helped facilitate cleanups of contaminated facilities, especially in urban areas, and leveraged more than $1 billion in public and private funds for cleanups.
She pushed through stringent air quality rules despite cost concerns within the administration and strong objections from some industry groups. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards was crucial environmental legislation for the Clinton administration. With Gore as her most important ally, the legislation survived both Congressional debate and court reviews. Browner began efforts to deal with global warming, giving the EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions causing climate change, although the EPA under the George W. Bush administration chose not to use that authority, it is already being used by the Obama Administration through “Cap and Trade” legislation.
After the Clinton Administration, Browner became a founding member of the Albright Group, a "global strategy group" headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. As a Principal in that firm, Browner assists businesses and other organizations with the challenges of operating internationally, including the challenges of complying with environmental regulations and climate change. Coca-Cola and Merck 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.
Browner served as the chair of the Audubon Society; 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 is or was also on the boards of the Center for American Progress, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the League of Conservation Voters. and the Commission for a Sustainable World Society.
Her previous year's income, in a 2009 report, was reported by the The Wall Street Journal to be between $1 million and $5 million from lobbying firm Downey McGrath Group, Inc., where her husband, Thomas Downey, is a principal. She also reported $450,000 in "member distribution" income, plus retirement and other benefits from The Albright Group. She was announced as President Obama's "Energy Czar" in December 2008.