For Don Henley, no easy peaceful feeling
Don Henley talks about the appointment of SMU Engineering Professor Al Armendariz to head the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 6, which includes Texas, the nation's largest producer of industrial air pollution, and four other southwestern states.
By Jed Gottlieb
Don Henley has been trying to get down to the heart of the matter. And, while yes, it is about forgiveness, it’s also about the Eagles, a possible new Henley solo album, the Obama administrations environmental policy and Wal-Mart.
Henley doesn't much like reporters phoning him up (listen to “Dirty Laundry” for a reminder of his thoughts about the media), but he was gracious enough to agree to an interview by e-mail ahead of his solo show at the Wang Theatre on Wednesday.
How do you see the momentum of progressive politics in the Obama era? Having battled for conservation causes for decades how would you rate the Obama administration’s positions on the environment?
. . . The Obama administration has just made a brave and encouraging move by appointing Dr. Alfredo Armendariz to the post of EPA Regional Administrator, Region 6. This region encompasses Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and six tribal nations. Dr. Armendariz is an associate professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he has taught environmental and civil engineering. For the past 15 years, he has worked in a variety of research and academic positions and has published several research papers. After college, Armendariz worked as a research assistant at the MIT Center for Global Change Science at their Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory in Massachusetts. He later joined Radian Corporation in North Carolina as a chemical engineer and in 2002 he joined the faculty at Southern Methodist University and also spent a summer on special assignment to EPA’s Dallas office as an environmental scientist. At Southern Methodist University he’s received several outstanding faculty awards and was selected as a Royster Society Fellow at the University of North Carolina. Armendariz received his S.B. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received his M.E. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida and his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .
So, I think this appointment was a very wise and progressive decision on Obama’s part.
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