Will Environmentalist Impact Bush Cabinet?

Henry Paulson "took an early interest in nature. He was raised as a Christian Scientist on an Illinois farm, where he still keeps five acres and has let raccoons have the run of the house. Before college he wanted to become a forest or park ranger. Instead he opted for a business career, getting an MBA from Harvard."

"'Environment is my passion,' Paulson told Charlie Rose in a PBS interview in 2004."

"In New York, he often stops in Central Park, close to where the couple lives, to go bird-watching while on his way to work. Wendy Paulson volunteers as an environmental education teacher at public schools in Harlem. She also is board chairman of Rare, an international environmental nonprofit group.

Environmentalists normally critical of Bush believe they may have an advocate with access to the president's ear.

'It isn't every day that the Sierra Club finds itself welcoming a nomination to George W. Bush's Cabinet while ultraconservatives decry the move,' said Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director."

Thanks to Darrell Waller