Lucien Bouchard, the popular former premier of Quebec, has been tapped to chair the Quebec Oil and Gas Association (QOGA), which is leading the charge to expand exploration in the province’s Utica Shale basin. Bouchard, who was Quebec’s premier from 1996 to 2001, previously served as Canada’s Minister of the Environment and once was Head of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. He will replace Andre Caille on Feb. 21 at QOGA’s general assembly. Quebec’s drilling industry is much smaller than its provincial counterparts; QOGA was established less than two years ago in April 2009.

Carol M. Browner, the White House czar on energy and climate change, is expected to leave her position shortly, ending two years with the Obama administration (see NGI, Dec. 15, 2008). She will be departing the White House with two of her primary goals — comprehensive energy legislation and a cap-and-trade program — unmet. Cap-and-trade legislation died in Congress last year, and President Obama has indicated that he will not pursue it this year. “That’s dead whether Carol Browner stays or not,” said Martin Edwards, legislative vice president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, which represents interstate natural gas pipelines. Browner’s decision to leave may be a signal that the “administration itself may want to take a more conciliatory approach to the energy industry going forward,” he speculated. Like most, Edwards believes that Browner’s resignation is voluntary. She told The Washington Post that there is “no back story — it was just time to go.” The news of her imminent departure was first reported in Politico. Prior to joining the Obama administration, she was a principal at The Albright Group LLC, which is headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Browner also was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration.

©Copyright 2011Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.