Is former utility bigwig Bryson too green for commerce?

In what has been branded by conservatives as a move to push alternative energy over traditional resources, President Obama has named former Edison International CEO John Bryson to run the Commerce Department (replacing Gary Locke, who may be moving to an ambassadorship in China).

Obama touted Bryson as “a business leader who understands what it takes to innovate, to create jobs, and to persevere through tough times” and “a fierce proponent of alternative energy.”

While Bryson did work for solar company BrightSource Energy these last few months, that’s not the scope of his power resume. He’s no lightweight when it comes to the hard-hitting, gritty, rather conservative power business. He helmed Edison during the serious California energy crisis that claimed utilities with lesser navigation skills like Pacific Gas and Electric, which was forced into bankruptcy trying to weather the same crisis.

Business groups and California officials applauded the Bryson nomination, but some congressmen, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have threatened to stall the nomination until they can get a look at trade agreements the White House is negotiating. Additionally, some of the seriously conservative sects of Congress are a little concerned that Bryson is too green (in values, not in experience). Bryson has been an advocate of solar energy and plug-in vehicles and recently advised a task force on climate change for the state of California.

Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has announced that he will fight the nomination because Bryson helped found the Natural Resources Defense Council, which he labeled a “radical environmental organization.” (Bryson was among a group of young lawyers who helped establish the organization in the early 1970s.) Inhofe is not a proponent of climate change theory, believing it to be a hoax, and has a pattern of opposing environmental groups, causes and promotions. So, that particular opposition was to be expected.

Is Bryson green? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? No, I don’t think so. The man did help create a large environmental movement. He does push initiatives that he believes in, and that does include a lot of alternative energy. But, the bottom line is this: Bryson knows power. And, you don’t bump up exports and increase those commerce numbers without knowing how to make, ship, control and tackle the energy side of the equation.

Sure, Bryson graduated from Yale and founded the Natural Resources Defense Council. He also joined Edison International in 1984 and took over the company in 1990, just a couple of years before industry headlines trumpeted deregulation woes and financial drama for most California utilities. He retired from the position in 2008 having helped that company regain footing in a business environment that was financially toxic.

It seems a smart combination for Obama’s alternative energy agenda: Bryson’s both the man who knows the industry and the man who believes in the cause. He has the passion and knows the path to get there. It’s a very solid call for the Administration’s goals to make us, as a country, leaner and greener.

The fact that not everyone agrees with those goals is just another day in D.C., really.