Obama announces members of oil spill commission
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U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Monday the names of five other members of a seven-member presidential commission on oil spill.
The five members are Frances G. Beinecke, Donald Boesch, Terry D. Garcia, Cherry A. Murray and Frances Ulmer.
Frances Beinecke is currently the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit corporation that works to advance environmental policy in the United States and across the world.
Donald Boesch is the President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, where he is also a Professor of Marine Science and Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland.
Terry D. Garcia is currently Executive Vice President for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society. He is responsible for the Society's core mission programs, including programs that support and manage more than 400 scientific field research, conservation and exploration projects annually.
Cherry Murray was appointed the Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in July 2009, and is currently the Past President of the American Physical Society.
Fran Ulmer is Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska's largest public university.
"I am grateful they have agreed to serve as we work to determine the causes of this catastrophe and implement the safety and environmental protections we need to prevent a similar disaster from happening again," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
The bipartisan commission, established through an Executive Order, is tasked with providing recommendations on how the U.S. can prevent -- and mitigate the impact of -- any future spills that result from offshore drilling. The commission is co-chaired by former two-term Florida Governor and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency William K. Reilly.
