"President-elect Barack Obama will likely announce his energy and environment team this week, according to sources close to the transition. The announcement will probably come Wednesday or Thursday, and is expected to follow votes in Congress on an auto industry bailout package. Obama is expected to announce his nominees for Energy Secretary, Interior Secretary and head of the Environmental Protection Agency together, in keeping with a pattern of announcing 'teams' for particular issue clusters. ... Also possible is the announcement of a new White House office of energy or climate change, perhaps in the form of a new National Energy Council on par with the National Security Council. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank which is advising the Obama transition, has recommended the creation of such a council, headed by a White House-level energy or climate czar. Advocates of the proposal say Obama's ambitious energy and climate proposals will involve nearly every agency, including Energy, Interior, EPA, Agriculture, Transportation, State, Defense and Labor, and will need one figure to coordinate the effort." Coral Davenport reports for CQ Politics December 8, 2008, in a story that includes the latest speculative lists of possible nominees.