[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 37 (Monday, September 22, 2008)]
[Page 1223]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Designation of Officers of the Council on Environmental 
Quality to Act as Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality

September 18, 2008

Memorandum for the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality

Subject: Designation of Officers of the Council on Environmental Quality 
to Act as Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies 
Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that:
    Section 1. Order of Succession. Subject to the provisions of section 
2 of this memorandum, the following officials of the Council on 
Environmental Quality in the order listed, shall act as and perform the 
functions and duties of the office of the Chairman of the Council on 
Environmental Quality (Chairman), during any period in which the 
Chairman has died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the 
functions and duties of the office of Chairman until such time as the 
Chairman is able to perform the functions and duties of that office:
    (a) Chief of Staff;
    (b) General Counsel; and
    (c) Associate Directors in the order that they shall have been 
appointed as such.
    Sec. 2. Exceptions.
    (a) No individual who is serving in an office listed in section 1 in 
an acting capacity, by virtue of so serving, shall act as the Chairman 
pursuant to this memorandum.
    (b) No individual listed in section 1 shall act as Chairman unless 
that individual is otherwise eligible to so serve under the Federal 
Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this memorandum, the President 
retains discretion, to the extent permitted by law, to depart from this 
order in designating an acting Chairman.
    Sec. 3. Judicial Review. This memorandum is intended to improve the 
internal management of the executive branch and is not intended to, and 
does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, 
its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
agents, or any other person.

    Sec. 4.  You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum 
in the Federal Register.
                                                George W. Bush