Until now, the L.A. Times has had an editor for environmental coverage of California, Frank Clifford, whose oversight pretty much ended at the state line. In a long overdue realignment, he's now the whole paper's enviro editor. Clifford used to write about the environment and has covered political campaigns and City Hall. An announcement from Metro boss Janet Clayton and her National counterpart, Scott Kraft, follows:

From: Clayton, Janet
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 4:03 PM
Subject: Environmental editor

Frank Clifford, who has been editing environmental news for the Metro section for the last four years, will expand his editing duties to environmental coverage paper nationwide, with a particular focus on the West. As environmental editor, Frank will shape the paper's coverage by working with reporters based in California, where the environment is a central issue, and with reporters in national bureaus and in Washington, where the nation's environmental policies are made. Frank and California's environmental reporters will continue to report to the California section on statewide issues. He will report to the National desk on national stories. We expect that Frank's new, expanded role will result in the strongest regional and national environmental coverage of any newspaper in the country.

Frank, who came to the Times as a staff writer in 1982, is the author of the book "The Backbone of the World--A Portrait of the Vanishing West Along the Continental Divide."

Janet Clayton and Scott Kraft