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EPA Pick Has Toxic Record, Critics Charge

Jackson promised NJ cleanup effort, then didn't follow through

By Gabriel Winant,  Newser User

Posted Dec 15, 2008 10:51 AM CST

(Newser) – Lisa Jackson, Barack Obama’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, will bring some controversy with her, ProPublica reports. Critics say that after promising to speed efforts to clean up toxic waste sites as New Jersey’s top environmental official, Jackson failed to follow through. A defender says Jackson was handicapped by the “lack of resources … at the top” under Gov. Jon Corzine.

A department scientist says she resigned after Jackson “ignored” a report about insufficient containment of chromium-laden waste, and a newspaper investigation suggests Jackson loosened chromium standards dramatically at the chemical industry’s behest. But she was a political appointee, says one conservationist, with political constraints. “Did she do everything I would have hoped for? No. But probably everything I would’ve hoped for was unreasonable.”

Barack Obama is expected to nominate Lisa Jackson, former New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, as head of the US Environmental Protection Agency today.
Barack Obama is expected to nominate Lisa Jackson, former New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, as head of the US Environmental Protection Agency today.   (AP Photo)
Supporters of Lisa Jackson say New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine didn't give her the support she needed to carry out state environmental cleanup and reform efforts.
Supporters of Lisa Jackson say New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine didn't give her the support she needed to carry out state environmental cleanup and reform efforts.   (AP Photo)
387647 07: A refinery looms stands April 8, 2001 in Northern New Jersey, the home state of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman. The Bush administration is coming under attack from environmental groups, liberals and moderate Republicans for cuts in the EPA and the pullout from the international Kyoto protocol.
387647 07: A refinery looms stands April 8, 2001 in Northern New Jersey, the home state of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman. The Bush administration is coming under attack...   (Getty Images)
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This failure to perform risk-based ranking for determining cleanup priorities has contributed to the belated discovery of contaminated schools and day care centers. - Jeff Ruch, head of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

Did it take longer than it should have? Maybe, but the government doesn’t always move as quickly as we would like it to. - Jeff Tittle, head of NJ Sierra Club

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