Agricultural News
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Calling It Quits in Early 2013
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 09:57:57 CST
The Obama administration's chief environmental watchdog, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, is stepping down after a nearly four-year tenure marked by high-profile brawls over global warming pollution, the Keystone XL oil pipeline, new controls on coal-fired plants, Farm Dust and Clean Water regulations that could cripple modern ag production in the US.
Jackson, the agency's first black administrator, constantly found herself caught between administration pledges to solve controversial environmental problems and steady resistance from Republicans and industrial and agricultural groups who complained that the agency's rules destroyed jobs and made it harder for American companies to compete internationally.
"I will leave the EPA confident the ship is sailing in the right direction, and ready in my own life for new challenges, time with my family and by new opportunities to make a difference," she said in a statement. Jackson gave no exact date for her departure, but will leave after Obama's State of the Union address in late January.
Oklahoma's senior Senator Jim Inhofe had frequent clashes with Jackson because of his role as the ranking minority member of the Environment and Public Works Committee in the US Senate. His most recent criticism of the EPA and Jackson came about a week ago when he released a statement critical of the EPA's continuing investigation into "fracking" by the oil and gas industry. Inhofe said "Today's release by EPA of its progress report on its study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water is more proof that the Administration is not in search of truth, but rather for justification to regulate hydraulic fracturing and cripple the oil and gas industry."
"We must remember that this is the same EPA that compared its enforcement mechanisms to Roman occupiers who crucified the first five men they saw in a new territory to guarantee civil obedience. It is also the same EPA that aggressively and carelessly tried to link hydraulic fracturing to groundwater contamination in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and in Texas, and came up empty handed each time. Why should anyone expect me to trust their 'science' now?"
Inhofe has also raised concerns about Jackson's EPA regarding clean water regulations. In August of this year- Senator Inhofe spoke out in an open field about the efforts of the EPA to regulate every bit of water in the United States by changing language within the Clean Water Act. We wrote on August 27 "Speaking from a buffalo wallow in a field on Gary Johnson's farm near Waukomis, Inhofe said the EPA wants to redefine or remove the term 'navigable' from legislation defining the scope of EPA's responsibilities. That would allow the agency to regulate all water including farm ponds, pipelines, groundwater, roadside ditches and even the buffalo wallow beneath his feet." Click here to read the complete story of that day as Inhofe talked about what he considered a massive regulatory power grab that will continue as long as President Obama is in the White House.
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