WolfeNotes.com

The US Senate confirmation of former NJ Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson as US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator brought out sharply conflicting views with respect to the relative roles of science and politics in her leadership style and policy decision-making.
The Washington DC Beltway view – based on Jackson’s own testimony and press remarks – is best illustrated in this headline and story from ENS:
EPA Nominee Jackson Promises Science Will Trump Politics
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-14-10.asp
Today’s NY Times – written by award winning veteran former NJ Star Ledger and Bergen Record reporter Dunstan McNichol and based on interviews with professionals who have worked with Jackson – takes a strongly contradictory view:
A Master Juggler in a Job That Demands One
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/nyregion/new-jersey/25depnj.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jackson&st=cse

Bill WolfeRepresentatives of the Ramapough Indians from Ringwood NJ attend hearing in support of Jackson. Ford Motor Company poisoned their community and Ringwood State Park. For many years, the Ringwood mines Superfund case was badly mismanaged by USEPA, while NJ DEP looked the other way and did not enforce state cleanup laws. In 2004, former DEP Commissioner Brad Campbell, working with NJ Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, local citizen activists, and the Edison Wetlands Association, successfully convinced US EPA to re-list the site and order Ford to conduct additional cleanup there.
The photo is taken from the rear because the Star Ledger would not credential the author to photograph the hearing and US Senate rules DO NOT PROVIDE PHOTO ACCESS FOR ALTERNATE MEDIA and bloggers

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There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.
~~~ Woody Guthrie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Land_Is_Your_Land

Bill Wolfe

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DEP Ignored Scientists Warnings and Failed to Regulate Perchlorate in drinking water – Lisa Jackson to be asked why
Today, Lisa Jackson appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for confirmation as the Obama Administration’s nominee for EPA Administrator. Yesterday, two more national stories broke on her controversial record as NJ DEP Commissioner:
Jackson to Be Asked About Regulating Perchlorate in Drinking Water
http://www.propublica.org/article/jackson-to-be-asked-about-regulating-perchlorate-in-drinking-water-090113
Transparency Concerns Raised about EPA Nominee
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/4450/1/1?TopicID=1

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Significant new angles on Jackson’s record coming out
“Her commitment to developing cleanup standards based on science and not politics turned out to be empty… She’s exceeded even the irresponsibility of some of her predecessors”
~~~ Joe Morris, Interfaith Community Organization, Jersey City, the group that successfully sued Honeywell
In a money story that missed the money quote, today’s Dow Jones reports on the Lisa Jackson EPA confirmation story:

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“We needed someone who was going to fight for environmental policies based on sound science. What we got was a soldier for Corzine.”
~~~ Bob Spiegel, Edison Wetlands Association, in today’s Star Ledger
Does Lisa Jackson have the strength to stand up to political and economic pressure? To defend the independence of EPA and the integrity of science? To fight for strong policies and enforce environmental laws? Or will her first loyalty be a personal one to President Obama, as it was to Governor Corzine?
Today’s Star Ledger weighs in with a telling focus -

Sierra Club applauds Governor Corzine’s signing of the Global Warming Response Act, July 2007

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Public radio’s highly respected environmental news program “Living on Earth“, this week featured the debate over Lisa Jackson’s NJ record:
“Jackson’s Job in Jersey” Listen to the radio show here:
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00002&segmentID=2
mp3 is here: http://stream.loe.org/audio/090109/090109jackson.mp3

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