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Lisa Jackson is stepping down from her post as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year term.
"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 new opportunities to make a difference," she said in a statement announcing her departure.
Kevin Wolf / AP
This file photo shows Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson during an interview with The Associated Press at EPA Headquarters in Washington. Jackson, The Obama administration's chief environmental watchdog, 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 and several other hot-button issues that affect the nation's economy and people's health.
Jackson, 50, is expected to depart the E.P.A. early next year. She is the first African-American to head the agency.
Her tenure at the helm of the E.P.A. was marked by clashes with some in the GOP and the energy industry who said environmental regulations limited job creation and hurt new innovation. The administration abandoned an attempt early in President Barack Obama's first term to pass cap-and-trade legislation to address global climate change. That legislation failed to pass the Senate, and the E.P.A. moved instead on a series of regulatory efforts including successful implementation of emissions standards for new cars and small trucks.
"I want to thank President Obama for the honor he bestowed on me and the confidence he placed in me four years ago this month when he announced my nomination as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency," she said in her statement, which indicated she will leave the cabinet after the State of the Union address. "At the time I spoke about the need to address climate change, but also said: 'There is much more on the agenda: air pollution, toxic chemicals and children’s health issues, redevelopment and waste-site cleanup issues, and justice for the communities who bear disproportionate risk.'"
Saying that Jackson has been "an important part of my team," Obama praised those efforts in a statement.
"Under her leadership, the EPA has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, including implementing the first national standard for harmful mercury pollution, taking important action to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act and playing a key role in establishing historic fuel economy standards that will save the average American family thousands of dollars at the pump, while also slashing carbon pollution."
In an interview with the New York Times, Jackson said she intends to "decompress" and do public speaking engagements but does not yet have plans for a new job.
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I hope that whoever takes her place is able to stand up to the oil/gas and chemical industry lobbyists. They're killing us slowly...I want more oversight and restrictions; with those companies burdening the additional costs and not via Uncle Sam ie: Taxpayers. No one is holding these companies accountable...I thought the EPA had more of a commitment to the public health rather than to big business.
Under Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, EPA seeks not merely to regulate, but to legislate; not merely to protect our health and environment against every conceivable risk, however far-fetched, but to control every facet of our economy, livelihoods and lives.
Instead of following laws and policies set by our elected representatives, EPA is determined to impose regulatory edicts that reflect President Obama’s promises to “bankrupt” coal and utility companies and “radically transform” our economy, society and free-enterprise system.
The EPA's actions make it increasingly expensive to fill gas tanks, heat and cool homes and offices, operate hospitals and factories, and buy food and consumer goods. EPA now is better described as the “Employment Prevention Agency,” with $100 billion diktats that are killing countless jobs, making America more dependent on foreign sources of energy and raw materials that we have in abundance right here at home, and endangering our economy, national security and people’s health and welfare.
Mrs. Jackson’s agenda seeks to relegate fossil fuels to the dustbin of history and force America to get its energy from intermittent “renewable” sources, not when they are needed but when they are available. Regulations on “greenhouse gases” and other emissions are to make non-hydrocarbon energy appear cheaper by comparison, paving the way for crony-corporatist “alternatives” like wind, solar and ethanol.
Only rarely have our courts delayed or blocked EPA’s worst excesses. In one recent case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected EPA’s “cross-state” air pollution rule, which would have controlled power plant emissions on the grounds that computer models predict pollutants might harm families hundreds of miles away.
Another Suck-Up Hussein Sycophant Abandoning ship, before it Sinks Lower. Thanks for Nothing, but propogating Hussein's BS. Four More Years? Not for her. Hillary? Good Riddance! Who's Next to Bail on the "bail-out" king? Stay tuned to barry's Pathetic soap opera and watch his lame duck ratings Plummet.
Is Bush senior available to advise Boehner on how to govern?
Wonder how many jobs was lost because of the government regulations put on businesses
Right now we are at a little over 10 million
New EPA regulations will kill at least 183,000 private sector jobs per year.
Source: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity:
When you drink the Lobby Kool-aid, it might just make you sick, ssmith. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy is hardly a credible source for this kind of analysis, because they are the very producers of coal.
The EPA’s regulation of the coal industry helped boost industry employment to a 15-year high, and EPA regulations aimed at cleaning up Chesapeake Bay would create 35 times more jobs than the GOP’s favorite pet project, the Keystone XL pipeline.
The GOP/Coal talking point has even fallen flat with business leaders, with one CEO saying there was “no question” the new regulations would create jobs.
Just because a lobby group says something doesn't mean it's true.
When you drink the "Media Matters" Kool-aid, it might just make you sick, Physicist-retired.
Just because the Obama Administration's mouthpiece says something doesn't mean it's true.
The Charleston Gazette, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Mike Morris are hardly 'mouthpieces' for the Obama Administration, ssmith. Good lord - Morris is the CEO of American Electric Power.
That's the difference between conservative and progressive sources - one is funded by businesses with vested interests, and the other is a non-profit quoting credible (outside) sources.
Another Black incompetant...but thats not important now.Whats important for our country is to stand up by the 100's of thousand against this horrible obamination of an agency.They are stealing our money and our future as the communists they are..Farmers are now the bad guys,energy companies are now the bad guys fishermen,loggers,automoblie companies,bakeries,truckers...they are all under the boot of this fascist organization.GOP stop funding ..stop funding now!!!
I was not aware incompetence was limited to any specific gender, skin color, religion, etc. The only common thread of incompetence in government is the # of incompetents who are lawyers.
Stepping down at the end of her four year appointment is not uncommon. She hasn't done a great job and has not been asked to return. She will move to a government sponsored watchdog group and make a living suing the government and business.
I wonder when every top appointed post will have been held by an "african american"? I am getting tired of this statement. If she was good at her job would it make any difference what her race or even gender was? How is race a qualifying distinction?
Still no mention by the main stream media of the human experiments the EPA conducted?
Still no mention of the "Richard Windsor" email account Lisa Jackson was using for official government use?
Have to wonder just how far in bed the media is with this administration.
Jackson’s secret identity email account name is “Richard Windsor.” The name is part family dog (Richard) and part hometown (East Windsor, N.J.), and it turns out there are at least 12,000 recently discovered but as yet undisclosed emails using her government-approved pseudonym that has prompted two congressional inquiries and an inspector’s general (IG) investigation.
“Our objective is to determine whether EPA follows applicable laws and regulations when using private and alias email accounts to conduct official business,” said the IG’s notice last week announcing the audit.
Meanwhile, the congressional panels want to know how the use of an alias affects transparency—a practice that President Barack Obama pledged to uphold to the highest standard when he was first elected to that office.
I wonder why the reporter felt it necessary to mention that she was the first African/American to hold that position. It's about as necessary as saying that she was the first person to hold that position who had a butterfly collection. Must have been a slow news day.
Incompetence not limited to any specific gender, skin color, religion, etc. The only common thread of incompetence in government is the # of incompetents who are lawyers.
It sets them up for playing the race card if they think they need it.
Good Riddance!
Rats fleeing a sinking ship...
At the same time, the EPA says it will need another 230,000 new bureaucrats to implement their disastrous job killing policies.
The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” in application and “impossible to administer” by its self-imposed 2016 deadline. But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules.
Thak God she is leaving. The EPA is nothing more then a shill for environmentalists and like-minded individuals to legislate behavior though regulation! If it were up to them and others, we would be living a hardscrabble life lived 200 years ago. I know of too many people in the coal industry who lost work because of the EPA's insistance for gas turbine plants, truckers because of diesel fuel requirements, and car makers because they can't import European engines that would give us 50 mpg diesel.
It is easy to tell from reading the postings which people own businesses and are trying to create jobs and those who either work for big corporations or don't work at all. The owners are the ones that know how crippling and overreaching the EPA has become under this administration yet the workers think the EPA only gets better with each new mandate and regulation. I am actually amazed at how stupid some people are in thinking the it's always the Republicans that want to pollute the air, water, and land. The last time I checked, business owners and Republicans breathed the same air, drank the same water, and lived on the same land as other people. To think that they knowing want to pollute their own resources for the sake of money is childish at best. Please all of you environmental zealots out there, try applying some common sense to your arguements. The only thing the EPA does now is stop job growth and economic opportunity with it's regulations. There is no benefit to the environment because no one would work today for a company that knowing pollutes the area it's employees live in. People are too aware of industrial dangers today, unlike 40 or more years ago. The EPA is free to make laws without real oversight and no review of the real consequences to the economy that their regulations produce. Having the head leave is a good start, now the whole thing needs to be dismantled because it has outlived it's purpose.
Thank you Administrator Whatsyourname for all your hard work at the EPA and, more importantly, for LEAVING...Good BYE...don't let the screen door or should I say Green Door hit you on your way OUT! Adios ...and Good Luck 'dictating' to your FAMILY about 'WHAT THEY SHOULD DO IN EVERY INSTANCE'...since, they, like the Americans under Obama, simply, can't decide or take care of themselves.....good ridance
Four top West Virginia Democrats ripped the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for taking action that will result in 150 lost mining jobs in the coal industry. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, Sen. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and Rep. Nick Rahall expressed “outrage” at the EPA’s delay of a surface mining permit for Consol Energy. If the permit had been approved, the state would have seen thousands of new jobs created. This is all part of the Obama administration’s war on coal, declared during the 2008 campaign.
"I am incensed and infuriated that the EPA would intentionally delay the needed permit for a public-private project that would bring so many good jobs and valuable infrastructure to communities that so desperately need them," stated Machin. "The EPA has lost court case after court case for its overreach, and it should be using better judgment by now.”
Consol will now be forced to fire some 145 people beginning December 30. "Instead of stalling and creating unnecessary impediments, we should be working together to put people to work, develop our infrastructure, and provide the low-priced energy that our country needs. This project would accomplish all three of these crucial goals,” raged Tomblin.
FWIW both the EPA and BLM have proven themselves to rubber stamp just about any and everything that corporations want to do to ruin our planet.
Don't believe me? Check out the OFFENSE that fracking is to the environment... nothing has been done to stop that has it? We hear the slogan about how "clean" it is and how we'll be "energy independet" with all of our ground water poisoned.
We're going to end up like the Mayans. Future generations will see the our rotting ruins and wonder how we lived.
Interesting. When was the last time the EPA rubber stamped a coal mine, fishery, nuclear power plant, etc.?
Fracking poses less risk to our water supply than solar panels or lithium batteries. Since you are obviously unaware, water, in all its forms, is a pollutant by EPA standards.
Of course we are going to end up like the Mayans. No species lasts forever.
About time
Goodbye and good riddance to a waste of space.
At least the other Janet Jackson could sing.
Good riddance. Another Obama cronie and enemy of capitalism by the wayside
It is humorous how so many of you think the government is the only reason things got cleaned up. Yeah, like we all want to die in a polluted pond. But like unions the benefits of the epa have been overplayed. I liked it best when justice Roberts asked what a small fish in one lake in California, which gets no visitors, has to do with interstate commerce. And what is the EPA doing acting pro-actively against "Climate Change". The climate will continue to change long after we are gone..... Digest this, giving the EPA the ability to fine people retroactively for activities that were legal at the time has created it's own set of problems, like tearing down forests to build a factory versus building it on a site that is already contaminated (green fields vs. brown fields). And take gas prices, a bad economy lets all sorts of monsters free (bigotry, hitler, etc) so the libtards are actually creating an economic mess. But with gas prices falling (fracking for those of you unaware) are a result of the "villans" making progress will create an economic bubble that will allow taxes to enable the liberals to occupy whatever they want too next. It is a cycle after alll....and idealism has it's price.
I guess now she will work for Monsanto or BP or some other kind of polluter.
Spoken like a true enemy of Democracy
is this guy for real? -
For a Democratic president so closely allied with the labor movement, Obama's abandonment of the mine workers is stunning, considering that the head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, began his career with the UMW.
Even as the EPA's regulatory squeeze of power plants has had the effect of reducing demand for coal, Jackson's agency has suppressed the supply by enacting new clean-water rules that have brought permitting for new surface-mining operations to a screeching halt in Appalachia. As a result, since Obama took office, coal production has fallen by a third, eliminating hundreds(?) of jobs, most recently when Alpha Natural Resources announced it would be forced to lay off 1,200 miners. While stimulus money was squandered on bankrupt "green energy" boondoggles like Solyndra, Obama's anti-coal agenda has destroyed private-sector jobs that were the very definition of "shovel ready."
What is worse is that wind turbines kill 650,000 birds per year, and China is building three coal fired plants per week. I once had respect for EPA. Now they are just another group of government zealots killing the economy for their own social agenda, and skirting around Congress to do so.
From CNN Money:
The main culprit behind coal's current troubles is natural gas. Utility companies are increasingly ditching coal in favor of cheaper, cleaner natural gas, which has hit near record-low prices.
"There's no question, with gas prices as low as they are, companies want to reap the benefit," said Richard McMahon, vice president of finance and energy supply for Edison Electric Institute, which represents utilities.
Plus, the recession and improved energy efficiency have crimped demand for power.
Just a few years back, coal was used to fuel nearly half the nation's electricity generation, while natural gas accounted for only about 20%. But since the U.S. energy boom brought gas prices down, the two sources are now about equal, according to the Energy Information Administration.
"Cheap natural gas looks like the best explanation for widespread coal-to-gas switching," Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, wrote in a recent research note.
Stay stupid my friend.
Lisa Jackson's parting statement is nothing but a theatrical political moment! The EPA has been neutered by the GOP, and the multi-national business lobby!! Its been rendered powerless, and of no help to the exploited and polluted environment! We the People have been sold down a frack-fault!
one of the problems w/ gov't regulation is overlap. every gov't agency seems to have their own regulation that wants to override the other agencies. this puts the burden (risk) on business. gov't should pick an agency, ONE agency, maybe the EPA, and designate that agency as the keeper of regulation for all to follow.
regulation is okay, it protects 'we the people' but when you have competing regulations all over the place it becomes confusing and creates risk which costs money to fix when mistakes are made so business just backs off to avoid the mistake or even worse .....