Great headlne on Jackson EPA Confirmation hearing

by: Jason Springer

Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 12:00:00 PM EST

Jackson promises to un-Bush the EPA

Lisa P. Jackson, chosen to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said at her confirmation hearing Wednesday morning that she would assure that political appointees at the agency would not overrule scientists and other professionals to tilt policy decisions.

Her promise was an implicit rebuke of the management of the E.P.A. under President Bush, where career officials? recommendations were at times ignored in decisions on lead in the air, arsenic in water, and carbon dioxide coming from tailpipes and smokestacks. Senator Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which is considering Ms. Jackson?s nomination, has regularly complained about alleged political interference in scientific and technical decisions on environmental matters.

Her confirmation appears on track. The ranking Republican on the committee, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a skeptic on global warming, called her ?accessible and reasonable? and said he planned to vote to confirm her.

She will not only be the first African-American Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, I believe she will be the best Environmental Protection Agency Administrator we have seen in this history of that department, said Senator Menendez before the committee.