EPA Administrator to Step Down

Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended with a series of rear-guard actions to defend the agency against challenges from industry, Republicans in Congress and, at times, the Obama White House.

Jackson told President Obama shortly after his re-election in November that she wanted to leave the administration early next year. She informed the EPA staff of her decision on Dec.27.

She has not said what she intends to do after leaving government, and no successor was immediately named, although it is expected that Robert Perciasepe, the EPA deputy administrator, will take over at least temporarily.

Jackson’s departure comes as many in the environmental movement are questioning Obama’s commitment to dealing with climate change and other environmental problems. After his re-election, and a campaign in which global warming was barely mentioned by either candidate, Obama said that his first priority would be jobs and the economy and that he intended only to foster a “conversation” on climate change in the coming months.

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Source: The New York Times