On Thursday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson resigned abruptly. The agency offered no explanation, and Jackson apparently isn’t leaving straight to another job. President Obama offered no explanation. While cabinet-level officers come and go at the change of a president’s term, her resignation came as a bit of a surprise.
It turns out that she is getting out of the job as her email alias scandal builds to a head. PJM columnist Chris Horner and the Competitive Enterprise Institute say that Jackson’s use of offsite email accounts are the reason for her sudden resignation.
Horner and CEI earlier this year had sued the EPA for documents pertaining to Jackson’s use of alias email accounts. She was said to operate under the name “Richard Windsor” — the use of those accounts has since drawn the scrutiny of Republican members of Congress, as well as triggered an audit by the EPA inspector general.
According to court documents, the EPA — represented by the Justice Department — two weeks ago agreed to release as many as 12,000 emails pertaining to the CEI request beginning by Jan. 14, at a rate of 3,000 documents per month. The court accepted the schedule last week.
Horner said the increased scrutiny on the alias account, coupled with what those emails might contain regarding the administration’s alleged “war on coal,” likely contributed to Jackson’s announcement Thursday.
“She, by her action, told us that these are records she doesn’t want the people to see,” Horner said.
President Obama, in a written statement, made no reference to the emails.
Of course he made no references to “Richard Windsor” or Jackson’s concerted effort to keep her authoritarian deliberations off the official books. He leads the most transparent administration evah, after all. He can’t just go around telling the American people what’s really going on behind the scenes, can he?
Jackson can get out of Dodge before the first emails are released, but the White House can’t get their new EPA boss confirmed before the content of what ‘Richard’ discussed in those emails starts coming to light. Senate Republicans have a chance to grill the nominee on if he or she agrees with Jackson’s covert statements, and need to make an issue out of it (even if it’s one most of the big media as usual opts not to cover).
It’s truly a shame that the GOP head of the House of Representatives can shine light on the Fiscal Cliff negotiations. Maybe if he had a backbone he could tell Obama no negotiations unless all of them are recorded and posted to the web.
“What? You mean I gotta follow some kinda rules? What’s the sense of having government if you gotta follow rules? I’m outta here.”
– you just wake up one morning and realize you need to spend more time with the family.
It is my understanding that it was Lisa Jackson, who ,when she went to mandate higher auto mileage standards, and was told that it would require the repeal of the laws of thermodynamics, was said to say “We can, repeal any law we want , we are in charge now”. She was a typical Obama administration afermative action hire, no qualifications except color.
I am a chemical engineer, and I recall the pride with which Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP), the official publication of the AIChE announced her appointment. Her background is toxic sites cleanup and regulatory bureaucracy. I doubt if she has ever participated in a process design meeting, or spent the night in a control room during a start-up, or even worked for a company that makes something.
Congratulations to Horner and CEI on their successful pursuit of this toxic appointee! And to you Bryan for reporting on it! Lets hope the heat continues to be put on the EPA which continues to act against fiscal sanity and the interests of our embattled citizenry.