EPA ADMINISTRATOR LISA JACKSON ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

Agency Head to Step Down After State of the Union Address 

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
1/4/13

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced last week that she will soon be stepping down from her position, ending a four-year tenure marked by the implementation of landmark controls on coal-fired generation that frequently placed the agency at odds with industry and Congressional Republicans. In a short statement released Dec. 27, Jackson said she would transition out of the agency after President Obama’s State of the Union address later this month. “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,” Jackson said, although she did not indicate her specific plans for future. Some media outlets reported that Jackson is being considered for Princeton University’s presidency.

While not unexpected, Jackson’s departure brings to an end a four-year period in which the agency took unprecedented steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the power generation and transport sectors. Jackson oversaw a key determination in 2009, known as the endangerment finding, which declared carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to be a danger to public health and the environment, allowing the pollutants to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. That finding, which was upheld in federal court last summer following an industry challenge, became the legal underpinning for several recent rulemakings that aim to reduce CO2, mercury, air toxics and other emissions from power plants. Jackson also used that Clean Air Act authority to help negotiate strict fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. Given the lack of political will to pass of carbon legislation in Congress, EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act has become the federal government’s main way of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Jackson Butted Heads with Congress, Industry

Jackson’s regulatory actions also caused the agency to become the target of fierce legal and political challenges from industry and Congressional Republicans, who sought to characterize many of the new Clean Air Act rulemakings as “job-killing” and unfairly targeting coal. The agency was barraged with lawsuits aiming to stymie each regulation finalized, while also being the subject of dozens of Congressional hearings and pieces of legislation meant to strip it of its regulatory authority. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) quipped in early 2011 that Jackson would need her own parking space on Capitol Hill because she would be called to testify so much to defend her agency’s new regulations.

In addition to industry and Congressional Republicans, Jackson also butted heads at times with the Obama Administration. She reportedly almost stepped down in summer 2011 after the White House withdrew a proposed ozone pollution standard and decided to delay action until 2013, citing high costs to industry and local governments.

‘Unwavering Commitment’

EPA’s first black Administrator, Jackson grew up in New Orleans and earned chemical engineering degrees from Tulane University and Princeton University. She spent many of her early years in the workforce as an EPA staff engineer in D.C. She later served as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection between 2006 and 2008 and briefly as chief of staff to former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) before she was tapped to head EPA by Obama in early 2009.

President Obama praised Jackson’s “unwavering commitment” to maintaining public health. “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,” he said in a statement. Green groups also praised Jackson’s accomplishments. “In her four years as EPA Administrator, Lisa has been a steadfast advocate for clean air, clean water, a stable climate and public health—often in the face of very vocal and forceful detractors,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. “With her leadership, our country has made a big down payment on its goals to reduce carbon pollution. Millions of Americans will breathe easier and have access to safe, clean water.”

But it is clear that industry groups will view Jackson’s legacy as one of “over-regulation.” “From an energy and consumer perspective, it had to be said that the Jackson EPA presided over some of the most expensive and controversial rules in Agency history,” said Scott Segal, director of the industry-funded Electric Reliability Coordinating Council and partner at the law firm Bracewell Giuliani. “Agency rules have been used as blunt attempts to marginalize coal and other solid fossil fuels and to make motor fuels more costly at the expense of industrial jobs, energy security, and economic recovery. The record of the Agency over the same period in overestimating benefits to major rules has not assisted the public in determining whether these rules have been worth it.”

EPA Deputies Considered Replacement Frontrunners

Jackson’s departure has led to widespread speculation over who Obama will tap to replace her at the helm of the agency. Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe will serve in the role in an acting capacity until a new nominee is confirmed, but he is considered one of the frontrunners for the position himself. Another favorite is Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, who cut her teeth as a former energy aide to then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. While both are considered career public servants, Obama will be under pressure from Republicans in Congress to pick a more industry-friendly nominee. Environmentalists and progressives, though, have also dialed up pressure on the President for failing to adequately address climate change during his first administration.

EPA in the coming year is expected to finalize greenhouse gas performance standards for new coal and oil-fired power plants and reconsider ozone and ‘good neighbor’ SO2 and NOx pollution regulations.