EPA chief resigns

WASHINGTON, D.C.
December 27, 2012 7:44am

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a federal agency that has daily impact on the businesses and people of the Central Valley is quitting.

“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,” says Ms. Jackson in a written statement.

She says the EPA has made progress on a number of issues. “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,” says Ms. Jackson.

Ms. Jackson has headed up the agency for four years, years marked by unrelenting attacks on the EPA by Republicans in Congress.

With a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton, Ms. Jackson joined the EPA in 1987 as a staff scientist, rising through the ranks until she joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. She was named its chief in 2006, a position she held until Mr. Obama appointed her to the EPA at the beginning of his first term.