Why is Lisa Jackson, EPA head, stepping down?

[dixiegrrrrl]

Her reasons are vague:

"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."

but, this, in the article:
"Jackson was under pressure from the White House to delay controversial regulations.
Obama last year ordered a hold on new smog regulations, urged by Jackson and EPA scientists,
for fear it would hurt him in the elections."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/27/epa-lisa-jackson-steps-down

[LiberalEsto]

1. Frustration? Disgust? nt

[TwilightGardener]

2. I've read that it's because of private email accounts, that GOPers

are coming after her with FOIA. Or something like that.

[Enrique]

3. and Keystone, according to this person

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/top-obama-environmental-official-departs-frustrat

(...)
Jackson "left as a matter of conscience," said Jeff Tittel, the director of New Jersey's Sierra Club chapter and a longtime friend of Jackson's. The EPA Administrator "has too much principle to support the pipeline, between the climate impacts of it and the water quality impacts of it."

(...)

A former senior administration official confirmed that disputes over Keystone were central to Jackson's alienation from the White House — though a third source close to Jackson said she also had personal reasons to move on from the Obama administration, a normal step for a cabinet official who has served four intense years.

"It was all about Keystone for the last 16 months," said the former senior Obama administration official, who said Jackson's opposition to the project — and her defeat in internal arguments — meant that her colleagues had assumed she would leave after the November election, before she would be forced to work on any element of the implementation of Keystone.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. ahhhh....thank you for that info.

Makes sense.
I have such deep respect for people who leave their job rather than ignore their conscience.

[kimbutgar]

4. Too many battles to fight and no back up from the white house

The right wing and the koch roaches did everything they could to make her life miserable. She fought hard but they wore her down. The EPA is the one agency that the right wingers want to eliminate. I predict it will be run by an interim director for the rest of President Obama's term as the GOP critters will not approve anyone to run it, like the ATF which the NRA will not allow anyone to be in charge to change the rules.

[frazzled]

5. Cabinet members rarely stay for both terms

That is the most likely explanation. It's a public service, it's a huge headache, and while the power and prestige are great, the salary is much less than one could earn in the outside world (even at a think tank or nonprofit).

[Wellstone ruled]

6. It's all about the BP settlement,

and how the lobbyist for big Oil have corrupted the Bush moled in EPA staffers. Jackson will end up with a teachers position at a major college.