Green Jersey

As Jackson preps for EPA nod, a group criticizes her record

Lisa Jackson, who recently left her lead role at the DEP to become Gov. Jon Corzine’s chief of staff, is Obama’s choice for Environmental Protection Agency chief (per the Washington Post and Bergen Record).

The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility earlier this week criticized Jackson’s record with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The organization faulted Jackson for what it said was her failure to notify parents about mercury contamination in a day-care center set up in a former thermometer factory. PEER also said she relaxed hazardous waste cleanup standards and led a DEP that offered no cogent response to problems like pollution and drinking water contamination.

Bill Wolfe, a former DEP employee who is the New Jersey director of PEER, posted a scathing commentary on Jackson on his blog on Sunday.

DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura told the Record for a story Tuesday that PEER’s complaints were “old news and off target”:

“The report is based more on a personal attack on the former commissioner than it is on her environmental record,” Makatura said. “It’s the only environmental group that’s come out against her.”

Rather than relax standards, Jackson tried to accelerate long-delayed cleanups by letting the work be funded by developers with “strong DEP oversight,” Makatura said.

And while the department knew of possible contamination at the former thermometer factory in Gloucester County, it was not told when a day-care center opened there, Makatura said. The state has since taken steps to require such notification.

Today’s Washington Post story on Jackson and other impending Obama appointments said that New Jersey environmentalists describe the New Orleans native “as a pragmatic but consistent ally who has pushed Corzine to adopt a greener stance during his time in office.” Environment New Jersey’s Dena Mattola Jaborska is quoted as saying Jackson played a major role in the passage of the Global Warming Response Act, which pledged big cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

More: New Jersey’s Lisa Jackson set to get EPA nod from Obama (Bergen Record)