It's Bare Knuckles Time at the Bush EPA

Posted by Howie Klein, Down With Tyranny! at 9:03 AM on May 8, 2008.

As regular DWT readers know, we're big fans of Al Kamen's "In the Loop" column in the Washington Post. (Confusingly, other people also write under the "In the Loop" heading--but if it's Wednesday or Friday, it's really in the loop.) Al and his no doubt gleeful network of spies and informants haunt the back alleys and especially the back channels of D.C. for an often-hilarious view of the way our gummint actually works.

But often what he turns up isn't so hilarious. Often, in the way that a person may be better informed watching The Daily Show than anybody's Evening News, Al's column serves as the primary source for news that should be on every front page. Like this item from today's column, which by the way comes with the urgent recommendation of our go-to webguy on energy and environmental matters, A Siegel (whom we still have to thank for honoring us with a visit and a comment the other day):

Don't Do Any Environment Stuff

Loop Fans know to be highly skeptical of those political announcements that a top administration official is resigning "to spend more time with the family," or maybe to "return to his first love," coin collecting or weight lifting. These phrases are almost always euphemisms for getting the boot or being squeezed out.

But there was even greater skepticism Thursday at the Environmental Protection Agency when deputy administrator Marcus Peacock circulated this e-mail to senior officials at 5:06 p.m. about the resignation of EPA's administrator in the Chicago region.

Subject: Region 5 Personnel Announcement

As of this afternoon, Thursday, May 1, 2008, Mary Gade has resigned her position as Regional Administrator for EPA Region 5. I want to thank Mary for her many years of service to the people and the mission of EPA.

She has worked hard to help protect human health and our environment.

Mary plans to return to private life and spend time with her family.

Bharat Mathur, the Deputy Regional Administrator, will assume the responsibilities of Acting Regional Administrator. I thank Bharat for his continued service and leadership.

Problem was, the e-mail came 1 1/2 hours after the Chicago Tribune posted a story online quoting Gade, who said she had been forced out of her job because of her aggressive stand on dioxin flowing from Dow Chemical's Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.

Gade said two political appointees at headquarters told her to quit or be fired by June 1. The EPA confirmed she was leaving but declined to discuss a personnel matter.

Gade, appointed by President Bush 18 months ago, told the Tribune: "There is no question this is about Dow. I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."

Gade had been trying to force Dow to clean up several inland hot spots contaminated by the cancer-causing chemical. She told the Tribune that top aides to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson repeatedly questioned her actions against the chemical giant.

Next thing you know, she "plans to return to private life and spend time with her family."

Now what makes this grim story all the more urgent is that we hear increasingly from environmentalists (including our environmental guru A Siegel) that the politicization of EPA, which not coincidentally has turned its mission upside down, from protecting the environment to presiding over assaults on it, is a scandal of every bit as vast proportion as that of the politicization of the Justice Department--or, rather, the scandal that the firing of all those U.S. attorneys (etc. etc.) should have been.

In addition, we learn from The Cunctator (noting that "eerie parallels between Alberto Gonzales and EPA's Stephen Johnson continue to grow"):

Yesterday, it was reported that EPA's Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett stepped down. Like John "Torture Memo" Yoo, the 31-year-old Jason Burnett is the author and advocate of a series of legal arguments that subvert the very purpose of his agency.

Indeed Steve Johnson seems to have studied at the Idiot Al "The Torture Guy" Gonzales School of Government Accountability, learning how to shoulder the burden of oversight by duly constituted congressional committees. Which reminds us--

P.S.: BE SURE TO SEND ADMINISTRATOR JOHNSON A GET-WELL CARD

By way of a postscript, Al Kamen notes that EPA Administrator Johnson has had to postpone, no doubt with the greatest regret, a scheduled appearance tomorrow before Rep. Henry Waxman's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, because of back problems "stemming from a car accident years ago," according to EPA officials.

A cynic--and our Al is nothing if not a cynic--might point out, as he did: "Something like this happened another time he was to appear for a ritual pummeling--which is what happens when any administration official appears before Waxman (D-Calif.). No new date for a hearing has been set." In addition, Administrator Johnson apparently came down with a sudden urgent need to visit Australia for two weeks last month at the very moment that Sen. Barbara Boxer was expecting to have a crack at him on the Senate side.

Both Representative Waxman and Senator Boxer are reportedly standing by.

Tagged as: epa, environment, bush administration