Lisa Jackson

Last Thursday, Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the appointment of my successor as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA, Judith Enck, who had been serving as Deputy Secretary of the Environment under New York Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Patterson.  Simultaneously, Lisa also announced the appointment of other Regional Administrators in Regions 1, 3, 6, and 9.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell will campaign for Gov. Jon Corzine tomorrow in Asbury Park and Atlantic City, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson will appear for Corzine in Newark on Sunday.  Newark Mayor Cory Booker will join Rendell in Asbury Park.

Hours after the New Jersey Environmental Federation endorsed Republican Christopher Christie for Governor, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) said that Christie would "turn back the clock on common sense environmental initiatives" that Gov. Jon Corzine has worked on over the last four years.

Weinberg, the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, says that under Corzine's leadership, "New Jersey has become a national leader on environmental policy."

"We are committed to making sure our kids will have clean water and fresh air for generations to come, while Christie is committed to the same failed environmental policies of the Bush Republicans," said Weinberg, who noted that Corzine's Commissioner of Environmental Protection, Lisa Jackson, was named to President Obama's cabinet as EPA Administrator.

"Chris Christie has boasted that he would fight the Obama administration's efforts to protect our air.  He has said that his first target for budget cuts would be environmental protection and that he'd roll back regulations that protect our air and water," Weinberg said.  "Christie has vowed to follow Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford's lead and reject more than $70 million in federal funds to invest in our state's energy programs and he is opposed to the open space bond issue which would protect our remaining green space.  I don't know about you, but I will take the recommendation of the President and the former Vice President when it comes to matters of the environment."

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) said that Corzine was "willing to throw away the promises he made to New Jerseyans on the environment as soon as it was politically expedient to do so.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency audit has found problems with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which boils down to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson criticizing the performance of then-DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson.  The report suggests the state toxic waste cleanup program operates on an honor system, that there is limited quality assurance on the wetland protection program, and that there has been little effort to address recommendations made to New Jersey in a 2006 EPA audit.

Gov. Jon Corzine waits to interview potential Democratic candidates for Lt. Governor.

You have to wonder if Zulima Farber is kicking herself, or at least is she kicking Hamlet Goore?  As Gov. Jon Corzine continues his quest to find a running mate, it is possible that the Cuban-born Farber, who is both Black and Latina, might have emerged as a solid choice for Lt. Governor had she survived her first summer as Attorney General. Instead, her career came to an abrupt end amidst allegations that she used her office to help her live-in boyfriend, Goore, avoid getting a ticket when a Fairview police officer stopped him and found that his vehicle was not registered.  She resigned ten weeks later.

Corzine's enthrallment with outsiders played into the meteoric rise of Stuart Rabner, a career federal prosecutor whom he met for the first time during a campaign appearance at a Caldwell synagogue during the 2005 campaign.  The two hit it off, and after the election Corzine picked Rabner to be his Chief Counsel.  Rabner became Attorney General following Farber's resignation, and then was named Chief Justice when James Zazzali retired in 2007.  Some insiders suggest that Corzine has a similar infatuation with Randal Pinkett, the Rhodes Scholar-turned-Reality TV star who is now on the short list to run for Lt. Governor.

State environmental leaders hint that their endorsements in the 2009 gubernatorial campaign could go to Gov. Jon Corzine (D), former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie (R), or former Environental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett (I).

In his 2005 gubernatorial bid, then-U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine had the whole-hearted support of New Jersey's biggest environmental groups, who called his campaign platform "one of the most comprehensive" ever outlined by a gubernatorial candidate.   

"We were the first to publicly endorse him," said New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel. 

This time around, that is far from certain.

"I think Corzine has aggravated and frustrated the environmental community at large," said Tittel. "I think that in a lot of ways, peoples' patience has kind of run out, partially because a lot of things that he committed to doing really haven't gotten done. Part of it has also been that a lot of little bad things have happened."

With the national and state economy in shambles, residents concerned with their property taxes and state workers' unions rebelling against money-saving measures, the environment will almost certainly not be the foremost issue this election cycle.  Tittel acknowledges that, but doesn't think that it relegates his cause to the back burner, especially since it's tied into the economy by President Obama's green jobs plan. 

The announcement this week that former Commissioner of Environmental Protection Christopher Daggett, who held posts in the Kean and Reagan administrations, will run for Governor as an independent could force the two major party candidates to spend more time talking about the environment than they otherwise would.

Environmentalists put the Governor's lack of commitment to open space funding among the worst parts of his record.  Corzine favors once again funding open space through a ballot question, which annoys environmentalists who believe the issue is too important to depend on the whim of the electorate.

EPA chief Lisa Jackson

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Lisa Jackson to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a report by the Star-Ledger.

Jackson, 46, served as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under Gov. Jon Corzizne, and the governor immediately released a statement upon hearing of Jackson's confirmation.

“The American people have gained a tireless public servant and a tenacious guardian of the environment with the confirmation of Lisa Jackson as our nation’s EPA administrator," Corzine said. “During her tenure... Lisa set the highest professional standards in tackling issues both local and global in scope."

U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez today introduced New Jerseyan  Lisa Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator nominee, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. 

“She will not only be the first African-American Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, I believe she will be the best Environmental Protection Agency Administrator we have seen in this history of that department,” said Menendez.

LAUTENBERG STATEMENT ON TOMORROW'S HEARING ON NOMINATION OF LISA JACKSON TO HEAD EPA

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