[Jonathan Adler, December 11, 2008 at 6:15pm] Trackbacks
Better than a Kennedy:

Word is President-elect Obama will nominate former New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. This is a much better choice than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who had been rumored to be in the running. I am sure I will have plenty of policy disagreements with Administrator Jackson, but there is little question that she has the qualifications and temperament for the job.

[Typo fixed - "disagreements" not "agreements."]

DDG:
I've never heard of her before, but she's clearly a better choice than RFK Jr.
12.11.2008 6:19pm
Michael Kessler:
"I am sure I will have plenty of policy agreements with Administrator Jackson, but there is little question that she has the qualifications and temperament for the job."

I assume by the "but" that you meant "plenty of policy disagreements?
12.11.2008 6:31pm
James Gibson (mail):
Does it really matter. The California Air Resources Board just voted in Cap &Trade to bring our carbon emmissions down to 1990 levels by 2020. Their own "in house" analysis says the California economy will expand faster with strict regulations. Thus it doesn't matter if Obama puts sane people in the EPA or not, the States will destroy themselves and with them the nation.
12.11.2008 6:45pm
David Warner:
ChemE!! Go Urkels, Go Urkels!

Just like Neutron Jack himself.
12.11.2008 6:55pm
Anderson (mail):
I am sure I will have plenty of policy agreements with Administrator Jackson

And this is a bad thing? For blogging, I suppose it is.
12.11.2008 7:09pm
AKD:
please mean "arguments"...
12.11.2008 7:28pm
Jonathan H. Adler (mail) (www):
I meant "disagreements." My bad. Fixed.

JHA
12.11.2008 7:57pm
EPH:
While a better choice than RFK Jr., Lisa Jackson is a not qualified for this position. From the issues I have worked on in New Jersey I find her to be a political hack who puts politics before science which has no place in EPA or FWS (In NJ the DEP serves as both EPA and FWS). Even the liberal group PEER finds her to be unqualified for the position. Sadly she does not have a high enough profile for there to be issues in her confirmation, but there are many many more qualified people for this position.
12.11.2008 8:56pm
David Warner:
From EPH's link:

"In many instances, Jackson embraced policies at DEP echoing the very practices at the Bush EPA which Senator Barack Obama condemned during the presidential campaign."

The horror!
12.11.2008 9:52pm
A. Zarkov (mail):
"Their own "in house" analysis says the California economy will expand faster with strict regulations."

Do you have a link for the analysis? It sounds like somewhere someone made a sign error.
12.11.2008 11:37pm
A. Zarkov (mail):
The NYT bio doesn't tell us much about her qualifications. Just graduating from someplace means little unless followed up by a record of accomplishment. For example does she have any publications in her chosen field of chemical engineering? Instead the Times tells us things like
"... an avid cook, her signature dish — gumbo — is a tribute to her Louisiana roots. ... renowned for her annual Mardi Gras party,..."
What a sad joke American democracy has become.
12.11.2008 11:47pm
pdxbob:
"Do you have a link for the analysis? It sounds like somewhere someone made a sign error"

Yeah, that must be it. Wouldn't want to think that they came up with the answer first, and then back-fit the analysis to fit.
12.12.2008 7:19am
A. Zarkov (mail):
"Yeah, that must be it. Wouldn't want to think that they came up with the answer first, and then back-fit the analysis to fit."

I was just trying to be nice to California for once. Of course they rigged the study-- how else could they have gotten such an absurd result? But perhaps the author graduated high in his class at Harvard, so how can he be wrong?
12.12.2008 11:28am
wfjag:
EPH, how could she possibly be unqualifie? She grew up in NOLA's 9th ward and hasn't held her "renowned" gumbo party since Katrina. And, she attended Tulane (the "Harvard of the South" -- don't think so? Just ask 'em), and got a Master's from Michelle's alma mater. Expecting someone to put science before politics seems like raising the bar. This is "environmental science" and not science, after all.
12.12.2008 12:19pm
Craig Oren (mail):
Some of the New Jersey environmental groups (e.g. the Sierra Club) support her and some don't. Industry backed her for administrator, largely on the basis of her generally good relationship with New Jersey industry. I personally think that Obama could have done better, but she is well within the zone of reasonableness.
12.12.2008 3:21pm

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