Press Releases
Pascrell Bashes Bush Epa After Whitman Resignation
Washington, DC,
May 21, 2003
Tags:
Energy & the Environment
{insert secondary title} U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) issued the following statement regarding today's announcement that EPA Administrator Christie Whitman will resign effective June 27th. "Who would want that post? Christie Whitman was directly undercut by the Bush Administration on every major policy issue and was forced to preside over the historic dismantling of 30 years of bipartisan environmental progress. Anytime she tried to do the right thing she was run over by the White House. I think she did the best she could under nearly impossible circumstances. "It is probably not a coincidence that she resigned her post on the very day the House Leadership plans to exempt the Department of Defense from essential environmental protections. The EPA under this Administration is gutting our clean air and clean water laws, while attempting to auction off our public lands and forests to the highest bidders. "Environmental preservation should not be a political or ideological issue. Weakening environmental protections not only puts our natural resources at risk, but jeopardizes the people and wildlife that depend on them for health and survival. That is why I recently voted to block oil companies from drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to protect our national forests from indiscriminate destruction from logging companies. This country needs an Environmental Protection Agency that shares the American public's commitment to strong environmental safeguards." ### |