Thought Piece
After being engaged with the EPA senior management since 2005, I must admit that my experience with them especially over the last 8 years has left me with little trust of their news releases and interviews, especially after paying close attention to Lisa Jackson and Gina McCarthy’s public statements. Both have sounded hypocritical and untrustworthy during their EPA involvement and thereafter. Each of their EPA tenures were filled with the lack of transparency and too much partisanship.
When will either of them come clean about their real energy policies? Steve
Former Obama EPA Head Criticizes EPA For Lack Of Transparency, Forgets Her Lack Of Transparency
Hypocrisy.
Lisa Jackson, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Obama and the current vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives of Apple, took a shot at the current EPA for lacking transparency. To say this is hypocritical is a severe understatement. Jackson resigned from the EPA amid accusations that her department was deliberately attempting to circumvent open-records laws.
During TechCrunch‘s Disrupt SF event, Jackson told TechCrunch Editor-In-Chief Matthew Panzarino that she views the EPA as “an extension of the Department of Defense” and she was dismayed at the recent “leadership change.”
“The EPA has been run by Democrats, by Republicans, but has never, in its history that is 40+ years old, been run by someone who seems to be determined to do the one thing that could destroy its credibility, which is not making it transparent,” said Jackson.
She later added that “every EPA administrator has committed to regulate transparently” and lamented that this was no longer the case under EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
“It’s not the EPA, it’s that the leadership has decided to move away from the transparency that assures people that their health and their community come first rather than somebody else’s bottom line,” said Jackson.
Jackson’s comments are a truly stunning example of hypocrisy. Lest we forget, when Jackson was EPA administrator, she came under fire for conducting business under the alias of “Richard Windsor” and corresponded with lobbyists under a separate private email address. These, of course, raised concerns over the agency’s transparency.
In fact, other employees under Jackson’s EPA reportedly used private email accounts to conduct business and circumvent open-records laws. Jackson resigned when Congress began investigating the agency over the use of these private email addresses.
As the saying goes, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” Jackson is not in a position to lecture anybody on transparency.
