RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Also last month, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency joked to an environmental law conference: Everyone who wants my job, stand up. Yesterday, Lisa Jackson turned serious and made it official: She's leaving the EPA next month.
As NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports, there are mixed feelings about Jackson's departure.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: She won some big victories during her tenure: New cars must be more fuel efficient. There's effectively a ban on new coal-burning power plants, and mercury is now regulated as a pollutant.
But not everybody was happy with the EPA under Jackson - far from it. Environmentalists didn't like her support of fracking or the lack of movement on climate change. And Republicans on the Hill seemed to take issue with just about everything.
REPRESENTATIVE BOB GOODLATTE: The EPA will add more regulatory red tape on American businesses...
SENATOR RAND PAUL: And continue with their job-killing regulations.
SENATOR JERRY MORAN: Lose access to world markets because somebody else can sell something cheaper than we can.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, and Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jerry Moran of Kansas.
So, as Lisa Jackson departs, climate change and fracking are still unsettled, and the EPA is more politicized than ever.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
