By OGJ editors
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 8 -- The US Environmental Protection Agency's top enforcement official John Peter Suarez Monday said he planned to resign his post as assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance effective Jan. 30.
Suarez's next job will be as a general counsel with retailing giant Wal-Mart Inc. US President George W. Bush nominated Suarez in April 2002; the US Senate subsequently confirmed him the following August.
Prior to working at EPA, Suarez was a top aide to former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Whitman left state politics to serve as President's Bush's first EPA administrator, and Suarez followed her to the agency. Whitman resigned last year.
Before his EPA career, Suarez was the director of New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement, where he led the state's law enforcement agency responsible for regulating the casino industry. He also served as Whitman's assistant counsel, and prior to that was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
In a written statement Suarez rejected allegations by agency critics, mostly environmentalists and public interest groups, that during his tenure the Bush administration wasn't committed to making polluters pay when clean air and water rules are broken.
"I believe that the enforcement program is on the right track and headed in the direction that we need to go. EPA has demonstrated that we can use data effectively to identify and target the most significant areas of noncompliance, and then measure our successes in light of the benefits realized."
Suarez said he decided to resign because of his "unique career opportunity" and a desire to spend "more quality time" with his family.
Suarez's successor has not yet been named, and it remains unclear what will happen to several agency investigations that are pending regarding EPA's controversial New Source Review program.
Those investigations began before EPA revised the rule to let refiners and power generators make certain plant repairs without obtaining new clean air permits. But the new rule faces a court challenge (OGJ Online, Dec. 24, 2003).
