Whitman resigns as US EPA administrator

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, May 21 -- US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman Wednesday submitted her resignation, effective June 27, saying she wanted to spend time with her family.

"As rewarding as the past 2½ years have been for me professionally, it is time to return to my home and husband in New Jersey, which I love just as you do your home state of Texas," Whitman wrote in a resignation letter to President George W. Bush.

Her announcement followed Monday's announcement that White House spokesman Ari Fleischer plans to leave his job this summer.

In order to accept the EPA job, Whitman had resigned as governor of New Jersey. Some environmental groups criticized Whitman for reducing New Jersey's environmental budget and lowering fines for polluters.

Environmentalists continued criticizing Whitman during her work at the EPA, claiming she promoted the Bush administration's business policies that often conflicted with environmental protection goals.

On Wednesday, Whitman said her work was guided "by the strong belief that environmental protection and economic prosperity can and must go hand-in-hand."

She noted the agency played a role in responding to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax scare. "As the federal lead for protecting the nation's water infrastructure and the chemical industry, we also have added significantly to efforts to reduce the vulnerability of those sectors to terrorist attack," she said.

During her confirmation hearing, Whitman promised to enforce existing EPA regulations. But she also pledged to review some recent EPA rules, such as reducing the sulfur content of diesel fuel.

"Our actions to reduce pollution from nonroad diesel engines represent, in the words of one major environmental organization, the 'biggest public health step' in more than 20 years," Whitman said Wednesday.