A Maryland senator is questioning the Bush Administration's appointment of two top-level Environmental Protection Agency officials.
Potential conflicts of interest have caused those officials to remove themselves from recent decisions about PCB pollution in Anniston.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski delivered a letter Tuesday to EPA administrator Christine Whitman, describing a "leadership void, created by potential conflicts of interest" within EPA. Sen. Mikulski chairs a Senate subcommittee that held a hearing two weeks ago on regulators' handling of the Anniston PCB pollution,
Mikulski's letter reiterates her lack of confidence - first expressed during the Senate hearing - that EPA has "fulfilled its core mission to protect" Anniston residents impacted by PCBs. The Democratic senator specifically targeted political appointments at EPA headquarters and the regional office in Atlanta.
Washington, D.C.-based EPA officials did not respond Tuesday evening to questions from The Star about Mikulski's letter.
EPA and the Department of Justice recently signed a proposed consent decree with Solutia, Inc. to allow the company to perform a comprehensive PCB investigation in the Anniston area.
The proposed deal has generated criticism from Anniston activists, PCB litigants, state officials and, most recently, Mikulski and Alabama's senior senator, Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa. Shelby is a member of Mikulski's subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Administration and Independent Agencies, which has EPA oversight.
In her letter, Mikulski asked Whitman why the Bush Administration appointed a regional administrator for the Southeast who then had to remove himself from the decision-making process for the Anniston PCB site.
Jimmy Palmer, the regional administrator, previously had worked as a private lawyer on behalf of several Anniston foundries.
Because Palmer removed himself from the matter, the responsibility fell to Stan Meiburg, deputy regional administrator, to approve the deal with Solutia at the regional level.
Mikulski said she finds it "extremely troubling" that "an issue of such extreme importance and urgency" was left to be decided by a deputy regional administrator. She noted that Linda Fisher, who holds EPA's second-ranking job of deputy administrator, also had to remove herself from the issue because she is a former Monsanto employee.
Mikulski asked:
o With two of the highest-ranking officials in the direct decision-making role recused, who was the architect of the consent decree?
o With a leadership void on the Anniston issue, who gave EPA's final approval for the Anniston consent decree?
o Is it EPA's usual and customary process for a deputy regional administrator to be the architect of and give final approval to a consent decree?
After hearing about Mikulski's letter, Anniston activist David Baker told The Star he feels that top EPA officials should not have to recuse themselves from critical pollution sites like Anniston.
"It sends bad messages around the country," Baker commented. "If you are the head of an organization, you must be able to respond to the call."
Regarding Jimmy Palmer, EPA's regional administrator, Jacksonville State University-based environmental policy director Pete Conroy said: "His recusal was the right thing to do."
Conroy noted that if Anniston's PCB problems had the same "high visibility" a year ago, Palmer's potential conflict of interest "may or may not" have prevented his appointment to EPA's top Southeastern job.
