It’s not the first time that the politicization of the Environmental Protection Agency has forced comparisons to Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department, and it surely won’t be the last.
On the Senate floor this afternoon, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee (where he joined in the interrogations of Gonzales and other Department officials) as well as the Senate environmental committee (where he’s sharply questioned EPA chief Stephen Johnson), said the comparison is inevitable. Yesterday’s news that the EPA’s top environmental regulator in the Midwest had been fired over her efforts to force Dow Chemical to clean up chemical spills, he said, “looks like déjà vu all over again from an administration that values compliance with its political agenda more than it values the trust or best interests of the American people.” Here’s video:
Whitehouse said that the Senate environmental committee will be holding a hearing on EPA oversight next Wednesday.