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After a four-year term, Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She informed President Obama soon after the election of her plans to resign at the beginning of next year and told the EPA staff of her decision this morning. “Under her leadership, the EPA has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink,” President Obama said, “including implementing the first national standard for harmful mercury pollution, taking important action to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act, and playing a key role in establishing historic fuel economy standards that will save the average American family thousands of dollars at the pump, while also slashing carbon pollution.” While no successor has been named, Robert Peciasepe, the EPA deputy administrator, is expected to take over temporarily. Jackson, the first African American head of the EPA, did not say what her plans were upon leaving the position. “Before me,” Jackson said, “some people said that African Americans don’t care about the environment. I don’t think that will ever be the case again.”
