Lisa Jackson
Environmental Protection
WASHINGTON — Coal ash spilled onto Barack Obama’s agenda Wednesday when his pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency spoke of possibly regulating the waste from coal-fired power plants.
Lisa Jackson promised at a Senate hearing to immediately assess the hundreds of coal-ash disposal sites at power plants across the country in the wake of two spills in Alabama and Tennessee.
The EPA also will consider whether to regulate how the ash is stored, she said. The EPA recommended that in 2000, but the Bush administration did not act on the idea.
Jackson, a chemical engineer, was less definitive on other pressing issues, including global warming.
She assured lawmakers that EPA decisions will be based on science and the law, not politics. Her statement was a clear signal that Obama plans to take the agency in a different direction from the outgoing Republican administration, which sometimes overruled the EPA’s own experts on global warming and other matters.
“Science must be the backbone of what EPA does,” Jackson said. “EPA’s addressing of scientific decisions should reflect the expert judgment of the agency’s career scientists and independent advisers.”
Jackson left the door open to using current laws to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. The Associated Press
Retired Gen. Eric Shinseki
Veterans Affairs
WASHINGTON — The man selected to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs pledged Wednesday to modernize and overhaul the veterans’ disability and health care system, which is straining to serve soldiers back from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those who served in previous wars.
Before a friendly audience at the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, retired Gen. Eric Shinseki told lawmakers that he would transform the department by making it more efficient and better able to serve veterans.
His confirmation is expected to proceed without problems.
Shinseki, a former Army chief of staff, gained fame when he clashed with the Bush administration over the number of troops needed to prosecute the Iraq war and retired early. He left the Army in 2003, ending 38 years in the service that included two combat tours in Vietnam, where he lost part of his right foot.
While the department’s budget has grown rapidly in recent years, it’s also strained to serve the growing number of new veterans promptly as well as Vietnam veterans, who are using more services as they age.
“The Veterans Affairs Department is going to have to change a bit of the culture and the way it’s been doing business,” Shinseki told lawmakers.
Among his priorities are implementing a new veterans education benefits bill, streamlining the disability claims process and bringing more veterans into the health care system.
McClatchy Newspapers
Tom Vilsack
Agriculture
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary nominee Tom Vilsack sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday while pledging enthusiastic support for federal purchases of fruits and vegetables.
A former Iowa governor, Vilsack effectively reassured specialty crop growers in states such as California, Florida and Texas that their interests will be protected within a sprawling agency most often associated with traditional Midwestern commodities.
“We can work with our schools to make sure fruits and vegetables are available,” Vilsack said at the start of his session before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. “We will be very aggressive in this area.”
Vilsack specifically praised specialty-crop provisions in the farm bill that was adopted last year over President George W. Bush’s veto. These include $1 billion to purchase fruits and vegetables for school snacks in all 50 states. He endorsed other programs that help promote specialty crops overseas, and committed to support federal programs that assist organic agriculture.
He endorsed President-elect Barack Obama’s vow to end child hunger in the U.S. by 2015. McClatchy Newspapers
Janet Napolitano
Homeland Security
PHOENIX — President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for homeland security chief blames budget problems and the difficulty coordinating agencies in Arizona, where she has been governor, for failing to complete key provisions of a detailed security plan for her own state.
Gov. Janet Napolitano put together the plan six years ago to improve Arizona’s ability to respond to emergencies, detect and prevent terrorist attacks and secure Arizona’s border with Mexico.
But some key provisions remain incomplete. Firefighters, paramedics and other first-responders at disaster scenes can’t always communicate by radio without calling in special equipment, and criminal records still aren’t fully available electronically.
Napolitano would face challenges on an even larger scale at the Homeland Security Department.
Unable to accomplish all her state’s homeland security goals, she goes before Congress with an obvious question on the table: Can she do better in Washington?
Her Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for today.
The Associated Press
