How else are we to interpret this statement in today's New York Times from former EPA insider Bradley Campbell?

I expect that [the new EPA head will] be on a very short leash, with the real decisions being made at the Office of Management and Budget and the White House.

Campbell, now Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, was commenting for the Times report on President Bush's newly nominated EPA head, Stephen L. Johnson. The full article, E.P.A. Scientist Is Bush's Pick as New Chief, is here. (warning: free registration required)

Does anybody know how the OMB or the White House feel about trichloroethylene (TCE)? If so, please leave comments or write us. We will be adding to this topic as we learn more.

Update: We've previously posted reports of undue influence at the EPA regarding Mercury. Lets hope the same is not happening with TCE at the EPA or the NAS.

Update 2: Campbell's comment above bears striking similarity to some of the charges made by another EPA insider from New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, EPA Administrator from Jan 2001 to May 2003.

In her new book, It's My Party Too, Whitman not only charged Republicans on Capitol Hill with "almost always [opposing] any increase in the regulatory reach of the EPA", but she also claims that Dick Cheney, while Vice President, literally "tracked [Whitman] down" from her vacation in Colorado to press Cheney's view that the EPA should not establish a policy to review/monitor the increasing pollution levels spewing from old/existing and growing power plants (a priority topic on the EPA's plate at the time). A summary of Whitman's critical charges can be found at the Environmental Integrity Project website.

Not so coincidentally, the Environmental Integrity Project, was founded by Eric Schaeffer, former Director of the U.S. EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement until 2002. Schaeffer resigned from the EPA after publicly expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.