The last-minute congressional budget deal between Democrats and Republicans that averted a government shutdown on April 8 included a $1.6 billion cut in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - the largest budget cut of any federal agency on a percentage basis.  EPA czar, Lisa Jackson, who was profiled in a special segment in the The Global Journal about the “American Energy Dream Team” ruefully admitted that some programs will be cut back.

 Lisa Jackson may be seen by many inside and outside the US as a key player at the federal level working to mitigate the effects of climate change.  But she has become a favorite target of right wing Republicans who continuously summon her to Capitol Hill to defend her agency’s goals before numerous congressional committees which consider the EPA is overstepping its mandate

 Anti-regulation Republicans object to EPA rules that new or expanding power plants must adopt the best available technology to control carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  Critics say the rules could hurt businesses like oil refineries and power utilities and that the science is not definitive on the subject of greenhouse emissions despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Some Democrats and labor unions have joined the EPA critics fearing that if businesses have to spend more to refit their plants they will cut jobs and pass costs on to consumers.

 Earlier, the EPA won a minor victory when the US Senate failed to pass legislation that was passed in the Republican Controlled House of Representatives, which would have skilled the emissions regulations.

 The issue of whether or not carbon gases contribute to global warming is so controversial in the US that it took a Supreme Court decision in 2007 against the Bush administration’s claim that EPA lacked legal authority to determine whether greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health.  The Court ruled that the EPA was obligated to base its decisions solely on science and not economics. 

 Jackson defends her agency against charges that it is anti-business saying the regulations are focused on the largest facilities that emit more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, not on small businesses.  Her favorite response when facing her critics, whether in the US Congress or elsewhere, is to say “I’m just doing my job. I’m applying the law”.