Since she assumed the position of administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency early in 2009, Lisa P. Jackson has done more than any previous EPA chief to reform how the government checks on the safety of potentially toxic chemicals. .
When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 2011, Jackson knew that her efforts would make her a target of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. What she may not have expected were significant barriers she's encountering within the Obama administration itself - most notably the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA, which has been reviewing one proposed rule for 21 months!
For more on this, read this thorough account by The Center for Public Integrity's Chris Hamby and Jim Morris about the chemical industry's influence over the Obama White House and success in holding up EPA's efforts to tell the public that the agency has safety concerns about some ubiquitous chemicals.
