Whitman Quits EPA

Lynn Schenkman

Washington D.C. -- Christine Todd Whitman has resigned from her position as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In her resignation letter, Whitman cited her desire to return to New Jersey to be with her husband as the reason for departure. Whitman will leave the agency June 27, 2003.

Many analysts are saying Whitman’s departure creates an absence of moderate Republicans in the conservative Bush Administration. While she is receiving praise for a job well done for environmental initiatives, such as mandating a 90 percent decrease in emissions from off-road diesel equipment by 2010, she also is being criticized for delaying action on reducing the amounts of arsenic in drinking water and for leaving her office in a state of limbo. Her replacement has not yet been announced.