Former attorney general Alberto Gonzales brought disgrace to the Department of Justice, putting loyalty to the President above duty to the country, until the weight of numerous scandals forced his resignation in August 2007. As The New York Times described, he left "a Justice Department that has been tainted by political influence, depleted by the departures of top officials and weakened by sapped morale." Disturbing parallels can now be seen in Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whichPresident Nixon set up in 1970 to be an independent watchdog for the health of the environment and people. It has become clear that Johnson has subverted that mission, in contravention of science, ethics, and the law. In an oversight hearing yesterday on the politicization of the EPA, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) directly drew the comparison, as McClatchy Newspapers reported. "The last few times Mr. Johnson has appeared before us, he has been less than forthcoming, as evasive and unresponsive as Alberto Gonzales," Whitehouse said. He added that the forced resignation of EPA regional administrator Mary Gade, who had been investigating dioxin contamination in Michigan by Dow Chemical, "smacks of the U.S. Attorney scandal at the Justice Department last summer." Like the nine fired U.S. attorneys, Gade was well-regarded and had received strong performance evaluations. As Whitehouse observed, "[H]er forced resignation reeks of political interference."

MARY GADE'S DISMISSAL: Mary Gade, the EPA's Midwest regional administrator who resigned last Thursday, laid the blame on her ongoing efforts to compel Dow Chemical to clean up its decades-old dioxin pollution from its flagship plant in Midland, MI. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Gade said, "There is no question this is about Dow."Committee Chair John Dingell (D-MI) has announced that he "is concerned about this and has asked his oversight staff to look into it." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has "asked for a meeting with the Administrator of EPA so that I can better understand why Ms. Gade has been placed on administrative leave." Gade is a lifelong Republican who supported President Bush's candidacy in 2000. Yet, as Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Robert Sussman describes, she was known as "one of the most seasoned and experienced environmental policy-makers in the country." Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), in contrast, called Gade "unprofessional, vindictive and insulting." Camp represents Dow Chemical's home district and owns hundreds of thousands of dollars in Dow stock.

WHITE HOUSE CONTROL: Recent congressional investigations have exposed the degree to which the White House is exerting control over the actions of the EPA.One of the key responsibilities of the EPA is to protect Americans from exposure to toxic chemicals. Last week,Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released a damning report that exposed how toxic chemical "assessments are being undermined by secrecy and White House involvement." With assistance from the EPA's top scientific official,Dr. George Gray, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) controls the assessment process, using the "deliberative process privilege" to prevent public oversight. Gray previously ran the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, an industry-funded think tank founded by John D. Graham in 1990 that fights environmental regulation. Until 2006, Graham served as the Bush administration's regulatory gatekeeper in the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where he repeatedly subverted health, safety and environmental safeguards. Johnson's EPA is riddled with officials with direct ties to the OMB, including the EPA's number-two official, Marcus Peacock, who worked in the OMB until 2005, and assistant administrator Christopher Bliley, who was OMB director Jim Nussle's chief of staff when Nussle served in Congress.

'ORWELLIAN' TACTICS: In the words ofBoxer,Gray used "Alice in Wonderland" language to "defend the indefensible." She took particular offense at his claim that the EPA's regulatory process was "very transparent," considering that it involves a series of secret inter-agency reviews. Gray also repeatedly hearkened back to"scientific uncertainty" to describeJohnson's justification for setting standards for ozone and fine particulate matter pollution its scientific advisory boards said were not adequate to protect public health. However, as Dr. George Thurston testified, "In the face of uncertainty, the Clean Air Act stipulates that the Administrator must choose a more stringent standard, to ensure a margin of safety."Whitehouse -- who praisedGray "for his ability to say what I found to be preposterous things with a completely straight face" -- describedGray's treatment of toxicologist Dr. Deborah Rice as "Orwellian." In 2007, Rice was the chair of an expert peer review panel charged with setting safe exposure levels for deca-BDE, a toxic fire retardant that contaminates human blood and breast milk. The American Chemistry Council (ACC), acting on behalf of the Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Partnership, wrote to Gray to ask that he personally intervene in the process. ACC alleged that the panel is not an "independent, third-party review" because Dr. Rice is a "fervent advocate of banning deca-BDE." Rice was removed from the panel and her comments stripped because of "the perception of a potential conflict of interest."