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Joe - If you need verbatim Lisa Jackson Senate confirmation quotes and link to C-SPAN video, here is an excerpt of what I wrote on 5/10/09 - I also excerpt an EPA Inspector General's Report with respect to DEP's false claims used to justify privatization (i.e. that they lack adequate staff resources): http://www.wolfenotes.com/2009/05/privatization-of-nj-toxic-cleanup-law-reveals-a-systematic-collapse/#more-532 "But – after she left NJ to become head of US EPA – Jackson reversed course AGAIN. During January 2009 US Senate Confirmation hearings for US EPA Administrator, Jackson was asked point blank whether she would bring to EPA the privatization program she supported in NJ. Jackson repudiated privatization – here’s an excerpt of testimony regarding NJ’s privatized “Licensed Site Professional” (LSP) toxic site program: Question by Committee Chair Senator Barbara Boxer: Q: Please provide “your views on polluters self certifying that property is clean” (@ time 3:26:45) A: Lisa Jackson: “I don’t believe that process [i.e. private certification, as in LSP] has merit at the federal level” (@ time 3:42:43) Chairman Boxer confirms that Jackson has rejected privatization at EPA and removes any ambiguity at time 3:43:03 by saying: Q: Boxer: “you don’t anticipate and you do not expect to allow private consultants to certify sites as clean” A: Lisa Jackson: “NO” Watch CSPAN video of Jackson testimony here: http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=Congress-A-14317 It is not hard to recognize that the sources of the problems in DEP site remediation program stem from TOO MUCH private sector influence. DEP does ZERO enforcement of cleanup requirements and industrial polluters are allowed to simply stonewall DEP case managers and run out the clock. Other polluters that want a quick and dirty cleanup approval expedited by DEP exert top down political pressure on DEP staffers to rubber stamp grossly deficient cleanup plans in order to allow land transactions and development to proceed at low cost. By law, the selection of the cleanup plan is controlled exclusively by the polluter, an absurd situation that allows cost minimization and economic factors to drive what should be a public health and environmental protection program. This – plus GROSS MISMANAGEMENT at DEP – is what explains the huge case backlog and extensive delays in cleanup. A US EPA Inspector General’s Report validates that assessment. According to the EPA IG Report: “Claims about New Jersey’s overwhelming workload were brought to our attention during the evaluation. At that time, we requested documentation from NJDEP to support this workload challenge. We specified that we would need evidence that spanned the 20 year period since these sites were listed on the NPL. NJDEP did not provide this information.”(@ page 11) Read the EPA IG Report here: Improved Controls Would Reduce Superfund Backlogs http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2008/20080602-08-P-0169.pdf end