EPA Official Ousted to Protect Industry?

Over at Michigan Messenger, Earth Melzer catches some interesting news from the Chicago Tribune:

…Mary Gade, the top Environmental Protection Agency regulator for the Midwest, has been forced to step down by the Bush administration. For the last year Gade has pressured the Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. to clean up dioxin contamination in the Saginaw River watershed. In August she invoked emergency powers to force clean up of a dioxin "hot spot" in the Saginaw River.

It’ll be interesting to watch the fall-out on that case. EPA has already endured a series of scandals where politics seemingly trumped science. For more, check out TWI reporter Matthew Blake’s profile of agency administrator Stephen L. Johnson, a 27-year EPA veteran whose strength as a scientist turned out to be a weakness politically.