EPA Resignation Prompts Hearings on Administration Environmental Record

The resignation of a top Environmental Protection Agency enforcement official who complained about White House interference in pursuing violations at power plants is prompting Senate hearings into the Bush administration's environmental record.
Eric Schaeffer, the EPA's director of civil enforcement, resigned after a dozen years at the agency, complaining that the White House "seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce."
Schaeffer, in a letter to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, said that the message being sent by the Bush administration has prompted utilities accused of clean air violations "to walk away from the table" and refuse to negotiate settlements.