Thanks to Republicans in Congress, a top ranking Latino in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was forced to resign over comments he made two years ago.
The comments were made by Al Armendariz in his role as EPA official for the South and Southwest regions. He used the word ‘crucify’ when describing his vigilance over oil companies and when describing his enforcement strategies on behalf of the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws.
When those comments surfaced in a Congressional report from a 2010 speech, Republicans used this as an example of EPA’a anti-energy stance. The request for Armendariz to quit did not quite down even after he apologized for his comments.
Republican Congressional members wanted Armendariz to be fired because the EPA, according to them, should be policy impartial.
“Over the weekend Dr. Armendariz offered his resignation, which I accepted. I respect the difficult decision he made and his wish to avoid distracting from the important work of the agency. We are all grateful for Dr. Armendariz’s service to EPA and to our nation,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a statement Monday.
Armendariz was appointed by President Obama on November 5, 2009, as the Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 6 office in Dallas. He is a graduate of MIT and is officially known as Dr. Alfredo Juan “Al” Armendariz.
