New Jersey's Environmental Chief on Obama's Transition Team

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson has landed a sought-after spot on President-elect Barack Obama's energy and natural resources transition team.

The appointment was announced Friday, about two weeks after she was named to one of the highest-profile jobs in Trenton as Gov. Jon S. Corzine's next chief of staff. She also could be in the running for an even more prestigious permanent post in the Obama administration in Washington.

Flying high?

``The job before me as chief of staff is an exciting and extraordinary opportunity to move out into the broader governance of the state,'' said Jackson. ``As far as the transition team, it is an extraordinary honor. I can't turn down the opportunity to serve the president-elect as he comes into office.''

For the next several weeks, Jackson will split her time between New Jersey and Washington, helping pave the way for a new Environmental Protection Agency administrator to begin work on Jan. 20. She'll also be transitioning herself, from New Jersey DEP commissioner to chief of staff, a job she begins on Dec. 1.

``The transition is a burst of work,'' Jackson said in her first public comments after the key transition teams were announced. ``We will be doing it very quickly. At this point, I'm still doing both jobs. I'm in Jersey a majority of the time, beginning the transition into the chief of staff job.''

Jackson said she and 11 others on the energy and natural resources transition team will ``gather information and listen so the next leadership will be ready on day one.''

The team, which includes Robert Sussman, a former deputy EPA administrator in the Clinton administration, will conduct a department review to provide Obama and key advisers with information they need to make policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration.

The team's membership was announced on Obama's transition Web site, http://change.gov/, after days of speculation.

Jackson would not comment about speculation that she is in contention to become EPA administrator under Obama. Others rumored to be in the running include Mary Nichols, head of California's Air Resources Board; former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection head Kathleen McGinty; and Ian A. Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is also said to be on the list, and former New Jersey environmental chief and regional EPA administrator Brad Campbell's name has also been mentioned.

``There are other possibilities for Lisa besides EPA administrator,'' said Jeff Tittel, executive director of New Jersey's Sierra Club. He mentioned several high-profile environmental jobs within the new administration, such as overseeing the Superfund program or heading the Council on Environmental Quality, which advises the president on national and international environmental policy matters.

Jackson, who has a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, has spent 20 years working on environmental issues in the public sector. She has previously worked in the EPA's New York regional office as a regulator for toxic waste cleanup projects. She has been DEP commissioner under Corzine since he took office early in 2006.

``Lisa's leadership, work ethic, and skills at handling complex issues make her a perfect fit to manage the day-to-day operations of the governor's office,'' Corzine said in naming his third chief of staff in three years. ``As head of the Department of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Jackson has tackled some of the most serious environmental challenges ever faced in New Jersey, from global climate change to alternative energy.''