Ousted EPA Regional Chief Given Recent "Outstanding" Rating

The Chicago Tribune continues its strong reporting on the ousting of EPA Chicago regional chief Mary Gade, noting that she was pushed out just five months after receiving an evaluation of "outstanding," according to Tribune environmental reporter Michael Hawthorne.

Sounds like those political firings of US Attorneys by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, doesn't it?

Her forced resignation came after Dow Chemical Co. officials complained to her bosses in Washington, DC that she was too aggressively pushing the company to clean up toxic Dioxin contamination.

She also took on US Steel and British Petroleum over water quality issues in Lake Michigan, something that every Great Lakes resident should applaud.

I still see no coverage of this story in the Wisconsin media, though the Chicago regional office includes our state.

Dave Dempsey, writer and former Michigan environmental regulator familiar with Gade's work, is on the case.