N.J. enviros deeply divided over record of Obama's EPA nominee

Depending on who you ask, Lisa Jackson is either the best or worst thing that ever happened to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which she led from February 2006 to November 2008. For the most part, New Jersey's biggest environmental groups praise her work on climate change and celebrate her nomination to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But she also has a passionate and vocal group of detractors, mainly people who have worked on toxics in the state, both within the DEP and outside it. Her critics say she's a political player who has undermined science within the department. The deep divide between greens in the state has lead to some nasty finger-pointing on both sides. "When she became commissioner we had high expectations, and we thought she was going to come in and move the DEP away from being a failure and actually moving it to an organization that would be strong on the environment, strong on enforcement, exemplify leadership," said Robert Spiegel, executive director of the Edison Wetlands Association, a nonprofit based in central New Jersey. "I was sadly disappointed, as were many folks in the environmental community in New Jersey, by her performance as commissioner of the DEP."....