Lisa Jackson, president-elect Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, personally invited four members of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation of New Jersey to her confirmation hearing next week.

Jackson served as former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. She worked closely with Ramapough activists like Vivian Milligan to address contamination of their lands by Ford Motor Co..

"She was serious when she told us she would help us," Milligan told The New Jersey Record. "And she's still thinking about us."

Along with other tribal members, Milligan plans to attend Jackson's confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. It takes place next Wednesday, January 14, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

As head of the DEP, Jackson oversaw all state parks. During her tenure, a Rampaough tribal member was fatally shot by a park police officer, an incident that led Gov. Jon Corzine (D) to investigate the treatment of Native Americans in the state. He later signed an executive order to promote the state's tribes and urge state recognition for them. Jackson currently works as Corzine's chief of staff.

Get the Story:
EPA nominee remembers the Ramapoughs (The New Jersey Record 1/9)

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