Dallas EPA Administrator Al Arrmendariz, the individual who made controversial remarks about wanting to “crucify” the oil companies, has resigned according to the Associated Press:
In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson sent Sunday, Al Armendariz says he regrets his words and stresses that they do not reflect his work as administrator of the five-state region including Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
GOP members of Congress called for Armendariz’s firing after a 2010 video surfaced last week showing a speech he gave where he said:
“I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said:
“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.
“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”
Armendariz later compared this strategy to handling U.S. oil companies saying, that it was a “deterrent factor.” Senator James Inhofe, Oklahomo Republican, told Fox News Channel (above video) that he wants an investigation into the EPA’s tactics given Armendariz’s comments.
