Former Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Renee Cipriano shouldn’t have a huge learning curve at her new job – as a lobbyist for a major energy company, she’ll be working against a number of policies she established.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Cipriano – along with several other lawyers from her Chicago-based law firm – have been hired by the St. Louis, IL-based Ameren Corp. to lobby against Illinois state laws that crack down on mercury pollution.

Many of those laws, according to the Tribune, are policies that were being considered or were implemented during Cipriano’s stint as Illinois EPA director, which ended in May 2005.

Cipriano and her compatriots aren’t the first Illinois state employees to leave their posts for contradictory jobs in the private sector. On January 24, 2005, Jack Hartman, director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, announced he was leaving his position for – you guessed it – a company that works on toll roads.

Hartman joined with the Rise Group, a Chicago-based construction firm that has earned more than $250,000 in profits from its work with the tollway, according to the Tribune.