This nomination could get interesting. Can the Dems Filibuster him under the Senate Rules? I am not sure. They are sure to make a big deal of him, it gives them a chance to play to one of their best issues, the environment.
Bush Nominates Utah Governor to Lead E.P.A.
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE - NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 - President Bush today nominated Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, the three-term Republican governor of Utah, as the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, tapping a veteran of the West's volatile land use debates.
The nomination drew praise from business and Republican Party groups and mixed reviews from environmental activists, who commended Mr. Leavitt for working for clean air in the Grand Canyon and faulted him for helping to open public lands in Utah to industry and roadbuilding.
If confirmed by the Senate, Governor Leavitt would succeed Christie Whitman, whose credentials as a political moderate failed to satisfy environmentalists and at the same time raised suspicions among White House officials. She resigned in May.
"I selected Mike Leavitt because he is a trusted friend, a capable executive and a man who understands the obligations of environmental stewardship," Mr. Bush said today as he arrived in Denver for a fund-raising event. "Mike Leavitt will come to the E.P.A. with a strong environmental record, a strong desire to improve what has taken place in the last three decades."
Business interests portrayed Mr. Leavitt as a moderate consensus builder, while environmental groups, nationally and in Utah, said he supported development over conservation and was a friend of the oil and gas industries.
Mr. Leavitt, 52, said he had "a very clear environmental philosophy," which he said was based on balance.
"To me, there is an inherent human responsibility to care for the earth," he said as he stood by Mr. Bush's side. "But there's also an economic imperative that we're dealing with in a global economy to do it less expensively."
His Senate confirmation hearings, to be scheduled in September when Congress returns from its summer recess, will probably provide the stage for a politically charged battle over the Bush environmental record. Two Democratic senators who are presidential candidates made clear today they would use the hearings to denounce Mr. Bush on the environment.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said, "While none of us should be surprised that President Bush has chosen someone who has a record of working to undermine national environmental protections, the truth is that we aren't going to have a real commitment to the environment until we have a new president."
And Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said: "President Bush has the worst environmental record in history. The American people deserve to know whether Governor Leavitt shares the same disregard for clean air, clean water, land conservation and global warming as the president. Protecting our environment is too important ? and the damage done by the Bush administration too great ? to confirm a nominee that does."
The announcement was a well-kept secret: Mr. Leavitt's aides said they learned of it on Sunday night. It caught business interests and environmental groups by surprise, in part because Mr. Leavitt had turned down the post in June. At the time, Governor Leavitt's press secretary said that accepting it would be "highly problematic" because he was still considering whether to run for a fourth term. Already, fellow Republicans were lining up to challenge him.
Attention shifted to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Republican of Idaho, who had discussed the position with the White House. Friends said that Mr. Kempthorne preferred the position of interior secretary, though there is no indication that Gale A. Norton, the current secretary, is leaving the post.
The fact that Mr. Bush was considering two Western governors and appears to be keeping Ms. Norton, who comes from Colorado, suggests he is more comfortable with a Western stamp on environmental policies. Westerners traditionally are more involved in issues of federal land use than in the kind of regulatory calibrations that are central to the E.P.A.
A person close to the administration said the selection of a Westerner ? in tune philosophically with Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney ? suggested the White House had "given up a little bit on the Eastern-industrial-urban-environmental base."
The person said that administration officials had believed they could mollify swing voters with Ms. Whitman, a moderate former governor of New Jersey. But, he said, she never managed to appease Mr. Bush's environmental critics, and that left some in the administration to wonder why they had bothered to try.
"So they went with someone they trust," he said of Governor Leavitt.
Governor Leavitt, first elected in 1992 and now the longest-serving of the nation's governors, has known Mr. Bush for years. At a recent fund-raising event in Salt Lake City, Mr. Cheney described him as "a very close friend of President Bush's from their days as governors."
The E.P.A. has undergone considerable turmoil, drawing fire from administration critics. After Ms. Whitman stepped down, her deputy, Linda Fischer, became acting administrator. But when it was clear to Ms. Fischer that she would not be named to the top job, she left, effective July 12. Marianne Horinko, another deputy, has served as acting administrator since then.
Mr. Bush's announcement of his selection of Mr. Leavitt came with no advance notice. Moreover, the selection did not appear to have been cleared with administration allies on Capitol Hill. As one top Republican Senate aide said, "It was a shock to us."
In introducing Governor Leavitt today, Mr. Bush said: "As co-chair of the Western Regional Air Partnership, Governor Leavitt has been a leader in applying high standards in air quality, and he understand the importance of clear standards in every environmental policy. He respects the ability of state and local governments to meet those standards, rejects the old ways of command and control from above."
Thomas R. Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents utilities, praised Mr. Leavitt for a management style that "stresses collaboration of all stakeholders in policymaking, which helps break down barriers to resolving highly charged environmental issues."
Governor Leavitt cited his own work in bringing together 13 states, 13 tribal Indian nations, three federal agencies, the private sector and environmental groups in improving air quality in the Grand Canyon.
"There is no progress polarizing at the extremes, but there is great progress, there's great environmental progress, when we collaborate in the productive middle," he said.
Fred Krupp, an environmental advocate and president of Environmental Defense, said that Mr. Leavitt had been "very good" in his efforts to protect scenic vistas and Western national parks from haze. "I'd call him a real leader in the West to address regional air issues and protect our national parks, and he deserves credit for that," he said.
But he and others gave him less credit for land issues. Most recently, Mr. Leavitt was involved in an agreement with the Interior Department over the protection of wilderness in Utah. Larry Young, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said that the arrangement essentially lost the "wilderness" designation for millions of acres of public land, opening them to mining, drilling and road-building.
In addition, he has advocated building a major highway through wetlands and sensitive shore areas around the Great Salt Lake. He has opposed the Kyoto treaty on global warming. Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said, "I can't think of too many governors more hostile to government regulations than Mike Leavitt."
nytimes.com |
