Leavitt's Environmental Record Challenged at Confirmation Hearing

by Becky Evans

WASHINGTON - During his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee repeatedly asked Utah Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt why he had signed on for the "very difficult position" of Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

His answer: "I do so because I passionately believe that this nation deserves to have a clean, safe and healthy environment."

Whether or not Leavitt will be able to deliver a cleaner, safer and healthier environment has been the source of debate since President Bush announced in August he was nominating the governor to head the EPA.

One critic, Senator John Kerry, D-MA., said in a statement Tuesday that he will "place a hold on Gov. Leavitt's nomination until I receive a sufficient response as to how this Administration" will address the EPA's decision to delay the cleanup of 10 Superfund sites, including Atlas Tack in Fairhaven.

"The unfortunate truth is that it doesn't matter who heads the EPA under this Administration, because they will be nothing more than another pawn for the corporate polluters who control the White House's agenda," Kerry said. "Gov. Leavitt may eventually be approved by the Senate, but I cannot in good conscience allow that process to even move forward without getting the answers that the people of Fairhaven, Mass., New York City, and communities across the nation deserve."

In a phone interview, Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, called the Bush administration's environmental policies "disastrous" and expressed concern that air and water quality in Massachusetts could suffer because of Bush's "exploitation mentality."

Frank agreed with other critics that any nominee for the position of EPA administrator would have trouble pursuing a pro-environment agenda.

"The Bush administration wouldn't let them do anything anyway," he said.

Leavitt's supporters applaud what they describe as his unique approach to solving environmental problems. Rather than merely enforcing environmental regulations, they say, Leavitt prefers to negotiate specific neighborhood solutions. Using a policy he terms "en libra," which he defined as moving toward balance, Leavitt tries to find the middle ground between industry and environmental interests.

"He really has the ability to bring people together, to sit down and work toward a solution," said Frank Maisano, spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a group of utilities, power companies, unions and businesses. "His consensus-building mode will be a viable part of him succeeding at the EPA."

Environmental activists, however, say they care more about Leavitt's environmental record as governor of Utah than his managerial style.

"We are firmly opposed to Mike Leavitt's nomination," said Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), a statewide environmental and consumer watchdog group. "We think if Leavitt gets in, it will be all bad news for the environment."

Earlier this month, MASSPIRG joined a coalition of environmental organizations in sending a letter to the Senate stating the groups' opposition to Leavitt's nomination. In the letter, they accused him of manipulating science for political purposes, failing to enforce environmental standards, eliminating protections for public lands and conducting secret negotiations to undermine environmental protection.

The letter pointed to an EPA report that said Utah has the second-highest volume of toxic chemical releases in the nation and another EPA report that listed Utah as tied for last place on enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act.

"Gov. Leavitt's record reveals little to assure the public that, as EPA administrator, he would change the Bush administration's pattern of manipulating science to serve political and policy ends," the letter concluded.

Maisano says environmental groups have failed to recognize Leavitt's environmental achievements, such as his opposition to the building of a nuclear weapons site in Utah and his efforts to make the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City more environment-friendly.

"Environmental organizations have a selective memory," he said. "They forget the good things that he's done and put a negative spin on bad things."

Senators Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Joe Lieberman, D-CT, and John Edwards, D-NC, have joined environmental activists' opposition to Leavitt's nomination. Their reasons, however, have more to do with the Bush administration's environmental policies than with Leavitt himself.

At the hearing, Clinton accused the Bush administration of undermining the EPA's credibility by forcing the agency to tone down its report on the air quality at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

"Many of us are a little concerned about the administration that you're attempting to join, and the policies that it has taken toward the environment," Clinton told Leavitt.