Nomination of Michael O. Leavitt to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

NOMINATION OF MICHAEL O. LEAVITT TO BE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I supported Governor Levitt's nomination in the Environment Committee, but that does not mean that I support the Bush administration's environmental polices. Far from it. Under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency has ignored the law and gutted its enforcement. It has been a 30-month polluters' holiday.

I think the record is clear. There is also an enormous gap between the bipartisan approach that Mike Levitt supported in dealing with environmental issues while he has served as Governor of Utah, and this administration. For example, the bipartisan Western Governors' policy states "Westerners do not reject the goals and objectives of federal environmental laws, nor the appropriate role of federal regulation and enforcement." Recently, the EPA Office of Enforcement found that during the past 2 years, only 24 percent of the facilities that were in major noncompliance with respect to the Clean Water Act faced enforcement actions. So the EPA's own enforcement office says on major water violations, there hasn't been enforcement.

Gap number two, the Western Governors Association has always stressed consultation with all the parties and involving the States. Two examples where the administration isn't doing that are on the question of these closed door negotiations with industrial livestock firms, behind closed doors they are talking about amnesty from the Clean Air Act and the Superfund law. Another is the lack of consultation with the States on the proposed rule to limit the scope of the Clean Air Act. Thirty-nine States have objected and said they were not party to that discussion. So on the question of consultation involving States, there is a big gap between the Western Governors and this administration.

The third big gap can be seen in the Western Governors Association positions on the environment where there is a clear commitment to following the law. Certainly that hasn't been done with the Bush administration when it comes to the Clean Air Act. I was on the conference committee that wrote the law in 1990, and I can tell you there was absolutely no question that it was the intent of Congress that powerplants, oil refineries and industrial facilities would be required to install pollution controls. This is a blatant example of the Bush administration's failure to follow the law.

What I am interested in is seeing an effort to go back to the kinds of policies that the Governors, particularly those in the West, have sought to try to bring people together on these contentious issues and find common ground. That has not been what the Environmental Protection Agency has done in Washington, D.C. But that is what is needed.

When Governor Leavitt came before the Environment and Public Works Committee, I was particularly concerned about his willingness to use the enforcement tools of the agency against serious and egregious violations of the environmental laws.
My sense is that the collaborative model that he wishes to pursue is one I support. But it is clear, Mr. President and colleagues, that when companies abuse that kind of good-faith effort by government, the government has got to be willing to come down with hobnail boots on those who are putting at risk our air and our land and water. Prior to the committee vote,
Governor Leavitt sent me a memo making it clear that he is willing to look at a different enforcement approach than this administration has used in the past. In the memo, Governor Leavitt wrote "in warranted circumstances I would use the enforcement power rigorously." By contrast, during the Bush administration, enforcement has been essentially abandoned, and even the EPA's own internal reports indicate that that is the case.

The American people need an administrator who is going to end this polluters' holiday and put the Environmental Protection Agency back to work protecting the environment. I think that the Governor's ideas about collaboration are important. They are fresh and creative, and I think that if he is willing to do as he pledged to work with members of
Congress on both sides of the aisle, that they could revitalize the agency and bring a fresh approach to environmental policy. But it is important for senators to understand that those who talk about collaboration only, without a willingness to back it up with tough enforcement policies, could be talking about just window dressing for business, or really lack of business as usual.

Over the past several weeks, Governor Leavitt has worked hard to convince me he means business. He has reached out and made the extra effort to show he will be no just an advocate for collaboration but also a tough, no-nonsense enforcer when he needs to be. He has also committed to look at the situation involving the City of Portland's sewer overflows during wet weather and whether this is an appropriate case for enforcement, given that the local community is making progress in addressing the situation and that local ratepayers have already spent more than $500 million toward what will eventually be a $1 billion project.

So the Governor, in my view, has made clear that he wants to bring to EPA a fresh and independent approach to these kinds of issues. He has convinced me that he understands that tough no-nonsense enforcement of this country's environmental laws is absolutely essential when the environmental collaborative approach does not work. I will be closely watching how Governor Leavitt follows through on these changes in EPA's approach to enforcement.

It is very obvious to me that there needs to be a dramatic set of changes put in place at the Environmental Protection Agency. My vote today is essentially a vote because I think the Governor of Utah has the potential to do this job right. I am supporting the Mike Leavitt who I know can be a tough, independent administrator of EPA. For all Americans' sake, I hope Governor Leavitt will be successful in bringing about this change in EPA's direction. I want to give him a chance to succeed, and that is why I am supporting his nomination today.