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Published in Spring 2001
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Christine Todd Whitman named new head of EPA
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Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman was sworn in as Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 31 January 2001. She replaces Carol Browner, who held the post for eight years during the Clinton administration. With her appointment, Whitman becomes a member of CEC's Council, the trinational organization's governing body, joining her counterparts Victor Lichtinger of Mexico and Canada's David Anderson.
During her tenure as governor of the ninth most-populous state in the US, Whitman was widely credited for protecting more than a million acres of open space threatened by development. According to state projections, New Jersey will have preserved 40 percent of its total landmass by 2010, with more than half of it pledged or preserved during her seven years as governor.
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| Christine Todd Whitman |
Whitman campaigned to protect New Jersey's shores by fighting against ocean dumping, which led to a substantial decrease in Jersey Shore beach closings. She supported an EPA plan to force General Electric Co. to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to dredge the PCB-laden Hudson River.
The former governor also sided with an EPA lawsuit to get industries in the Midwest to meet higher air quality standards to prevent pollution from drifting over New Jersey and other states in the region. Most recently, Whitman's administration pushed for diesel fuel sulfur reductions for heavily polluting big trucks and buses in her state.
Whitman, a strong advocate of voluntary compliance by industry, streamlined the state permitting process for developers by eliminating permits for minor projects, and removed more than 1,000 chemicals from the state's right-to-know list. In her statement during US Senate confirmation hearings, Whitman addressed Democrats' concerns by promising not to relax enforcement efforts, but to use them in addition to offering business flexibility in meeting federal environmental standards.
Administrator Whitman's statement before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Washington, DC, 17 January 2001:
"We have seen a significant transformation in the way we view our air, water, and land. Today, there is universal agreement that our natural resources are valuable, not just for the economic prosperity they help create, but for what they add to our quality of life."
- EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman
To view the full text, go to: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/speeches_011801.htm
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