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Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt isn't the strongest candidate to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, but it could have been worse. President Bush could have picked a more divisive nominee for the top environmental job. Instead, he turned to Leavitt, a friend who has a reputation for compromise but a mixed environmental record. Leavitt should have a chance to assure skeptics that he has the strength of character to stand up to an administration that lets politics overrule science on important environmental issues.
Someone needs to return credibility to the agency. Former EPA head Christie Whitman took office with great promise as an environmental moderate. Soon, she was being referred to within the administration as the "wind dummy" for her sacrificial role. Whitman would take a stand on issues such as global warming only to be ordered to reverse directions when the political winds changed. Her reputation damaged, she left the job in June.
As governor, Leavitt had some environmental successes. Most notably, he helped broker a compromise that improved air quality and hazy conditions in several Western states. This illustrated principles he calls "Enlibra," in which diverse stakeholders would collaborate on an environmental solution rather than confront each other. He also opposed a potentially disastrous nuclear waste dump on a Utah Indian reservation.
But Leavitt has made some questionable decisions. He struck a secret deal with the U.S. Interior Department to remove federal protection from 6-million acres of Utah wilderness. One of his biggest projects, which ultimately failed, was to build a highway over wetlands bordering the Great Salt Lake.
Leavitt's views on devolution of authority from the federal level to state and local governments need particular scrutiny. He signed policy papers calling for more flexibility for states to meet water quality standards under the Clean Water Act and more autonomy on cleaning up polluted industrial sites. Yet too often that is an excuse to backtrack on environmental protection.
The Bush administration has already lost enough ground. It has rejected the science behind global warming, refused to uphold clean air standards for coal-fired power plants and tinkered with facts in environmental reports.
Leavitt has the chance, and the burden, to convince Americans he can be an independent voice for the environment.