3 top EPA officials to quit over Bush policy

Top Enforcement Officials Say They Will Leave E.P.A.


New York Times , January 6,2004
by JENNIFER LEE

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 — Three top enforcement officials at the
Environmental Protection Agency have resigned or retired in the last
two weeks, including two lawyers who were architects of the agency's
litigation strategy against coal-burning power plants.


The timing of the departures and comments by at least one of the
officials who is leaving suggest that some have left out of
frustration with the Bush administration's policy toward enforcement
of the Clean Air Act.


"The rug was pulled out from under us," said Rich Biondi, who is
retiring as associate director of the air enforcement division of the
agency. "You look around and say, `What contribution can I continue to
make here?' and it was limited."


Cynthia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said of the departures,
"This is an office of several hundred employees — and to have one
political appointee and two career employees leave is not indicative
of unrest or departmentwide frustration."


In August, the administration changed air pollution rules to give
utility companies more leeway to modernize their power plants without
having to upgrade their pollution control equipment. That change
prompted the agency's enforcement division to drop investigations into
about 50 power plants for suspected violations of the Clean Air Act.
Last month, however, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the
administration from enforcing the new air pollution rules.


The head of the agency's enforcement division, J. P. Suarez, announced
his resignation on Monday to take a job as general counsel at a
division of Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, in Arkansas. Mr. Suarez has been at
the agency for 18 months. The E.P.A. announced in November that it was
going to suspend investigations into utilities after the
administration loosened the sections of the Clean Air Act that govern
aging coal-burning power plants.


In the last two weeks, Bruce Buckheit, the head of air enforcement
division, and Mr. Biondi, his deputy, who had worked at the agency
since 1971, retired.


The two, who took a buyout offered to senior agency employees, join
other top enforcement lawyers who have resigned or retired. Eric
Schaeffer, the former head of civil enforcement, resigned in spring
2002 with a scathing letter criticizing the administration's
enforcement of the Clean Air Act. Sylvia K. Lowrance, the acting
assistant administrator for enforcement and a career enforcement
official, retired in August 2002.


"We will see more resignations in the future as the administration
fails to enforce environmental laws," Ms. Lowrance said.


Mr. Suarez said on Monday in an interview, "While Bruce and Rich bring
tremendous experience to their job, we are blessed with talent that
will pick up where they left off."


Mr. Buckheit is considered a driving force behind the agency's pursuit
of utilities that started in the Clinton administration.


"It is a huge loss for clean air enforcement as Bruce was one of the
most energetic and passionate Clean Air lawyers in the country," said
Peter Lehner, the head of environmental litigation for the New York
attorney general's office, which has joined in several of the lawsuits
against power plants.


The suits used a once-obscure provision of the Clean Air Act, known as
new source review, which says that power plants, refineries and other
industrial boilers had to install pollution controls if they
modernized in ways that increased emissions generally. But "routine
maintenance was exempt." The power companies protested the suits,
saying the Clinton administration was misinterpreting the law.


Nonetheless, Mr. Buckheit had reached agreements with some electric
companies, including Virginia Electric Power and Cinergy, by 2000.
Many other negotiations stalled, however, after the Bush
administration came into office.


Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force urged the
administration to study industry complaints about federal enforcement
actions. Last summer, Virginia Electric Power, now known as Dominion
Power, completed an agreement to install $1.2 billion in pollution
controls.


Mr. Suarez joined the E.P.A. in 2002. Before, he had been director of
the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.