Let Us Now Praise Innocuous Men

The next chief of the Bush EPA wasn't expected to have more than a dewdrop's chance in hell of widespread acceptance in the disgruntled environmental community. So it came as a surprise on Friday when the president tapped respected scientist and 24-year EPA veteran Stephen Johnson to captain the agency, and an array of green leaders issued favorable – even rapturous – reviews.

"A spectacularly good appointment," said Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group. "We welcome the nomination," said Deb Callahan of the League of Conservation Voters. "[A] good sign," said Phil Clapp of National Environmental Trust. "[T]he best we could expect," said Carl Pope of the Sierra Club.

The typically combative leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also set aside their differences to voice collective support of the nomination. Committee Chair James Inhofe (R-Okla.) applauded Johnson for "his hard work in public service," while the committee's minority leader, Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), an outspoken critic of the White House on environmental issues, expressed "hope that this appointment will help repair and restore the credibility of the Bush administration's environmental record." Industry representatives were complimentary as well.

Johnson, who has held a number of leadership positions in EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, has spent much of his career implementing the nation's pesticide and toxics laws. He looks like a veritable David Brower next to others who were rumored to be on the short list for EPA chief, including energy-industry booster Thomas Kuhn, head of the Edison Electric Institute, and Jim Connaughton, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and an architect of the administration's so-called new environmentalism. Not only is Johnson largely free of industry ties, he's the first career employee and scientist ever to be nominated as EPA administrator.

He ascended the agency ladder swiftly under the watch of Carol Browner, who headed the EPA during the Clinton administration. "I promoted him several times, into very important positions in the pesticides and toxics office," Browner said. "I don't know if Johnson is a Democrat or Republican, but he's a very green guy, a truly committed environmentalist, from my experience." He didn't shy away from enforcing tough standards, safeguarding public health, and taking action against chemical companies when needed, said Browner.

"One is almost left to wonder," she added, "if the Bush administration knew just how deep his commitment is to these issues when they decided that he was their man."

President Bush , for his part, doesn't seem worried. "I've come to know Steve as an innovative problem-solver with good judgment and complete integrity," Bush said as he nominated Johnson on Friday. In 2001, the Bush administration honored Johnson with the Presidential Rank Award for his exemplary service at the EPA, and in January of this year named him as acting administrator of the agency, after Mike Leavitt was tapped to head up the Department of Health and Human Services.

And Johnson seems comfortable with the Bush agenda. As acting administrator, he has defended some of the administration's most controversial environmental proposals, including the Clear Skies bill and major cuts to the EPA's budget. Last month, he trekked to Illinois to stump for Clear Skies, thereby putting pressure on the state's new senator, Barack Obama (D), to switch his stance on the bill.

Joan Mulhern, senior attorney at Earthjustice, considers the environmental community's optimism about Johnson's nomination unfounded. "It's hard to imagine that Johnson wasn't vetted for loyalty to the Bush agenda, or that the administration has any intention of bringing on board an independent voice," she said. "We've seen no indication that he is inclined to go against the grain."