In Whitman, More Than Just a Caretaker at EPA

In the inaugural address for her second term in January 1998, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman outlined an aggressive effort to conserve a million acres of open lands--surprising environmentalists who had battled her efforts in the previous four years to relax antipollution regulations.

“We have an obligation to be good stewards of these blessings,” she said of New Jersey’s natural resources.

Asked about the turnaround, Whitman and her allies suggested that the state’s desperate economy had forced her to make tough choices in her first term.

The switch was convincing enough that many environmentalists cautiously welcomed the news that Whitman, 54, had been picked by President-elect George W. Bush to head the Environmental Protection Agency--the most prominent person ever named to take that agency’s helm.

“When you appoint someone with a high profile and a demonstrated commitment to the mission of the agency, that can be a very productive combination,” said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney in Los Angeles for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit organization with a 30-year history of environmental activism. “As governor, she has shown an interest in protecting the environment. That doesn’t mean she’s always done the right thing.”

Others noted that land conservation is the purview not of EPA but of the Interior Department and questioned Whitman’s commitment to other environmental causes such as clean air standards.

“The land use issues for which Whitman is getting good grades in New Jersey do not fall under EPA,” said Robert Tucker, who left the state’s Department of Environmental Protection five years ago after Whitman slashed its budget and staffing. “In terms of enforcing the clean air and clean water acts and cleaning up toxic substances,” Whitman is “business friendly. That’s going to be in line with the Bush administration.”

For her part, Whitman argues that the proof of the effectiveness of her less-confrontational approach toward business is cleaner water and air.

“The governor would rather see people spend money on improving pollution control rather than paying fines,” said spokeswoman Amy Collings of the New Jersey environmental agency. “There is no question that the air is cleaner and the water is cleaner, much to the consternation of the environmentalists who don’t like her approach.”

Indeed, in her comments accepting the nomination, Whitman signaled that she will weigh the needs of the economy against the goal of a cleaner environment.

Quoting former President Theodore Roosevelt, she said: “I recognize the right and the duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land. But I do not recognize the right to waste them for the generation that comes after us. T.R. understood the necessity of striking the right balance between competing interests for the good of all Americans.”

Despite their concerns, many environmentalists were relieved when Whitman emerged this week as the probable nominee.

“Given George W. Bush’s positions and record on the environment in Texas, Christie Todd Whitman might look like a bed of roses. He could have picked much worse,” said Amy Goldsmith, state director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, a coalition of 94 environmental groups. “Is she taking care of her own state? No. Have we been able to stop her or hold her at bay? Yes.”

Environmentalists hope that Whitman’s status and Bush’s decision to elevate the EPA job to a full Cabinet post will help her fight for cleaner air and water against others in the new administration.

Cleaning up smog and urban runoff into the ocean are the two EPA issues most important to the Los Angeles area. Whitman, whose state has 127 miles of coastline, has some experience with the runoff issue.

Under her administration, the quality of coastal water has improved markedly, primarily through upgrading sewage treatment plants. The number of times the state’s beaches were closed because of pollution plummeted from 800 in 1989 to 11 this year.

But overall, her environmental report card over seven years as governor of the nation’s most densely populated state was mixed.

She gets high marks for land conservation for spearheading a plan to use $98 million a year to fight urban sprawl by preserving 1 million acres of open space and farmland over the next decade.

But in her early years in office, when the state’s economy was in trouble and her biggest goal was cutting taxes and spurring business growth, she slashed the environmental protection budget and staff--and changed its culture. Rather than levying large fines against companies, as her predecessors had, Whitman tried to work with industries to develop obtainable goals for reducing pollution.

“New Jersey was open for business,” said Rick Engler of the New Jersey Work Environment Council, quoting a popular Whitman slogan from her first term. “Now the EPA is too.”

But even foes agree that Whitman gets results with her inclusive style. “The governor will bring everyone to the table: environmentalists, big industry, the development community,” said state Senate Majority Leader John Bennett, a Republican who has written legislation intended to protect New Jersey’s air and water.

Assemblyman Leonard Lance, who like Bennett has had more than his share of clashes with Whitman over environmental issues, believes she will preserve the nation’s environment as she is conserving New Jersey’s open lands.

“I believe she will bring those values to the EPA,” he said.

Just by naming Whitman, Lance said, Bush showed that he does not want the agency to become dormant, as some environmentalists had feared he would.

“It kicks it up a peg to give EPA to a governor,” he said. “I can’t imagine she wants to be a caretaker; that’s not her personality.”

In her remarks Friday, Whitman said she was leaving the “best job in America” to take the EPA position. But New Jersey limits governors to two terms, and her second term would end in January 2002.

Some allies believe that more prominent posts in the Bush administration were denied her because her pro-abortion rights stance enrages conservatives.

“There are some people in the Republican Party who don’t consider having moderate views on social issues as the best credentials,” Bennett said.

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Profile: Christine Todd Whitman

* Born: Sept. 26, 1946

* Education: Undergraduate degree, Wheaton College

* Career highlights: Somerset County, N.J., freeholder, 1983-1987; president, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, 1988-1990; two-term New Jersey governor, 1994-present

* Family: Husband, John; two children

* Quote: “We know that open land is at a premium, and we must preserve it. We know that clean air is invaluable, and we must safeguard it. We know that clean water is priceless, and we must do all we can to protect our watersheds.”

Source: Associated Press