Carol Browner, President Clinton's Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, is the former secretary for Florida's Department
of Environmental Regulation (1988-1991), former legislative director
to Albert Gore during his stint in the Senate ( 1988-1991), and
former chief legislative aide on environmental issues to Senator
Lawton Chiles before Chiles left the Senate to run for governor
of Florida. In addition, Browner, an attorney by training, has
served as general counsel for the Florida House of Representative's
Government Operations Committee and has worked for Ralph Nader's
Citizen Action. While working for Albert Gore, Browner reportedly
did much of the research for Gore's book, Earth in the Balance.
At the EPA, Carol Browner has tried to portray herself as a member
of the reasonable center. She argued at her confirmation hearings
in 1993, for example, that environmental protection and economic
growth need not be in conflict. She also said that the "EPA
should promote and encourage rewards for businesses that take
the lead in developing pollution prevention and recycling strategies,"
rather than depend exclusively on "command and control"
coercion. So convincing was Browner's performance at the hearing
that Senator John H. Chafee (R-RI) was prompted to admonish her,
"Please avoid the word balance. It always makes me nervous...
It suggests that the scales have tipped too far in favor of the
environment." He needn't have worried: Under Administrator
Browner, the EPA has been particularly active in opposing legislation
that offers greater regulatory flexibility. During congressional
debate over the regulatory reform measures included in the Job
Creation and Wage Enhancement Act (H.R. 9) in early 1995, for
example, the EPA faxed out materials opposing the measure to a
select list of environmental organizations -- presumably, to assist
the groups in their grassroots campaigns against H.R. 9. The activity
lead a bi-partisan group of Congressmen, led by Representatives
David McIntosh (R-IN) and Collin Peterson (D-MN), to charge that
the EPA was in violation of a 1919 law barring lobbying by federal
officials. This was not the only complaint about EPA political
activity: In mid-1995, Louisiana Representative Billy Tauzin --
then a Democrat -- charged that the EPA violated the law by providing
confidential information about pending wetlands litigation to
environmental groups.
Administrator Browner does apparently believe in compromising
on the environment in certain cases -- at least when it suits
her own purposes. During her earlier stint in Washington, Browner
lived with her family in Takoma Park, Maryland, a city known for
its stringent environmental regulations. According to one press
report, Browner applied for a permit to cut down a 120-foot-tall
oak tree in order to widen her driveway. Although Browner's neighbors
objected to the tree being cut down, her permit was granted after
she met twice with city officials.
Selected Browner Quotes
Browner on why states should be given greater authority in regulatory
process...
"The quality of the decisions that come from the states is
better than the decisions we can make." - Carol Browner quoted
in the Scientific American, May 1994
Browner on why states can't be trusted with greater authority...
"Imagine turning on your tap in the morning and not knowing
whether the water is safe enough for your children to brush their
teeth. Or watching raw sewage being dumped into the lake in which
your family loves to swim and fish... In the past 20 to 30 years,
we reached what I believe is a sensible consensus, one that recognizes
the strengths of each level of government. In general, it is the
federal government that sets the standards designed to protect
the health of the public and our air, land and water... This administration
believes passionately that the federal government must provide
the leadership necessary to guarantee public health and natural
resource protection for all Americans." - Carol Browner in
her opinion/editorial, "Partners in Protecting the Public,
The Washington Post, May 30, 1994
Browner on ending the adversarial relationship between the EPA
and the business community...
"I hope my tenure will mark a new era in communication between
the EPA and America's business community, between environmentalists
and business leaders... [the] adversarial relationship [between
environmental and business communities] creates damaging delays
in the regulatory process and often unnecessarily harms business
without significantly aiding the environment." - Carol Browner
quoted in The Washington Post, January 12, 1993
Browner fomenting an adversarial relationship with the business
community with her harsh rhetoric...
"...Proposals [to end retroactive liability at hazardous
waste sites] are a fix for wealthy special interests. They abandon
the principle that the polluter must pay for the mess they make."
- Carol Browner quoted in the Washington Post, July 8, 1995
Version Date: February 21, 1996
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