Word: epa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Visible Violators. The aggressive part was quickly established-even though his personal style is amiable. When the EPA was just a week old, Ruckelshaus startled the mayors of Atlanta, Detroit and Cleveland by giving them 180 days to come up with a plan to correct water-quality violations-or else. In ensuing months, he ordered action taken against some 185 other water polluters, including Armco Steel, U.S. Steel, Koppers, U.S. Plywood-Champion, ITT Rayonier and a host of municipalities. The agency recently broke all precedent by getting a federal court order forcing 23 plants in Birmingham to cut back...
Ruckelshaus has not hesitated to dispute other federal agencies' plans when they concern the environment. EPA opposed one of the Bureau of Reclamation's dam-building projects, the Interior Department's tentative approval of the trans-Alaska pipeline and, reportedly, the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear test at Amchitka. As a result of such actions, Ruckelshaus has been called "the loneliest man in Washington." He shrugs:'"In a job like this, you're bound to ruffle some feathers...
Heavy Pressure. What makes his accomplishments even more impressive is the fact that EPA began as one of the most fragmented and confused bureaucracies in Washington -"a mess" is Ruckelshaus' word for it. It was supposed to amalgamate the functions of some 15 federal bodies with environmental responsibilities (air and water quality, pesticide tolerance, radiation). Some employees changed offices and telephone numbers more times than a harassed bookie. Ruckelshaus, charged with responsibility for an area of enormous voter concern, was under heavy pressure to produce instant results. It was, he recalls, "like trying to run a 100-yd. dash...
...Birmingham's smog is a clutch of 23 heavy-industry companies (including U.S. Steel and Republic Steel), whose smokestacks spew out tons of sooty particles each day. Last April, when a similar temperature inversion occurred, most of the companies ignored requests from local health authorities and the EPA to cut back production, and held out until a shift in the weather blew the problem away...
This time the EPA did not wait for the weather to change. It asked U.S. District Court Judge Sam C. Pointer Jr. to order the 23 companies to shut down or drastically cut back production. The judge did just that. It was the first such order obtained under the emergency powers given the EPA by the 1970 Clean Air Act. Compliance was good if somewhat reluctant. Though by week's end a light wind and rain cleared the smog and the injunction was lifted, the order was an earnest of more injunctions to come...