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Burford leaves, but big problems linger for EPA on the Hill
...Burford was surrounded. White House aides were a solid Greek chorus subtly pressuring a recalcitrant President Reagan to let go his besieged Environmental Protection Agency chief. They convinced him that she was a roadblock to settling the dispute with Congress and restoring credibility and employee morale at the battered EPA. Burford's mentor in the Administration, Interior Secretary James Watt, advised her that her support was eroding and that she should consider quitting. Finally, shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, she received a call from Reagan Friend Joseph Coors, a Colorado brewery mogul, who had been her faithful...
...feistiness had faded under the emotional strain of seeing her agency tarred by allegations ranging from perjury and conflict of interest by her top aides, to mismanagement and political favoritism. She also faced a congressional contempt citation for invoking, on Reagan's orders, Executive privilege to withhold subpoenaed EPA documents from House subcommittees. "She had come apart at the seams personally in the past two weeks," said one White House aide. "She was scared to death about going before Congress again...
Burford conceded that the pressure was overwhelming. "It's killing me," she said tearfully. "I can't stand there and watch that agency brought to its knees." New charges had surfaced only a few hours before her resignation. Two Democratic members of Congress released EPA documents showing that Burford was warned by the agency's inspector general nearly a year ago of damaging evidence of conflict of interest against her friend and influential aide, James W. Sanderson, but did not take any action...
...White House also eased out of its other major EPA problem on Wednesday. Presidential Aide James Baker and Democratic Congressman John Dingell, who heads one of half a dozen congressional panels probing the EPA, negotiated what may be the last deal necessary on the subpoenaed documents. A capitulation on the Executive privilege issue, the agreement offers Congress free access to EPA files...