Word: hernandez
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...first, things seemed to be going well. Although his chances were slim, Hernandez began actively campaigning to keep his job, signaling the White House that he could improve the agency's tarnished image. In a sharp contrast to the deep personnel and money cuts supported by Burford, he prepared supplemental budgets seeking more congressional funds. He also dismissed EPA Official Louis Cordia, who two years ago compiled a "hit list" of ideologically suspect agency employees...
...midweek the "fresh start" fizzled. Democratic Congressman James Scheuer, who heads one of the six congressional panels investigating the agency, charged that Hernandez personally intervened to allow Dow Chemical Co. to edit a July 1981 agency report about dioxin contamination of two rivers and a bay near its Midland, Mich., plant. EPA officials agreed to Dow's suggested deletions of critical passages linking the deadly poison to fertility problems and birth defects, as well as the conclusion that "Dow's discharge represented the major source, if not the only source, of [dioxin] contamination" in the waterways...
Testifying before the House Public Works Oversight Subcommittee, Hernandez acknowledged that he urged Valdas Adamkus, head of the EPA's Midwest regional office, to hear Dow out on the report but denied ordering him to let company officials make changes. In a stunning public break with his bosses, however, Adamkus testified on Friday that his staffers had been "forced" by Washington headquarters to strike out the passages. Hernandez was angry that the Midwest office had prepared the report in the first place, Adamkus said, and was "denouncing our report and calling the work of our regional people 'trash...
...Hernandez was also blasted for blocking a voluntary plan by three smelting companies to clean up serious lead contamination in a poor, mostly black area of Dallas. An EPA study had revealed dangerously high lead levels in the blood of neighborhood children. Instead, the EPA simply ordered that residents be given blood tests and be instructed to "plant grass" to control the lead dust and to "keep [their] homes clean." That advice did not satisfy many subcommittee members. Said Hernandez in explanation: "If we went out and started running bulldozers around, we'd end up with even greater hysteria...
...charges against Hernandez forced the White House to accelerate its search for a blue-ribbon successor for the top job, a tricky matter since the nominee must be enough of an environmental advocate to withstand congressional scrutiny and yet fit in with the President's more minimalist approach to regulation. The leading contender was William Ruckelshaus, the first EPA administrator under President Nixon and now a senior vice president of Weyerhaeuser, a wood and paper company. But his industry connections may make him suspect to environmentalists. Said Democratic Congressman Edward Markey: "What we clearly need...