Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Image: Doug M. Costle official EPA portrait
Image: Anne M. Gorsuch 1982b
Image: Lee m thomas 2008
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
Stacks emitting smoke from burning discarded automobile batteries, photo taken in Houston in 1972 by Marc St. Gil, official photographer of recently founded EPA
Same smokestacks in 1975 after the plant was closed in a push for greater environmental protection
Ruckelshaus sworn in as first EPA Administrator
Headquarters of the EPA at the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building