Questions for Leavitt

Utah governor Mike Leavitt will face a grilling later this month when the Senate considers his nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The Republican will have to defend the Bush Administration's environmental record, including last week's revised EPA rules governing pollution at older power plants. Under the old regimen, utilities that wanted to update their plants were required to install extensive pollution controls. The new rules will allow them to upgrade without putting in such equipment.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is likely to quiz Leavitt about the EPA's post-9/11 announcements on air quality near ground zero. Last month the agency's inspector general determined that the White House added "reassuring statements" to EPA press releases despite the presence of toxic contaminants.

Democrats will also dissect Leavitt's own environmental record during his 10 years as Governor. Data in an unreleased EPA report show that under Leavitt, Utah had a high proportion of polluters emitting at unacceptable levels. Between 1999 and 2001, 30% of Utah facilities with federal licenses to release a specified amount of waste into waterways exceeded those limits. The national average was about 25% in 2001. Others fared even worse in the February report, but it's a problem for Leavitt, his critics say, since he hopes to move power away from the EPA and toward states.

Leavitt's supporters claim that the report data are unreliable. Because Utah has only 33 of what the EPA calls "major" polluters (vs. 382 for Pennsylvania), improvement in a small number of facilities since 2001 has sharply shifted percentages. "We've got the problem in our cross hairs," says Walter Baker of the Utah division of water quality.

Though Leavitt himself is in the cross hairs of environmentalists, he will probably be confirmed. One or more Democratic Senators may try to put a hold on his nomination, but that could be effectively broken by 60 votes. Leavitt, says a Senate staff member, should easily garner that much support.