Environment: Ruckelshaus' First Year

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He is proud that EPA is now developing a sense of cohesion and mission. Morale in the field, low in the beginning, has noticeably improved, especially in the enforcement area. A number of major programs, like approval of permits for cities and industries to discharge effluents into U.S. waterways, are finally starting to be implemented. Ruckelshaus also points out that EPA is overseeing a vast public works effort, doling out $2 billion a year to help localities build sewage treatment facilities.

Flip-Flop. Even so, Ruckelshaus' record is not unblemished. Take phosphate detergents. Last winter, he viewed them with alarm, arguing that the detergents could foul fresh water supplies. This fall, he seemed to join the Surgeon General and other prominent officials in backing their use. What he really meant, Ruckelshaus explains, is that caustic substitutes pose health hazards in households with small children; in all other homes, detergents with low (or no) phosphate content should be used. Still, his apparent flip-flop hurt EPA's creditability in the eyes of the public.

Persistent pesticides have been another problem. Federal courts have twice asked Ruckelshaus to consider halting the sale of DDT, and a panel of independent scientists recommended that the chemicals be phased out as soon as possible. While Ruckelshaus has limited the use of some forms of pesticides, he has committed himself to no final action on DDT pending the completion of exhaustive public hearings on whether to ban it. "It's vital that the decisions are taken in the open," he insists. "The public simply must believe that the decisions are taken to protect public health."

Public health is the key consideration in many of the laws that Ruckelshaus must enforce. But it is not the only standard; the EPA also has to take into account what one official directive terms "socioeconomic considerations." This broad mandate causes some environmentalists to fear that the EPA's role may be weakened by the Nixon Administration, whose first priority is clearly to stimulate the sluggish economy. Conservationists are thus keenly watching Ruckelshaus' every move—particularly in the enforcement of Senator Edmund Muskie's Clean Air Act—to spot any laxity. Another test: EPA's attitude toward Muskie's tough water bill now before Congress.

Ardent environmentalist though he is, Ruckelshaus is also a realist—and an unwavering Nixon supporter. So he will go along with such a balancing of all the priorities without sacrificing the environment. Ruckelshaus believes EPA has already laid the foundations for "a dramatic improvement in air and water quality within the next four or five years. The momentum is there." Indeed, his ostensible political opponents do not disagree—not even Muskie, who considers himself the original Mr. Clean of the environment. Says one of the Senator's top advisers: "Ruckelshaus would be the first holdover of a Muskie Administration."