Top EPA Enforcement Official Quits, Blasts Bush Policy

WASHINGTON —  A top enforcement official with the Environmental Protection Agency has resigned, saying in a two-page letter that the Bush administration has failed to crack down on companies that pour 7 million tons of toxins into the air every year.

Eric V. Schaeffer ended his 12-year EPA career Wednesday with a missive accusing the administration of dragging its feet on lawsuits filed against nine power companies he blamed for one-fourth of the nation’s annual sulfur dioxide pollution--a gas known to cause haze, acid rain and lung ailments.

Schaeffer, the agency’s director of regulatory enforcement and a decorated civil servant, said he has been “fighting a White House that seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce.”

Addressed to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, the letter said the administration’s 90-day review of clean air laws had stretched to nine months, derailing negotiations with the nine power companies and weakening attempts to regulate coal-fired smokestacks built without the updated pollution controls required by law.

Companies Adopt Wait-and-See Stance

Two of those industries agreed more than a year ago to consent decrees that would have decreased sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution levels by 750,000 tons. But those companies--Cinergy Corp. and Virginia Electric Power Co.--are now “hedging their bets,” refusing to sign the decrees until they see where the White House lands on reforming the Clean Air Act, Schaeffer said.

“Fifteen months ago it looked as though our lawsuits were going to shrink these dismal statistics. . . . Today, we seem about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” he wrote. “Other companies with whom we were close to settlement have walked away from the table.

“The momentum we obtained with agreements announced earlier has stopped, and we have filed no new lawsuits against utility companies since this administration took office.”

The EPA rejected Schaeffer’s contentions, saying it “remains committed” to enforcement and to reducing air pollution caused by power plants.

“The administration believes that its ‘clear skies’ proposal will dramatically cut air pollution from power plants at a rate that is faster, greater and more reliable than under the current Clean Air Act,” EPA spokesman Joe Martyak said.

But environmental groups cited Schaeffer’s parting words as a sign that President Bush “is in full retreat from serious environmental protection” and is “letting polluters get away red-handed.”

“The letter confirms our fears that the Bush administration is preventing the nation’s environmental cop from policing his beat,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.

“The health of millions of Americans will be the worse for his departure,” said John Coequyt, senior analyst for the Environmental Working Group, a watchdog organization in Washington.

Industry insiders said it was rare for an official of Schaeffer’s stature to resign with such a candid critique.

Well Regarded in the Industry

In August, Schaeffer was given the Justice Department’s prestigious John Marshall Award for exemplary public service and is highly regarded even by industry lawyers. He joined the EPA in 1990 during the administration of the first President Bush.

“The resignation of someone at Mr. Schaeffer’s level underscores the fact that environmental enforcement is a very weak spot in the administration’s approach to environmental policy,” said Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice, a Washington environmental law firm.

While environmental activists hoped Schaeffer’s words would sound a wake-up call in Washington, the EPA publicly dismissed his allegation.

“A number of the points that he raises are points that have been discussed in the public dialogue on this whole issue,” Martyak said. “His point of view is his point of view, and we stand by our projections and our numbers.”

Schaeffer said he informed his superiors weeks ago that he would be leaving to work as a consultant for the Rockefeller Family Fund, a foundation that supports environmental work. But he decided only this week to write down his frustrations. He delivered his message Wednesday night.

The letter cites EPA data presented to a Senate committee last year indicating the scale of pollution from the contested coal-fired smokestacks and the attending health hazards they bring, including more than 10,800 premature deaths, at least 5,400 incidents of chronic bronchitis, more than 5,100 hospital emergency visits and more than 1.5 million lost workdays.

Schaeffer also faulted the Bush budget proposal to cut the civil enforcement program by more than 200 staff positions.

Agency at Disadvantage Against Big Firms

“The proposed budget cuts would leave us desperately short of the resources needed to deal with the large, sophisticated corporate defendants we face,” he said.

The enforcement division where Schaeffer worked has been the focus of some recent controversy with the naming of John Peter Suarez as director.

Environmental activists have protested the appointment, saying Suarez formerly oversaw gambling laws in New Jersey and lacks the qualifications to supervise enforcement of environmental law.

“I decided we had hit a wall and it was going to be really hard to do much more in enforcement without a change in the climate we were working in,” Schaeffer said in an interview Thursday. “I just wanted to bring some public attention to the issue.”