INFORMATION Governor Leavitt Confirmed As EPA Administrator Utah Governor Mike Leavitt won Senate confirmation on October 28, 2003 to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Senate voted 88-8 for Gov Leavitt to head the 18,000-employee agency. President Bush Nominates New EPA Administrator President Bush has nominated Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt (R) to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The hunt is on. Traditional environmental organizations see red meat. Mike Leavitt, 52, is against federal, centralized command and control regulation. His confirmation hearing will be a lightning rod for all of the frustrations of the traditional environmental community. Leavitt is the 14th governor of the state of Utah. He was first elected in 1992, then re-elected in 1996 (with the largest vote total in state history), and in 2000 became only the second governor in Utah history to be re-elected to a third term. Governor Leavitt is the senior governor of the United States, having served ten years in office. He served as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Leavitt was born February 11, 1951, in Cedar City, Utah. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and business from Southern Utah University and is married to Jacalyn Smith. The governor and first lady are the parents of five children. New Acting EPA Administrator: Horinko  July 10, 2003 President George W. Bush designated Marianne Lamont Horinko of Virginia, to be Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Ms. Horinko currently serves as Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste & Emergency Response for the EPA. Ms. Horinko is the former President of Clay Associates, Inc., a public policy firm devoted to hazardous waste issues and was Project Director for the National Sediments Dialogue, sponsored by the National Environmental Policy Institute (NEPI), as well as Director of NEPI's "How Clean is Clean?" project. Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Ms. Horinko served as Attorney Advisor to Don Clay, Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, from 1989 until 1993. Earlier in her career, Ms. Horinko worked as an attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius from 1986 until 1990 and as a staff scientist at ENVIRON Corporation from 1983 until 1986. A lifelong environmental professional, Ms. Horinko earned her B.S. at the University of Maryland College Park and her J.D. at Georgetown University Law School.
Black, Green & War
Foreign terrorists did not discriminate on 911. They slashed a black pilot to death with box cutters before crashing the plane he was piloting. The Saudi suicide squad indiscriminately killed black airline passengers, Pentagon and World Trade Center employees. Evidently, to suicidal terrorists, African Americans are Americans first when its killing time. Saddam Hussein’s troops did not check the skin color of American soldiers before they shot them. Opinion polls show a majority of African Americans oppose the U.S. war against Iraq. African Americans also support environmental justice. Conversely, anti-war and environmental demonstrations where thousands of people have filled the streets have failed to attract blacks in significant numbers. Although blacks say they sympathize with protesters, many African Americans do not feel connected to the anti-war and traditional environmental movements, or their core organizers, who tend to be white. Most blacks are wedded to the Democratic Party. Environmentalists are Democratic Party partisans and some of the most visible radical anti-war activists. Very few blacks work at, or identify with, these anti-war and environmental organizations. Most black Republicans probably support the war. Blacks will continue to fight for America and environmental justice. America will also continue to be two separate societies. Such separation is as American as apple pie. Black church pastors have been speaking out against the war. Religion is not usually a part of the environmental movement. It is an accepted fact that Sunday church service is the most segregated time in America. The black church is about the last place you will find a white environmentalist on Sunday. An environmental organization is about the last place you will find a black (professional) on Monday. Environmentalism is its own religion for many traditional environmentalists. The Black Muslim community has also been active in opposing the war, but does not participate in environmental causes. Christian minister Al Sharpton and Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan have spoken out against the war. Most environmental organizations are probably against the war. Most environmental organizations probably do not like Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakhan. Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice probably do not belong to environmental organizations. 
There is a disconnect between white organizers of anti-war rallies and blacks. There is this same disconnect between white environmental organizations and blacks. White organizers often will talk to a couple of African-American activists and assume they have made inroads in the black community. In most anti-war and environmental protests in the streets, you will see mostly whites, because the black community has its own battles every day dealing with economic sustainability, racism, lack of opportunities and black-on-black dysfunctional behavior. Whites will visit black communities to protest pollution sites, but do not have relatives in, do not live in and do not fraternize in the black community.
SUV Fuel Efficiency Needed AAEA is urging the Bush Administration to significantly increase fuel economy standards for light trucks (SUVs are classified as light trucks) in model years 2005-2007. While last year's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (authority over fuel economy standards) proposal of a 1.5 mile per gallon increase provides the first real increases in light truck fuel economy standards in many years, it is far too weak to meet the urgent need to reduce oil consumption and global warming pollution. Light truck fuel economy standards (20.7 mpg) have not increased for almost two decades. SUV are classified as light trucks instead of cars, which must achieve 27.5 mpg. Meanwhile, SUV and other light duty truck sales have soared to 50% of the overall vehicle fleet. These vehicles have become one of the country's most rapidly growing sources of global warming pollution and a major contributor to America's unchecked rise in oil dependence.
Technologies to improve fuel economy standards for SUVs and other light trucks are available. There are many cost-effective options such as more efficient engines and transmissions, safer and lighter materials, and sleeker designs. Engineering studies show that light trucks could be improved by more than a mile per gallon each year for over a decade, and that's without using the even greater potential from popular hybrid-electric vehicles. Unfortunately, Toyota recently announced that is was cancelling its RAV4 hybrid. The low fuel prices that are needed to keep our economy healthy also serve as a disincentive to make SUVs more efficient. Surely, automanufacturers must ask themselves: Why improve when customers are willing to buy them as they are? Office of Homeland Security The OHS combines the functions of numerous federal agencies. The new department will have 170,000 employees and bring together such agencies as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Secret Service, the Customs Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the Border Patrol. A number of the largest agencies -- the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, Customs, the INS and the Transportation Security Administration -- will transfer to the new department on March 1, according to the master plan. Other agencies will make the move later; the Agriculture Department's Plum Island Animal Disease Center, among others, will join the department June 1. It will analyze terrorism intelligence to match it against the nation's vulnerabilities, develop new technologies to detect threats, coordinate the training and funding of state and local police and fire departments, and scrutinize U.S. borders and ports of entry. The OHS will also command certain elements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy during nuclear incident emergencies: [ Text of Bill ] Source: White House Website
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