A New "Mr. Clean"

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency holds one of the most controversial jobs in Washington. Changes in automobile engineering, new restrictions on city traffic, explorations for oil, the pollution of waterways--all this and more come to the EPA chief for a series of decisions that pit environmental interests against business balance sheets, land-use habits and even the traditional American way of life. Comments one conservationist: "In that job you're damned if you do and damned if you don't."

As of last week, there is a new damned man. Russell E. Train, 53, who has been chairman of the President's advisory Council on Environmental Quality for the past three years, succeeds (the Senate permitting) William Ruckelshaus, who left the EPA three months ago to serve as acting director of the FBI. Ruckelshaus, who was named Deputy Attorney General last week, earned himself the nickname "Mr. Clean" for his repeated jousting with Detroit, and he leaves to Train a feisty, independent agency. Train has the credentials to keep it that way. A Columbia Law School graduate, former minority counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee and a judge on the U.S. Tax Court, Train gave up his legal career in 1965 to become president of the well-respected Conservation Foundation and, later, served as Under Secretary of the Interior.

As the environmental council chairman, Train was the only Nixon Administration official to press for a national debate on the future of economic growth; he questioned what he called the philosophy of "produce or perish." He has also come to the defense of conservation forces in the national controversy about the energy shortage, declaring that they should not be "the whipping boy." At the same time, though, Train has troubled many environmentalists with his active support for several Administration positions including bills on strip mining, water pollution and the siting of power plants--all of which they consider overly favorable to industry.

But for the most part, leaders of the environment movement greet Train's appointment with guarded approval. Joseph Browder, director of the Environmental Policy Center, thinks Train "understands and is sensitive to the environmental values," which will be coming under attack. Brock Evans, the Sierra Club's Washington representative, "has high hopes." Train himself is emphatic about maintaining his independence. "As administrator I have the responsibility for making decisions on standards and regulations and I'm the one who's going to make the final decisions."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.