Shoring Up a Shaken EPA

By Maureen Dowd

The White House moves to pump in some professionalism

Anxious to counter the rapidly spreading perception that safeguarding the environment has not exactly been one of its highest priorities, the Reagan Administration last week began a refurbishing of the Environmental Protection Agency. First, EPA Administrator Anne Burford showed up in Missouri with a dramatic offer to buy out the homes and property of residents of the dioxin-poisoned town of Times Beach. Then, after Burford left for speaking engagements in California and Arizona, the Administration put the broom to the EPA, sweeping out of office two top officials who were under investigation and appointing five top deputies. Democratic congressional leaders dubbed it the "Wednesday-night massacre." The White House called it "a fresh start."

Despite these moves, several congressional leaders clamored for the sacking of Anne McGill Burford, who was known as Anne Gorsuch until her marriage to Robert Burford, an aide to Interior Department Secretary James Watt, two days before her appearance in Times Beach. But there was no gratis honeymoon period for her on the Hill. Investigators for congressional subcommittees probed charges of political favoritism, conflict of interest and mismanagement at the EPA. They began to focus on Burford's role in overseeing the Superfund, a $1.6 billion program to clean up the nation's worst toxic dumps. Some Administration officials, unhappy with her handling of the mess at her agency, also favored jettisoning the "Ice Queen."

But President Reagan gave every indication of being determined to keep Burford. One top White House aide offered a sarcastic assessment: "We have nothing against her except that she might not have managed the agency properly." Officials described the new talent at EPA as calculated to strengthen top management, particularly in the Superfund program. "We're going to surround her," said a Reagan adviser.

The top-management changing of the guard came after several days of intense debate among senior presidential aides on the best strategy for regaining control of the politically damaging situation. Twice last week the President tried to down-play the problems, blaming the press for exaggerating the story. Said Reagan: "We're falling into that trap of running as if the sky is falling, just on the basis of accusations, without... any substance back of it. The EPA has, in truth, done a fine job." But White House insiders conceded that the Administration was hurting. Said one: "We may have handed the Democrats another good issue."

The two officials dismissed on Wednesday were EPA Inspector General Matthew Novick, whose job was to police waste and misdeeds in the agency, and John Horton, the agency's director of administration. Novick is being investigated by the General Accounting Office on allegations that he used Government employees to do personal work for him during office hours; the Justice Department is looking into accusations that Horton used his EPA office to run private businesses.

Charles Dempsey, 54, the inspector general at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will fill in temporarily for Novick. Alfred M. Zuck, 48 an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Administration and Management, was named to take over for Horton on an acting basis. EPA Official Courtney Riordan, 45, the acting administrator for research and development, was named to the post permanently. The White House tapped Lee Thomas, 38, to replace the ousted Rita Lavelle as head of the agency's hazardous-waste program. The Administration also created a new congressional-liaison job designed to smooth ruffled relations between Capitol Hill and the agency, and nominated Lee Verstandig, 45, an Assistant Secretary of Transportation, to fill it. The new appointees are widely regarded as seasoned Government professionals who will help restore an air of competence to the agency.

In the weeks ahead, the White House also hopes to calm the constant personnel turmoil that has marked Burford's tenure. Since she arrived 20 months ago, six people have been nominated to fill the two associate-administrator spots directly under her. Three have resigned or were fired, and one withdrew his name from further consideration amid allegations of conflict of interest. Two of the six assistant administrators' posts remained vacant for more than a year after Reagan took office, and one remained without a permanent appointee until last week. By week's end it was disclosed that Reagan is considering launching a study, to be directed by University of Illinois Professor David F. Linowes, a management expert, that will look into the EPA's handling of the $1.6 billion Superfund.

While the White House worked to defuse the controversy, Congress was heading in a different direction. In an appearance before a House subcommittee, Rita Lavelle testified that regional offices of the EPA have been looking into charges that a "pattern" of organized-crime involvement in toxic-waste disposal exists. Lavelle also revealed that she had met with Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese and White House Cabinet Secretary Craig Fuller "ten or twelve" times to discuss specific toxic-waste issues, although she said neither tried to influence any of the agency's decisions. The White House subsequently said that its counsel Fred Fielding had already begun to review all contacts between senior White House aides and the EPA.

Lavelle underwent a harsh 4 1/2-hour grilling at the hands of the Senate Environment Committee, before which she voluntarily appeared after failing to respond to subpoenas from two House subcommittees that had been investigating the Superfund. If she had hoped to receive more sympathetic treatment from the Republican-controlled body, she miscalculated. Republican Senator Robert Stafford told Lavelle sternly that she had "created the impression that your agency may be in bed with polluters." Fellow Republican Senator John Chafee complained that she had been "extremely insensitive" about the appearance of impropriety in her frequent lunches and dinners with chemical-industry officials. Lavelle argued that she was a "saleswoman," trying to persuade corporate executives to go to the bargaining table instead of to court, an approach that she submits was designed to be more efficient than litigation.

Democratic Senator Daniel Moynihan stunned Lavelle with an alleged transcript of a meeting in her office in which she was quoted as warning a New York State hazardous-waste official, concerned about the sluggish Love Canal cleanup, not to complain directly to Moynihan. "We play hardball in California," she allegedly told the man.

Senator George Mitchell asked Lavelle about a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last December that reported she had told Missouri officials meeting in her office not to push hard for victim compensation on the dioxin problems there. "That will be playing right into the hands of Ted Kennedy," she was quoted as saying. Although Lavelle flatly denied making the comment, Theodore Bornstein, a Missouri state official who was at the November 1982 meeting, commented after the hearing, "She said it. I was a little flabbergasted."

The White House was understandably determined to cut its losses and get the country's mind on more pleasant thoughts, like growing signs of economic recovery from the recession. But it was not prepared to blame mere partisan politics for the flap over EPA. "Here we've got mothers who are concerned about toxic chemicals," observed an Administration official. "Any time it looks like you are looking out for big industry instead of the little guy, it is going to hurt you." -- By Maureen Dowd. Reported by Jay Branegan/Washington

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