Bush Taps Utah Governor to Head EPA.

Utah Governor Mike Leavitt is U.S. President George W. Bush's choice to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Leavitt, the head of a regional insurance broker before becoming governor in 1993, says his environmental policy is based on the Latin term "in libra," which means to move toward balance. Alan Roberson, director of regulatory affairs for the American Water Works Association, says Leavitt's advocacy for states' rights is a good philosophy, but he notes that federal environmental statutes "aren't written that way." Leavitt will encounter turf battles if he tries to shift regulations to states, says Roberson. The Sierra Club criticized the nomination. It asserts that Leavitt has an "anti-environmental" record that includes "working behind closed doors with Interior Secretary Gale Norton to open up Utah's wildlands to polluting industries," such as roadbuilding and development.