President Bush announced on August 12, 2003 that he was nominating Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as the new nominee to head the EPA. Confirmation hearings will likely begin in September when congress returns from the summer recess. Leavitt was first offered the opportunity to join the EPA in mid June and declined because he was planning to run for a fourth term as governor of Utah.

If confirmed, he would join Interior Secretary Gale Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, and Kathleen Clarke, head of the Bureau of Land Management, who was previously Leavitt’s director of natural resources.

Gov. Leavitt has been active in environmental matters in his region and is currently sits as co-chair of the Western Regional Air Partnership. He shares the administration’s philosophy of more decision power by local and state authorities and less by the federal government. Leavitt has stated that he believes in a spirit of openness and bipartisanship. However, environmental activists are not convinced of his promise to collaborate and warn that a weakening of federal environmental protection will lead to problems.