Bush's environmental choice under fire

Environmentalists in the US today criticised George Bush's choice of Mike Leavitt, the governor of Utah, as his nominee to head the environmental protection agency (EPA).

Mr Leavitt, 52, has served three terms as the Republican governor of Utah, a western state including spectacular national parks such as Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Zion. The state has an important tourist industry based on its natural beauty.

If the nomination is confirmed by the Senate after it returns from its summer recess, Mr Leavitt will replace Christie Whitman, who resigned from the job in May.

Her resignation came after two and a half years of confrontation with administration officials, who saw energy development as a bigger priority.

Against her advice, Mr Bush rejected the international Kyoto treaty on global warming.

In his statement accepting the nomination, Mr Leavitt said: "I believe, as a nation, we have an abounding capacity to continue our path of environmental progress, and an imperative to do so at less cost."

The Sierra Club and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance quickly voiced their opposition to the nomination of the Utah governor, who is a close friend of Mr Bush.

"Governor Mike Leavitt's environmental track record, which includes working behind closed doors with interior secretary Gale Norton to open up Utah's wildlands to polluting industries, suggests that he will be a good fit for the Bush administration, but a disappointing choice for Americans concerned with environmental protection," the Sierra Club said in a statement.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, added: "The administrator of EPA is the nation's principal enforcer of the laws and regulations protecting clean air, clean water and drinking water.

"His philosophy on all these is less regulation, no matter what the cost to public health and the environment. I can't think of too many governors more hostile to government regulations than Mike Leavitt."

However, Alan Matheson, the director of the Utah Water Project for Trout Unlimited, told the Denver Post: "While he is no champion of the environment, Governor Leavitt will sincerely pursue a balance between resource protection and perceived economic interests."

The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that an annual gathering of environmental officials from the 50 states gave Mr Leavitt two standing ovations when he addressed them yesterday.

"Based on what he said today, I'm really encouraged," Christopher Jones, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, told the paper.

One project, in particular, won Mr Leavitt praise from both sides of the argument: he co-founded the Western Regional Air Partnership, a 13-state agreement to cut air pollution in the Grand Canyon and Utah's southern parks.

However, he also advocated a major highway extension through wetlands and wildlife habitat near Utah's Great Salt Lake. Environmentalist sued, and a federal appeals court halted the project.

Democratic senator Joe Lieberman, a presidential candidate for the 2004 election, promised a thorough confirmation hearing in the Senate.

"President Bush has the worst environmental record in history," he said in a statement.

"The American people deserve to know whether Governor Leavitt shares the same disregard for clean air, clean water, land conservation and global warming as the president."