GET ME REWRITE:

Bush Picks Stephen Johnson to Head EPA (William Branigin, March 4, 2005, Washington Post)

President Bush today nominated Stephen L. Johnson, the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to take over the helm of the agency and promote his administration's goal of rewriting the nation's air pollution laws.

In a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Bush said that if Johnson is confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first career EPA employee and first professional scientist to head the agency. Johnson, 53, a native of Washington, D.C., has worked at the EPA for 24 years and previously served as assistant administrator of the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, among other posts.

Johnson "knows the EPA from the ground up and has a passion for its mission: to protect the health of our citizens and to guarantee the quality of our air, water and land for generations to come," Bush said. He called Johnson "an innovative problem-solver with good judgment and complete integrity" and said he would use his scientific background "to set clear, rational standards for environmental equality and to place sound, scientific analysis at the heart of all decisions."

Johnson, who holds a master's degree in pathology from George Washington University in the District, would replace Mike Leavitt, who was chosen by Bush in December to serve as secretary of health and human services in his second term.

Wait a sec', isn't he supposed to be anti-science?

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 4, 2005 8:01 AM