Leavitt Confirmed As EPA Chief

The Senate confirmed Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt on Tuesday to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The vote was 88-8, the Associated Press reported.

About 18,000 people work at the EPA, which was created to enforce environmental laws and research environmental problems affecting air, water and land.

Leavitt was expected to leave in place the agency’s 2007 diesel-engine emission regulations and 2006 diesel fuel requirements. (Click here for related coverage.)

He is expected to resign as governor on Nov. 5, his spokeswoman, Natalie Gochnour, said. He would assume the EPA job shortly afterward, Reuters said.



He replaces former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who stepped down in May. (Click here for related coverage.)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and three Democratic presidential contenders in the Senate — Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina — led an effort for weeks to block a vote on Leavitt, to make an issue of Bush administration environmental policies.

However, Clinton said she dropped her opposition to the nomination after the White House told her in a letter it would take additional steps over two years to protect New York City residents who potentially had been exposed to harmful substances from the World Trade Center rubble, AP said.

Several other Democrats backed off their opposition after reaching similiar deals, the Wall Street Journal reported.