Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090174
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CLINTON REORGANIZES ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICES
President Clinton began his reorganization of the White House on Monday by creating an office of environmental policy and promising to give it a voice in all decision-making, even in foreign policy."We are today changing the way government works," Clinton said, announcing he was shutting down the 24-year-old Council on Environmental Quality and replacing it with the new White House office on environmental policy.
The president said he also would press Congress to make the Environmental Protection Agency a Cabinet department.
"The days of photo-op environmentalism are over," Clinton said.
"We must move in a new direction to recognize that protecting the environment means strengthening the economy and creating new jobs for Americans," the president added. He named Kathleen McGinty, a 29-year-old lawyer who has been Gore's chief environmental adviser, to run the new office.
Environmental groups praised Clinton's move as an elevation of environmental issues to a higher profile.
"For too long, the [council] has been like a distant cousin relegated to the backwaters of policymaking, but now the Clinton administration has signaled that the environment is part of the family and should come home," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the Defenders of Wildlife.
Clinton is scheduled to move ahead with other restructuring moves today to fulfill his promise to reduce White House staff and spending by 25 percent. It's a delicate juggling act as he tries to slim down the White House and still find jobs for campaign workers.
While eliminating some jobs, such as in the White House correspondence office, Clinton is seeking money from Congress to create positions elsewhere.
White House communications director George Stephanopoulos said there would be a temporary job increase in the White House counsel's office and personnel office because of the need to hire and screen employees for hundreds of vacancies. He said Clinton would meet his goal for staff reductions by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
At a brief news conference, Gore said environmental issues too often have been treated as an afterthought following decisions on economic, domestic and foreign policy.
"This new framework will ensure that environmental considerations are brought to bear at the earliest stages in the development of every policy that the president and his staff and Cabinet look at," Gore said.
Clinton said McGinty will participate in the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, the Domestic Policy Council and other agencies.
The Council on Environmental Quality was charged with providing the nation with a comprehensive view of environmental conditions and trends. Under President Bush, its recommendations were given less priority than those of the business-oriented Council on Economic Competitiveness, according to critics.