During the Bush administration, EPA also cut diesel emissions from construction vehicles and trains by 90 percent; accelerated the Energy Star program, which guides consumers to buy energy-efficient products and use them wisely; and retrofitted 40,000 school buses to reduce soot.

EPA's list of recent achievements, as supplied by the agency's press office, include launching the WaterSense program, to help households conserve water; conducting a comprehensive ecological study of the American coastline; and being named by American University one of the "Top 10 Places to Work in the Federal Government."

John O'Grady, treasurer of the national council of local EPA unions, scoffed at that last award.

"For someone who presumably came from us, inside the agency, he's seen as a wolf in sheep's clothing," O'Grady said. "Steve Johnson is the worst administrator in our history."

Misunderstood

Johnson, a devout Christian who peppers his speech with biblical references, said he is proud of the work he has done in the last four years, his critics notwithstanding.

"There are times when you feel like you are in the fiery furnace, but I also know that for me, personally, I answer to a much higher calling," Johnson said.

He rarely grants in-depth interviews, and during this tumultuous year he largely has limited media interaction to brief telephone news conferences.

But early one morning this fall, for nearly two hours, Johnson held forth from a rocking chair on the porch of the elegant, energy-efficient Colonial home that he designed himself on two acres in rural Maryland about an hour from Washington.

A government man through and through, Johnson wore a black pin-striped suit, an EPA lapel pin, and EPA cuff links. In the pocket of his crisp white shirt, he had an EPA pen.

His wife, Debbie, a homemaker, served steaming black coffee and thick crumb cakes.

"People don't really know me," he said.

He is, he said, as misunderstood as Bush.

"The president is really a very pro-environmental person," he said. "When we first talked, he used the phrase which is precisely, philosophically, where I've always been at EPA. He said, 'Steve, I want you to accelerate the pace of environmental protection while maintaining our nation's economic competitiveness.' "

In other words, the men agreed that the official mission of the EPA - "to protect human health and the environment" - should be unofficially amended to keep business interests in mind.

"I identify very clearly with that vision," Johnson said.

Bush and Johnson also share an antiregulatory background.

Consider the story Johnson told The Inquirer about why he joined the EPA:

It was 1979, and he was working at a private lab, Litton Bionetics Inc., in Washington. A mentor suggested he get a job at the EPA, learn about regulations from inside government, and then return to industry.

"Regulations were really frustrating," Johnson said, recalling his decision to join the EPA. "I wondered if they really understood what it was like to work in a laboratory."