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An Eroding Mission at EPA
The Bush administration has weakened the agency charged with safeguarding health and the environment.
Johnson insists that he is no ideologue, that he makes his decisions based on law and science independent of White House political pressure.
If that's true, said the former Republican administrators, it's been tough to see.
William Ruckelshaus, who served twice as administrator, once for Richard M. Nixon and once for Ronald Reagan, said he warned Johnson to be prepared to fight antiregulatory advocates who work in every Republican White House.
"It's very unpleasant, but if you take the job, you've got to be ready to struggle to do the right thing," Ruckelshaus said. "It's not my impression that he enjoys that."
Ruckelshaus said Johnson's reversal on climate change was especially revealing. Johnson's rationale for rescinding the White House e-mail - suggesting that a new energy law suddenly addressed part of the problem - was weak, he said.
"That was an excuse, not a reason," he said.
Whitman said Johnson was handicapped because he did not have the political clout other administrators brought to the job.
"I think he's a very decent guy, and I'd hate to see his reputation questioned because of decisions that were made by others, where he was a loyal soldier," she said.
Yet the climate-change episode was a classic example of how political interference can benefit industry, she said.
"You see it again and again," Whitman said. "When something doesn't get done, the people you are trying to regulate are better off."
A moral compass
Johnson shrugs off such criticism. He believes in the Bush agenda and, like his boss, said his resolve is fueled by his deep Christian beliefs.
It is a faith he developed early in life. Johnson's strongest association outside the EPA is his relationship with his alma mater, Taylor University, one of the nation's oldest evangelical colleges. He met his wife at Taylor, and all three of his children are graduates.
"I liked the grounding, the moral compass, that Taylor offered," he said.
Taylor is in Upland, Ind., about 75 miles northeast of Indianapolis. As one enters the main campus, a bell tower with twin spires rises into view.
One spire stands for faith, the other for reason. They are joined at the top.
"We think that's a good symbolic representation," said Taylor president Eugene Habecker. "Reason and faith need not be mutually exclusive, and that goes to the very heart of a Taylor education. . . . We are so pleased it influenced Administrator Johnson."
Johnson majored in biology. At Taylor, that includes discussion of creationism.
Taylor biology professor Timothy Burkholder, who was Johnson's adviser, said, "We would adhere to the view that God is the creator of all things and in charge of our lives, and I think Steve recognizes that and did from the beginning."
Asked about this, Johnson declined to express his views on the evolution-creation question.
