Carol Browner

Chair of EPA

(Played by Jeremiah Zins)

OCCUPATION: Public Official, Attorney

PAST POSITIONS:

Secretary of the Department of Environmental Regulation

for the State of Florida, 1991- 1992

Legislative Director for Senator Al Gore (D- TN),

1989- 1991

Counsel, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources, 1989

Chief Legislative Aide on environmental issues for Senator

Lawton Chiles (D- FL), 1986- 1989

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of Florida,

1977

Law degree, University of Florida, 1979

PERSONAL: Born December 16, 1955

Married, one child

Carol M. Browner has headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since

1993. Under her lead, EPA has accelerated the clean- up of toxic waste sites and

abandoned urban properties, has improved air quality, and has begun to administer a

new Safe Drinking Water Act and a new food safety law. Browner's priority has

been to prevent pollution - - not wait to clean it up.

Browner is working to "reinvent" environmental protection, to achieve the very best

public health and environmental protection for the least cost. In 1994, she announced

the Common Sense Initiative, a new industry- by- industry approach to environmental

regulation that moves beyond the old piecemeal approach that dealt with air, water,

and land pollution, one at a time. In 1995, President Clinton, Vice President Gore

and Browner announced a package of 25 regulatory reforms to cut paperwork and

simplify environmental rules.

Browner ended decades of "water wars" by negotiating water quality standards for

San Francisco Bay. She established broad protection for the Great Lakes. She took

enforcement action against a record number of polluters - - while also offering a new

level of compliance assistance to businesses.

As head of EPA, Browner issued tough new controls over hazardous waste

incinerators, and under the community right- to- know law, she expanded the Toxic

Release Inventory requiring industry to inform the public of toxic emissions. She also

issued the Chemical Manufacturing Rule, which will reduce smog- producing

chemicals by one million tons per year.

Browner came to the Environmental Protection Agency after having compiled an

outstanding record on environmental issues as chief environmental officer for the state

of Florida. As director of Florida's Department of Environmental Regulation,

Browner responded to such diverse issues as population growth and residential

development, wetland protection, hazardous waste clean- up and bureaucratic

inflexibility. Her tenure was marked by a decrease in regulatory burden, an increase in

community involvement, and the substitution of dialogue and incentives for

confrontation and legislation. Called "a new type of environmentalist" by The New

York Times, Browner views economic development and environmental protection as

complementary goals.

Browner has a solid background in both the managerial and legislative aspects of

environmental regulation. Prior to assuming the top position at Florida's Department

of Environmental Regulation, she was legislative director for then- Senator Al Gore,

and counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.