Facing unrelenting attacks by Republican lawmakers, reviled by some industry executives as unrealistically green and criticized by state regulators for a lack of flexibility, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator has every reason to feel beleaguered.

At a recent interview in her office overlooking the Potomac River, however, Browner seemed optimistic about the prospects of eventual victory over her detractors.

We have some big battles ahead, particularly with Congress, she said. But I think we’re going to win the war.

Advertisement

Already, the Clinton administration has helped slow a GOP-led drive to weaken the 1972 Clean Water Act, she said.

A proposed revision of the statute, passed by the House in May, has been widely criticized, and the Senate has postponed action on the measure.

We helped expose some of the special interests behind the environmental rollbacks in that bill, Browner said.

And the public was horrified. They don’t want reduced protection for their water. And that’s the message they are sending to Capitol Hill. We hope people up there are listening.

Administration officials also are making headway against a GOP proposal to relax federal regulations and diminish some of the rule-making powers of the EPA and other federal agencies, Browner said.

The Senate version of the so-called regulatory reform bill, drafted by Majority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., has been attacked by Browner and other administration officials.

Earlier this month, Clinton threatened to veto the bill if it passes in its current form.

Advertisement*

Browner and others have rallied Democratic opposition to the bill. So far, according to congressional aides, Dole lacks the votes needed for Senate approval. A vote is expected next week.

During her next two years as the nation’s chief environmental official, Browner’s legislative agenda includes pushing through revisions of the 1972 Clean Water Act, the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act and the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (also known as the Superfund law), which enforces the cleanup of toxic waste dumps. Reauthorization of all three laws is overdue.

In her administrative role, Browner reports progress in getting industry, environmentalists, state regulators and other parties to work together to resolve some of their differences over enforcement of federal regulations. Under her Common Sense Initiative, launched last year, representatives from the different sectors convene regularly to determine how better environmental protection can be achieved, even if it means ignoring some existing rules and creating some new ones.

The environmental debates in Congress have slowed the effort somewhat, Browner said. We hear industry people asking why they should work on compromises when they might get something they really want (in terms of exemptions from current law) in legislation on Capitol Hill. It’s very frustrating.

Nonetheless, she added, participants are making a good-faith effort to forge solutions both sides can live with.