The First Administrator

While the EPA plan underwent Congressional scrutiny, practical preparations proceeded at the Office of Management and Budget. A nine-man Task Force on EPA Organization met through summer and fall 1970 to design the structure of the new institution. By early October, the participating government Departments informed their employees of the transfer of functions and personnel entailed in establishing the new agency. Finally, on November 6, 1970, President Nixon amounted his intention to nominate William D. Ruckelshaus to be the first Administrator. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, the 38-year-old Indianan had already compiled an impressive record of government service. At the age of 28 he was appointed a Deputy State Attorney General and in that capacity drafted the Indiana Air Pollution Control Act of 1963. In 1967, Ruckelshaus sought elective office and not only won a Republican seat in the state House of Representatives, but also became the first person to be named Majority Leader during his initial term. A rising political star, he was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate, but lost in the general election. At the time of his selection to head EPA, Ruckelshaus was serving in the Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

During his confirmation hearings on December 1 and 2, Ruckelshaus received a warm reception from the Senate Committee on Public Works. His first words to the Senators not only laid the basis for his term as Administrator, but for the future of the Agency itself.

"I think that enforcement is a very important function of this new Agency. Obviously, if we are to make progress in pollution abatement, we must have a firm enforcement policy at the federal level. That does not mean that this policy will be unfair, that it will not be evenhanded, but it does mean that it will be firm.... [A]s far as I view the mission of this Agency and my mission as its proposed Administrator, it is to be as forceful as the laws that Congress has provided, and to present...firm support [for] enforcement [by] the States."

After taking the Oath of Office on December 4, 1970 the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officially welcomed his staff, transferred just two days before from their former agencies and departments. William Ruckelshaus appealed to their zeal and sense of mission as they joined the newest independent federal agency, asking them to "keep moving ahead with the valuable work which is already underway [and] give us your ideas, your hard work and support in building a new and effective organization."

END: Origins of the EPA

Photo Credits:
Cover, NASA, Apollo 16 Earth-Moon round trip
All others, EPA Historical photographs

designed by Ron Farrah, EPA

The First Administrator

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