First impressions of EPA

Q: Did the EPA job surprise you in some ways?

MR. TRAIN: That's hard to answer. I knew it was a tough job before I went there because I had seen a good deal of it. I guess I was surprised by the technical nature of what I had to deal with. I hadn't really had to grapple with technology before. As an Administrator, you really find yourself getting into the most incredible minutia, dealing with catalytic converters, or dealing with the possible de-registration of a pesticide. These were decisions an Administrator had to make by law, frequently with legal findings. That was certainly new to me.

But, I guess there wasn't an awful lot that took me by surprise. I had been around the environmental track for about three years by that time, and I knew most of the players and most of the problems. What I found at EPA was very much what I expected. However, it was a much bigger bureaucracy than I had ever had to deal with before. Even by 1973, EPA had by no means sorted out its inter-program conflicts. We all know Ruckelshaus had to struggle with that a great deal, bringing the various groups together from HEW and Interior and so forth. The Assistant Administrators were still fighting over what floor their offices should be on. I think by the time I got there, nothing much had changed in that regard (laughing). I don't think there were any great surprises.

I certainly learned that at EPA you are in the middle of controversy all the time. I probably was not accustomed to the amount of media attention I received on just about everything. That was something new to me. Of course, I found myself embroiled in all the inter-agency struggles, as well as with the White House and with OMB. I had felt some of it at CEQ and Interior, but it was more pronounced at EPA. It was the nature of the beast.

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First impressions of EPA

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