WASHINGTON — President Bush reached into the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday and nominated its acting administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, to head the office where he has worked for 24 years.
Johnson, 53, a biologist and pathologist, would be the first scientist and first career EPA employee to head the agency, which was established in 1970 as the environmental movement took hold across the U.S.
Johnson must be confirmed by the Senate and his selection drew initial support from some senators with strong environmental records, as well as others who closely follow such issues.
But skeptics questioned whether Johnson would stand up to White House officials, who critics say favor industries' needs over protection of the nation's air, water and land.
With Johnson at his side in the White House Roosevelt Room, Bush said, "He knows the EPA from the ground up, and has a passion for its mission -- to protect the health of our citizens, and to guarantee the quality of our air, water and land for generations to come."
"He is an impressive pick," said Kenneth Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research group in Washington.
"Steve is a straight-shooter who has a reputation for being fair, paying close attention to the science and calling things as he sees them."
Cook said such characteristics had "not been a hallmark of this administration" in its environmental policy.
A less positive assessment of Johnson came from a former senior EPA official who worked with him throughout the eight years of the Clinton administration.
"He's not going to push back," said the former official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he continued to have dealings with the agency. "He's not ideological. He has no agenda of his own. They chose him to lower the profile of the agency."
The former official noted that several high-ranking EPA administrators have ties to Vice President Dick Cheney's office and to Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have sought to relax the government's regulatory grip.
He predicted that the direction the agency took would depend largely on whether Johnson or these other EPA administrators gained the upper hand.
Johnson would replace Michael Leavitt, the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Leavitt, former governor of Utah, served in the EPA post for little more than a year. He succeeded Bush's first pick for the job, Christie Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, who resigned.
