Christine Todd Whitman on George W. Bush | Big Think

Christine Todd Whitman on George W. Bush

New videos DAILY

Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whitman blames Congress for not reaching consensus on environmental legislation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Christine Todd Whitman:

Christine Todd Whitman was sworn in as EPA Administrator on January 31, 2001, a position she held until the spring of 2003. Prior to that, Whitman served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey. Whitman was New Jersey's first female governor. She appointed New Jersey's first African American State Supreme Court Justice, its first female State Supreme Court Chief Justice and its first female Attorney General.

She is the author of the book about the GOP, IT'S MY PARTY, TOO, published in January of 2005. She served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003.

Governor Whitman is now the President of the Whitman Strategy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in government relations and environmental and energy issues. She is co-chair of the National Smart Growth Council and is a member of the governors' board of the nonprofit Oquirrh Institute, which seeks innovative solutions in environmental management and other critical public policy areas.

Governor Whitman currently serves on the Board of Directors of S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Texas Instruments, United Technologies, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Since 2006, Christie Whitman has co-chaired the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy) with Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace. CASEnergy is a national grassroots coalition which promotes the expansion of nuclear energy as part of an environmentally friendly and economically beneficial energy portfolio.She is also the President of The Whitman Strategy Group, a management consulting/strategic planning partnership servicing both government and business clients.

Governor Whitman is also Co-Chairman of the National Smart Growth Council, and serves on the Steering Committee of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey; the Leadership Council of the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition; the Governing Board of the Oquirrh Institute; and as a member of the board of the New America Foundation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT:

Question: Did the Bush Administration accomplish anything for the environment?

Christine Todd Whitman: Well, we start with the last piece of important legislation that was passed relative to the environment, which was the Brownfields Revitalization Act in 2001, 2002. I guess it actually got through.

Unfortunately, Congress has not been able to come to agreement on any other major piece of environmental legislation. And not that we’ve needed to stop protecting our environment but they just can’t get the political consensus that we’ve had.

And then you look at the non-road diesel rule which is reducing the emissions from non-road diesel engines, tractors, and backhoes by 95%. And those are a bigger threat to human health and the environment than diesel buses and trucks on the roads.

You look at the water shed approach to managing water pollution because non point source pollution from actions that all of us do on our everyday lives are more important, more difficult now to deal with than the point source pollution.

There are a host of things that have been done and been done well and, of course, preserving one of the largest areas of the water of Hawaii is a major accomplishment, setting that aside. And all environmental groups would admit that that’s a very good, a very strong statement and a very good position to have taken.