Mike Leavitt, EPA’s new administrator, made his first public statement since he took the job yesterday. It was a bland speech, somewhat rambling, peppered with dull anecdotes as strained vehicles for palliative sound bites intended to appeal to both sides of the environmental debate. But one thing Leavitt said interested me. He spoke of the importance of “collaboration” in addressing environmental issues. But, he assured his audience “[c]ollaboration is not code for compromise. It is the pursuit of what’s possible checked only by the realities of what is workable.”
Well, that’s a nice sound bite, no question. But is it true? The proof, as they say, is in the policy, and this EPA’s new proposal on mercury control is a clear example of compromise.