Stephen Johnson

Steward of the Environment

On May 2, 2005, Stephen Johnson was sworn in as the 11^th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With 24 years of working with the EPA, he is the first career EPA employee to hold the office of administrator, and is also the first professional scientist to lead the agency.

In remarks he made while sharing a stage with President George W. Bush on May 23, 2005, Johnson said, “As I prepared for today, I thought about how I felt when the President asked me to lead the EPA. Even after years of Latin, German, scientific training, the only word that I could think of was, ‘wow’ -- (laughter) -- wow. (Laughter.) That's exactly how I felt then, and it's exactly how I feel today -- wow. (Laughter.)”

And so, with a blend of professionalism, experience, humility and a great sense of responsibility, Johnson works in his latest role “to provide the next generation a cleaner, safer environment in which to live, work and play.” The EPA implements and enforces the nation’s federal environmental laws and regulations; the Agency has over 18,000 employees nationwide and an annual budget of $8.6 billion.

Prior to becoming administrator, Johnson had served as the acting administrator (since January 2005), deputy administrator (from August 2004 to January 2005) and acting deputy administrator of the Agency (from July 2003 to August 2004). Previous to that, he served in a variety of other senior level positions with the EPA.

Looking back over his career of public service in environmental stewardship, a couple instances stand out to Johnson as particularly fulfilling. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the people of the EPA were among the first responders at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. “About a month later, we as a nation faced the anthrax covert, biological agent spread in a number of government buildings by people unseen and unknown,” he remembers. “Because of the expertise and professionalism of the EPA, we were able to pull together our scientists and engineers, and figure out a way the anthrax could be killed while preserving government buildings and lives. It had never been done before. There were weeks and months of a lot of hard work by a lot of people to sort that out. I was extraordinarily proud of the EPA team in all the work that we did post 9-11, cleaning up the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but it was particularly noteworthy dealing with anthrax contamination, a biological weapon the likes of which the U.S. had never dealt with.”

The second moment took place weeks ago in Philadelphia, while Johnson was touring a very poor inner city area. Through some grants the EPA had given and hard work by community leaders in the city, vacant lots that once held old washing machines, cars, trash and rodents had been cleaned up. Grass and trees had been planted so the vacant lot was almost like a park now.

“It was aesthetically pleasing, but also served as way of capturing rainwater run-off from the streets,” says Johnson. “So instead of overtaxing the sewer system with water run-off, it went into hills and valleys and trees. Managing water was a great low-technology environmental solution. What brought it home, though, is that while we were standing in the middle of the lot with TV cameras going, who should happen to ride up, but two beautiful little girls on their bicycles. I asked them what they thought, they said, ‘We just love this, we think this is wonderful, we can play and it’s so nice.’

“Why are we here?” he continues. “To deliver results. As I think about hundred s of moments that I’ve experienced, there are those really big moments like anthrax, but also, all those little moments that really make a difference like transforming vacant lots in inner city Philadelphia. Whatever I can do as administrator of EPA working with federal colleagues and universities, we can make a difference.

Johnson has worked directly with his own alma mater, Taylor University, as member of the steering committee for Taylor’s newly-instituted Masters of Environmental Sciences program. “To see a Christian university better equip those of us in this field through programs is not only welcome, but I think really essential, that we can address issues both now and in the future,” he says.