An Exit of Necessity, with Dignity

By Maureen Dowd

Burford leaves, but big problems linger for EPA on the Hill

In the end, Anne Burford was surrounded. White House aides were a solid Greek chorus subtly pressuring a recalcitrant President Reagan to let go his besieged Environmental Protection Agency chief. They convinced him that she was a roadblock to settling the dispute with Congress and restoring credibility and employee morale at the battered EPA. Burford's mentor in the Administration, Interior Secretary James Watt, advised her that her support was eroding and that she should consider quitting. Finally, shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, she received a call from Reagan Friend Joseph Coors, a Colorado brewery mogul, who had been her faithful booster. Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese had asked Coors to break the news. Gently, Coors told Burford that the President, though with great reluctance, would accept her resignation. She immediately called Meese and said she wanted to meet with Reagan that afternoon.

Burford, known by colleagues as the Ice Queen and once described in her home state of Colorado as so tough "she could kick a bear to death with her bare feet," succumbed with quiet dignity. Her celebrated feistiness had faded under the emotional strain of seeing her agency tarred by allegations ranging from perjury and conflict of interest by her top aides, to mismanagement and political favoritism. She also faced a congressional contempt citation for invoking, on Reagan's orders, Executive privilege to withhold subpoenaed EPA documents from House subcommittees. "She had come apart at the seams personally in the past two weeks," said one White House aide. "She was scared to death about going before Congress again."

Burford conceded that the pressure was overwhelming. "It's killing me," she said tearfully. "I can't stand there and watch that agency brought to its knees." New charges had surfaced only a few hours before her resignation. Two Democratic members of Congress released EPA documents showing that Burford was warned by the agency's inspector general nearly a year ago of damaging evidence of conflict of interest against her friend and influential aide, James W. Sanderson, but did not take any action.

Reagan and Burford exchanged official letters at the White House during a bittersweet 20-minute meeting attended by Meese, Watt and Burford's new husband, Robert, a Watt aide. Reagan said he would give Burford a part-time job on a federal board or commission. At a press conference Thursday in Washington, she said: "I resigned because I feel I had become the issue, and I was very concerned that the agency and the many fine people who work there should be allowed to carry on their work."

Although she was furious at Reagan's aides, who, she complained to associates, did not have the courage to ask her to quit, Burford remained steadfastly loyal to the President. "I love that guy," she said, "and I'd be proud to serve him any place." The affection was mutual. Notoriously reluctant to cut loose loyal aides in distress, Reagan continued to insist in his press conference on Friday that Burford was a martyr hounded to resign by environmental activists and a scandal-hungry press. He called her "a far bigger person than those who have been sniping at her with unfounded charges ... I wonder how they manage to look at themselves in the mirror in the morning." He lashed out at the Administration's environmental critics, sarcastically saying they would not be happy "until the White House looks like a bird's nest."

The White House also eased out of its other major EPA problem on Wednesday. Presidential Aide James Baker and Democratic Congressman John Dingell, who heads one of half a dozen congressional panels probing the EPA, negotiated what may be the last deal necessary on the subpoenaed documents. A capitulation on the Executive privilege issue, the agreement offers Congress free access to EPA files.

Reagan tapped John Hernandez, the EPA's deputy chief, as acting administrator and immediately began the search for a successor with extensive Government experience and bipartisan appeal. The selection may prove as important as Burford's resignation. "Her departure isn't the issue," says Democratic Congressman Mike Synar. "The management and honesty of the EPA are the issues." Democrats will have ample opportunity to score further political points. Hearings were scheduled to begin this week in Congress on tightening up the laws governing waste disposal. The scandal's repercussions are likely to affect other environmental legislation, spurring Congress to reauthorize a passel of environmental measures that have lapsed and strengthen clean-air-and-water laws this session. Says Republican Senator John Chafee, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee: "This Administration will not want to be portrayed as lukewarm on the environment any more. That is the positive fallout."

The negative fallout is that the controversy may reinforce an unflattering perception of Reagan as a stubborn, isolated

President controlled by his staff. Reagan aides acknowledge that the White House seriously underestimated the intensity of public feeling about the environment, especially the concern about poisonous-waste disposal. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released March 5 showed that a majority of Americans believe the President would rather protect polluters than clean up the environment, and found the public nearly as critical of Reagan as of Burford. Though his aides say Reagan's environmental policy will not shift direction with a change at the top of EPA, they hope to convince the public that the Administration is serious about cleaning up toxic wastes. In a way Burford's departure raises the stakes. "Anne was taking the heat for Ronald Reagan's environmental policy," said one senior aide. "Now the heat has been transferred to Ronald Reagan." --By Maureen Dowd. Reported by Jay Branegan and Douglas Brew/Washington

With reporting by Jay Branegan and Douglas Brew/Washington This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.