Environmental groups and Senators are bracing for what is likely to be a contentious confirmation hearing next month. When the Senate reconvenes in September, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) plans on holding a confirmation hearing for Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, designated by President Bush to become administrator of the Environment Protection Agency.

Presidential aspirants Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut) and Sen. Bob Graham (D-Florida), both members of the Senate EPW Committee, plan to leave the campaign trail briefly to attend the nomination hearing. Lieberman recently sent a letter to Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member James Jeffords (I-Vermont), telling them he is “concerned that Governor Leavitt has not exhibited a clear dedication to the enforcement of existing environmental laws.” A Graham spokeswoman commented that the Senator is looking “forward to talking to Governor Leavitt about his record.” Other EPW Democrats such as Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Hillary Clinton (D-New York) have been critical of the President’s stewardship of the environment and will likely engage in tough questioning of Leavitt.

Ranking Member James Jeffords said that he will use the nomination hearing to address institutional problems in the EPA. “One area I will explore is how we can work together to ease the backlog of information requests that my committee has had pending with the EPA for far too long,” Jeffords said.

Mike Cantanzaro, a spokesman for Senator Inhofe, is expecting the nomination hearing to be arduous, but feels that ultimately the nomination will clear the Senate. “We are fully anticipating this is going to be a proxy fight about Bush’s environmental record”, said Cantanzaro. “But that is not going to derail this nomination because Mike Leavitt has a solid record on environmental protection.”

Environmental groups are also weighing in on Bush’s nomination. Mark Longabaugh, a spokesman for the League of Conservation Voters, promised that his organization will “research Leavitt’s record.” Longabaugh added “from our point of view this guy (Gov. Leavitt) gives every indication of enthusiastically following a terrible set of policies pursued by the Bush administration, and therefore we are going to make it a campaign issue next year.” Ed Hopkins with the Sierra Club said his organization will provide committee members with information on the environmental record of Governor Leavitt. Other environmental groups have asked the Utah State Democratic Party to help them mount an opposition campaign to Governor Leavitt’s nomination. Meg Holbrook, chairwoman of the Utah State Democratic Party, predicted that Gov. Leavitt “is going to have scrutiny like you never thought about before.”