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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release January 4, 1995

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES KATHLEEN MCGINTY AS CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL

ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

The President announced that he has recess appointed Kathleen A. McGinty to chair the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and that he has submitted her name to the Senate for confirmation. Ms. McGinty is currently Director of the White House Office on Environmental Policy.

The action comes following the September 23, 1994 White House decision to reorganize the environmental operations within the Executive Office of the President by merging the Office on Environmental Policy (OEP) with CEQ in order to give continued strength to environmental policy-making in the Administration. At that time, the President announced that he would nominate Ms. McGinty. The nomination was submitted to the 103rd Congress but the Senate did not act on the nomination before the end of the session.

The President created the Office on Environmental Policy in January, 1993, to provide environmental policy advice within the White House. Legislation was proposed during the last session of Congress, to elevate the Environmental Protection Agency to Cabinet status, and transferring the National Environmental Policy Act compliance functions to the "new" EPA.