THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

Vice President Gore Swears in Kathleen A. McGinty to Chair Council

on Environmental Quality

Vice President Gore has sworn in Kathleen A. McGinty as chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

In this capacity, McGinty serves as President Clinton's senior adviser on environment and natural resources issues. The swearing- in ceremony was held Jan. 25.

As chair of CEQ, McGinty is responsible for the coordination of federal environmental policy, dispute resolution among federal agencies, the review and reform of environmental programs, and other matters under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

McGinty has been the chair of CEQ since Jan. 4, 1995, when President Clinton appointed her to the position; she was confirmed by the Senate on Dec. 22, 1995. Before that, she served as the director of the White House Office on Environmental Policy.

At the president's request, McGinty chaired the development of a series of reforms to the Superfund toxic waste clean-up program, a forest plan for the Pacific Northwest, a program to restore the Florida Everglades and an agreement to improve management of the California Bay-Delta waterway.

Before her service in the Clinton administration, McGinty served as then-Sen. Al Gore's senior legislative assistant for energy and environmental policy. In this capacity, she served as congressional staff coordinator for the Senate delegation to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in June 1992 in Rio, as well as an official member of the U.S. Delegation to Negotiations on the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Antarctic Protocol.

McGinty is a 1988 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law in New York, a 1985 graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and a 1981 graduate of St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia.