{"id":239,"date":"2012-09-20T15:34:43","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T20:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/?p=239"},"modified":"2012-09-20T15:39:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T20:39:32","slug":"remembering-russel-train-environmental-statesman-republican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/remembering-russel-train-environmental-statesman-republican\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Russel Train, Environmental Statesman, Republican"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Jim Ball<\/p>\n

Recently the heads of 12 environmental organizations were asked to rank the\u00a0greenest Presidents<\/a>\u00a0in US history. Now, think to yourself, what\u2019s the most liberal, the most radical of the major environmental organizations? Many of you will have chosen Greenpeace for that distinction.<\/p>\n

Now, which President would you think the head of Greenpeace, Phil Radford, would choose as the greenest President? Barack Obama? Nope. Nyet. Nada.<\/p>\n

Maybe Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or LBJ or FDR? Gotta be a Democrat, right?<\/p>\n

Phil\u2019s choice for the greenest President was Richard Milhous Nixon.<\/p>\n

Yep. That guy.<\/p>\n

Phil\u2019s second choice was Gerald Ford \u2014 meaning the man who fulfilled the remainder of Nixon\u2019s second term, fulfilling his policies with Nixon\u2019s environmental point men.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
President Nixon signing the Clean Air Act on Dec. 31, 1970, flanked by his environmental dynamic duo of Bill Ruckelshaus (left) and Russell Train.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nixon had a \u201cdynamic duo\u201d on the environment: Russell Train and William Ruckelshaus. Mr. Train died Monday at the age of 92. Much of the credit for President Nixon\u2019s and President Ford\u2019s environmental achievements goes to Mr. Train. He is rightly regarded as one of the most important environmental policymakers in the history of the United States.<\/p>\n

Unlike another \u201cgreen\u201d Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt (who came out number 1 in the rankings), President Nixon wasn\u2019t motivated by a strong love for the rest of God\u2019s creation. The other part of Nixon\u2019s environmental dynamic duo, Bill Ruckelshaus, his first EPA chief,\u00a0recalled<\/a>\u00a0that not only did Nixon not care about the environment personally, \u201che wasn\u2019t [even] curious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Russell Train did care. In the early-60s he founded a conservation group and then quit his job to head the Conservation Foundation in 1965. In 1968 he led President-elect Nixon\u2019s transition committee on the environment. As part of the Administration, Mr. Train spearheaded both the creation of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) at the White House and the creation of the EPA. In the Ford Administration he became EPA Administrator.<\/p>\n

Notable environmental legislation during these Administrations included:<\/p>\n