William Reilly in the United States

Reilly, William K. in Environmental Law

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during George Bush’s administration.

Reilly’s appointment was lauded because he was well-known as an environmentalist. Reilly was head of the Conservation Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund when he was appointed to the EPA. Although he advocated a massive reorganization of the agency, that never materialized. His policies did accelerate the process of cleaning up hazardous waste sites, however, and one of his major goals was pollution prevention.

Bush’s campaign had stressed his commitment to the environment, and Reilly’s appointment was a symbol of that commitment. But Bush’s approach to environmental regulation was not aggressive, despite his appointment of Reilly. Continuing the Ronald Reagan administration’s distrust of regulations, Bush placed Dan Quayle at the head of the Council for Competitiveness, which oversaw and diluted environmental initiatives. Reilly was not as effective as either environmentalists or Reilly himself had hoped he would be, though he did uphold the reputation of the EPA.
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.