Event Summary
Carol Browner, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spent a week in March as a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics, meeting with faculty and students from the Environment and Natural Resources Program. At a special seminar, she addressed environmental concerns for the coming decade and emphasized the need for good science, a level of protection for public health, and an informed and engaged public.
Browner noted that policymakers must make the best informed decisions with the information available, recognizing that when science brings forth new analysis, those decisions may have to be revised. In the case of the environment, she said, policymakers should not wait for years of data to be available, because of the grave nature of possible consequences.
Browner also praised the ingenuity of American industry to rise to the challenges of the standards set for them to meet. An engaged public and business sector are fundamental to the success of environmental initiatives, she said.
Pointing to the rising interest among Americans in environmental issues, she noted that when she came to office, the EPA Website received only half a million hits per month; by the time she left it was receiving 100 million hits per month.
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(Jo-Ann Mahoney contributed to this article.)