    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [February 8, 1993]
    [Pages 62-63]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the Creation of the White House Office on
    Environmental Policy
    February 8, 1993

        Good morning. I want to make a statement this morning and then turn
    the microphone over to the Vice President to discuss the environmental
    issues. And then he will take questions on the matter.
        Today I am announcing the creation of a White House Office on
    Environmental Policy, keeping a commitment that both the Vice President
    and I made to the American people to bring new leadership and new energy
    to these issues. And I am today reinforcing my intention to work with
    the Congress for legislation that will make the Environmental Protection
    Agency a part of my Cabinet.
        We face urgent environmental and economic challenges that demand a
    new way of thinking and a new way of organizing our efforts here in the
    White House and in the National Government. This Office represents in
    action our commitment to confront these challenges in a new, more
    effective way, recognizing the connection between environmental
    protection and economic growth and our responsibility to provide real
    leadership on global environmental issues.
        We must move in a new direction to recognize that protecting the
    environment means strengthening the economy and creating new jobs for
    Americans. And we must be ready to take advantage of the absolutely
    enormous business opportunities that exist both here and around the
    world for new environmental technologies that protect the environment
    and increase business profits and jobs.
        The days of photo-op environmentalism are over. The Competitiveness
    Council is closed and so is the back door the polluters used to be able
    to use to get out from under our laws. This Office represents our
    commitment to the environment and to a new, more efficient and effective
    way to craft policies that work, policies that recognize that protecting
    the environment, strengthening the economy, promoting the global
    environment, and dealing with global environmental problems have all too
    often been relegated to the bottom of the agenda. These are policies
    that will renew for the American people a genuine commitment to their
    health, their safety, and their jobs.
        This Office will be responsible for coordinating environmental
    policy. The Director of the Office will participate in the National
    Security Council, the National Economic Council, and

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    the Domestic Policy Council and will work with all the relevant
    agencies. I am pleased to announce today that Kathleen McGinty will lead
    this Office and its efforts.
        We are today changing the way Government works, replacing the
    Council on Environmental Quality with a new office that will have
    broader influence and a more effective and focused mandate to coordinate
    environmental policy. The American people look to us to make Government
    work better and more efficiently and more effectively for them. We are
    taking an important step in that direction today. The American people,
    our economy, and our environment will benefit as a result of this.
        And I'd like to say a special word of thanks to Vice President Gore
    for the work that he has done on this since the election. We have been
    working hard now for more than 2 months to determine exactly how we
    ought to reorganize our environmental efforts and how we could integrate
    the environment, for the first time really, into national security
    policy, national economic policy, and other domestic policies. I think
    we've taken a long step in that direction. I thank the Vice President
    for his leadership, and I turn the microphone over to him.

    Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the White
    House.