[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.