New head of Great Lakes EPA office has her critics Hall of Presidents back in business
CHICAGO — Former Wisconsin regulator Cathy Stepp was named Tuesday as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Chicago, drawing praise from business groups and criticism from environmental activists fearful she will weaken enforcement of rules protecting the Great Lakes and air quality in the Upper Midwest.
Stepp previously served six years as director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and was a Republican state senator from 2003-07. As head of EPA’s Region 5, she will oversee operations in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
“Cathy Stepp’s experience working as a statewide cabinet official, elected official and small-business owner will bring a fresh perspective to EPA as we look to implement President Trump’s agenda,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said.
Henry Henderson, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Midwest director, said Stepp’s record “fits nicely with the lax mode of enforcement favored by the Trump administration.”
A former homebuilder with no scientific background, Stepp once oversaw a reorganization of Wisconsin’s resources department that included staffing cuts in its science and research bureau. The number of enforcement cases fell sharply, and the department replaced some passages on its website describing humans as partly responsible for climate change, saying instead that scientists were debating the matter. woman who had called for help during a domestic dispute.
Fort Worth police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said he fired Sgt. Kenneth Pierce on Monday, saying the 22-year police veteran became impatient and needlessly initiated the physical confrontation with the woman, who the police department has not named. Fitzgerald released a video from the body camera of the rookie officer, Maria Bayona, that he said clearly shows Pierce’s behavior was “absolutely unacceptable.”
An attorney for Pierce, Terry Daffron, and union officials with the Fort Worth Police Officers’ Association called Pierce’s firing a mistake, saying the call details sent to officers said there was a person with a weapon and noted that the woman had a knife.
The woman told police there was a knife in her purse and directs officers to her purse.
Pierce is appealing.