The Other Voice From EPA: The Role of the Headquarters Professionals' Union

February 1990
Citation:
20
ELR 10057
Issue
2
Author
J.W. Hirzy

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a creature of the 1960s' social activism and environmental awakening. The national mood at the time demanded environmental improvement. The government responded by promising more environmentally sensitive policies, such as those articulated in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA):

The purposes of this Act are: To declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation . . .1

J. William Hirzy is President-Elect of Local 2050 of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union of professional employees at the Environmental Protection Agency. He is on the staff of EPA's Office of Toxic Substances as a senior scientist. He holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of Missouri, and did research and environmental management work for Monsanto Company for 19 years before joining EPA in 1981.

The ideas expressed here, as well as the principles on which the union was founded and is operated, are equally attributable to local officers Bob Carton (President, and an environmental scientist), William Coniglio (Past President, and a biologist), and Rufus Morison (Senior Vice President, and an ecologist).

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The Other Voice From EPA: The Role of the Headquarters Professionals' Union

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