Nominee for EPA post withdraws under fire

WASHINGTON -- With his nomination hopelessly blocked, former Ohio environmental official Donald Schregardus on Monday withdrew his name from consideration to head the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement office.

Schregardus, a former EPA regional official and director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, drew sharp criticism from Democrats and environmental groups concerned about Bush administration efforts to weaken EPA's enforcement operations.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Jeffords ordered an extensive reexamination of Schregardus' record following this month's release of a preliminary EPA report highly critical of Ohio's environmental agency during Schregardus' eight-year tenure as director.

Environmentalists said the administration had been careless in selecting Schregardus for the important enforcement post by overlooking numerous signs of his troubled stewardship in Ohio.