William K. Reilly
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William Kane Reilly (born January 26, 1940) was
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environ ...
under
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
George H. W. Bush. He has served as president of
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and on many boards of directors. In 2010, he was appointed by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
co-chair of the
National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling The National Commission on the BP ''Deepwater Horizon'' Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is "tasked with providing recommend ...
to investigate the oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
.


Early life, military service and education

Born on January 26, 1940, in Decatur, Illinois, into a conservative, deeply religious family, Reilly was strongly influenced by his father, a highway construction steel merchant. Reilly's father moved his family from Illinois to South Texas when Reilly was 10. From the
Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...
, the Reillys moved to
Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
, where he finished high school at Durfee High School. He subsequently attended
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, where he earned an A.B. in history. During his Yale years, Reilly took advantage of the junior year abroad program to study in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Reilly then earned a
LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from Harvard Law School, completing a thesis on land reform in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. After law school, Reilly entered the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
and served a tour of duty during 1966 and 1967 as a captain in Europe with an intelligence unit planning for the evacuation of U.S. troops from France. During that time, he married Elizabeth "Libbie" Buxton. After completing military service, Reilly returned to school and received a master's degree in
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.


Early career

In 1968, fresh from planning school and a four-month project in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, Reilly went to work for Urban America, Inc., where he worked to integrate century-old concerns for urban
beautification Beautification is the process of making visual improvements to a town, city, or urban area. This most often involves planting trees, shrubbery, and other greenery, but frequently also includes adding decorative or historic-style street lights and ...
, an issue which had been brought to the forefront of the American conscience by the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
- concerns which would grow into the
environmental justice movement Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...
which he dealt with when he was at the EPA. In 1970, during the
Nixon Administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
, Reilly became a senior staff member of the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
's
Council on Environmental Quality The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the developme ...
(CEQ) under Russell Train, who would later become the second EPA Administrator in 1972. Reilly moved from CEQ to become President of The Conservation Foundation, which merged with
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
(WWF) in 1985. After the merger, he served as President of World Wildlife Fund until taking over as administrator at the EPA in 1989.


EPA Administrator

During his time at EPA, Reilly championed integration of the nation's environmental and economic agendas and sought to strengthen the role of science at EPA. He put priority on elevating attention to the protection and restoration of natural systems, preventing pollution before it is generated, enforcing environmental laws aggressively, and fostering such innovative cleanup technologies as bioremediation. He also led the Agency in assessing and advancing the concerns of the emerging environmental justice movement. Reilly played a pivotal role in crafting and securing passage of a new Clean Air bill, enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in November 1990. Breaking a 10-year stalemate in reauthorizing the Clean Air Act, this law created the first full-scale, fully operational cap-and-trade system as an innovative, market-oriented mechanism to cut sulfur dioxide pollution in half at a time when acid rain was a major environmental problem. The 1990 amendments to the Act also addressed ozone depletion, established a national permits program for stationary emitting sources, promoted the use of
alternative fuels Alternative fuel, known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels like; ''fossil fuels'' (petroleum (oil), coal, and natural gas), as well as nuclear materi ...
, required major reductions in air toxic emissions, and laid out realistic timetables and commitments to assure steady progress in reducing ozone in cities that have not yet attained air quality standards while increasing EPA's enforcement authority. While at EPA, Reilly elevated attention to restoring the health of natural systems, including the
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
, the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
, the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
, and other water bodies. Federal funding for targeted, high-priority geographic areas jumped from $40 million to over $700 million. He also sought to give impetus to the President's policy of "no net loss" of wetlands. During his tenure, EPA vetoed three water resource projects for adverse environmental impacts, including the proposed Two Forks dam in Colorado, a decision which prompted fundamental changes in water policy in the West. Reilly made pollution prevention a priority, negotiating voluntary agreements with industry to reduce toxic emissions and promote energy conservation, and encouraging recycling and waste reduction. Under his direction, the Agency achieved record levels in criminal and civil enforcement actions, and collected more in fines and penalties in his four years than in the Agency's previous 18-year history. EPA secured over $1 billion annually in private party contributions to Superfund cleanups, a three-fold increase over 1988; over four years, the amount collected accounted for three quarters of all such contributions since the Superfund program began. During Reilly's final year at EPA the Agency completed cleanup at a Superfund site every five days. Reilly also played a leading role in asserting environmental priorities in U.S. foreign policy. He headed the U.S. delegation to the
Earth Summit The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Su ...
in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. At his direction, EPA did some of the seminal research on greenhouse gas reductions, which helped pave the way for a treaty on climate change, calling for national action plans, periodic scientific and economic reassessments, and assistance to developing countries. He was also prominent in advancing forest conservation on an international scale, culminating in a declaration of principles at the Rio Summit. In 1990, Reilly represented President Bush at the opening of the Eastern and Central European Regional Environment Center proposed by the President during his 1989 visit to Budapest (EPA was instrumental in setting up the Cen¬ter and developing its program); negotiated on behalf of the United States, first in London in 1990, later in Copenhagen in 1992, revisions to the
Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 September 1987, and entered into force o ...
phasing out CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals; and worked with the Secretary of State and other Cabinet officials on a range of bilateral and multilateral issues involving Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the so-called G-7 industrialized democracies, and other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Reilly accompanied President Bush to the 1989 Paris Economic Summit, the first environment minister to accompany a head of state to this annual meeting. At President Bush's request he led a mission to Kuwait at the conclusion of the war to assess the environmental and health effects of the burning oil fields, and then reported to the Congress on his findings. He also became the first EPA Administrator to take part in the annual bi-national Cabinet meetings with Mexico, and played a pivotal role in assuring that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) factored in environmental concerns. Reilly testified before Congress in support of NAFTA seven times.


Later career

After leaving EPA in January 1993, Reilly returned to World Wildlife Fund. Later that year, he and his wife moved to the Bay area in California when Reilly accepted the position of Payne Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Reilly is founding partner of Aqua International Partners, L.P., a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies in the water sector in developing countries. AIP was formed in 1997 and is based in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. Reilly is a director of ConocoPhillips,
Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flo ...
, and the
Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death ...
. He also serves as chairman of the board of World Wildlife Fund, co-chair of the Energy Project formed by the
Bipartisan Policy Center The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that promotes bipartisanship. The organization aims to combine ideas from both the Republican and Democratic parties to address challenges in the U.S. BPC focuses on is ...
, and chair of the Advisory Board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. He previously served as a director of DuPont and the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...
. He is also a member of Washington D.C. based Western Hemisphere think tank, the Inter-American Dialogue. Reilly is an advisor to
TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth c ...
, an international investment firm. He was a key player in the leveraged buyout by TPG and
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
(KKR) of Texas Utilities (TXU, now
Energy Future Holdings Corporation Energy Future Holdings Corporation is an electric utility company headquartered in Energy Plaza in Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The majority of the company's power generation is through coal and nuclear power plants. From 1998 to 2007 ...
) in February 2007, instrumental in negotiating with TXU a reduction in the number of coal-fired power plants to be constructed from 11 to 3. He serves as chairman of the Sustainable Energy Advisory Board for the company. In 2012, President Obama appointed Reilly to the newly formed Global Development Council, the mission of which is to advise the president on future directions for U.S. foreign assistance. In 2013, the Center for Environmental Policy at American University established the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership to honor Reilly as "one of the most respected environmental leaders in the nation". Despite his history as a Republican, he endorsed
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
for President in 2016. In 2020, he said he would support Joe Biden for President, and no longer considered himself a Republican. "This is not a party of principle at the national level so I left it. I am now an Independent. It’s a very discouraging time for someone who was part of the party for so long," he said.


Commission on BP oil spill

In May 2010, Reilly was appointed co-chair of the body formed to study the British Petroleum
Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...
and related issues of
offshore drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...
, with former
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham, a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, as the other co-chair. President Obama met with the co-chairs for the first time June 1. At that time, the president was quoted as saying of the co-chairs: "They have my full support to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor." Appearing on the
Diane Rehm Show ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nat ...
the same day, congressman
Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representa ...
( D- MA) responded to the suggestion that an
oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...
representative be appointed to the commission by pointing to
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Reilly's position with Conoco. The suggestion had been forwarded by
John Breaux John Berlinger Breaux (; born March 1, 1944) is an American lobbyist, attorney, and retired politician who was a member of the United States Senate from Louisiana from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives f ...
, former Democratic U.S. senator from
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and lobbyist more recently for among others
Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,0 ...
."Update on Gulf Oil Spill"
Diane Rehm Show, June 1, 2010. Citation is to audio or to transcript (available by order) only. Link updated 2010-07-08.
Markey also opined that
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
ought to give
subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
power to the commission. In October 2011, Reilly appeared with Graham at
Climate One ''Climate One'' is a weekly podcast and radio program, aired on more than 60 public radio stations around the U.S. A special project of The Commonwealth Club of California, Climate One is based in San Francisco, California. Through its podcast, ...
to discuss problems with industry practices, domestic and international regulatory oversight including coordination with Mexican and Cuban deep-water drilling industries, and recommendations on what will power the U.S. economy while it transitions to cleaner energy. The
Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...
in San Francisco, which had hosted the Climate One event, broadcast the discussion on public radio nationally in early December.


Awards

In November, 2011, Reilly received the
Vincent Scully Prize The Vincent Scully Prize was established in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design. Created by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., the award first honored ...
at the National Building Museum for "his commitment to smart environmental planning, comprehensive land use and preservation of open space".


Personal life

Reilly is married to the former Elizabeth Bennett "Libbie" Buxton. They have two daughters, Katherine Buxton and Margaret Mahalah Reilly.


References


External links


U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) History -> EPA Administrators -> William K. Reilly

Cleaning the Air We Breathe: A Half Century of Progress
September 2016—EPA Alumni Association * Reflections on US Environmental Policy: An Interview with William K. Reilly
VideoTranscript
€”William Reilly discusses his experiences as EPA Administrator—EPA Alumni Association * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, William K. 1940 births Administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni DuPont people George H. W. Bush administration personnel Harvard Law School alumni Illinois Republicans Living people People from Decatur, Illinois People from Fall River, Massachusetts United States Army officers Yale University alumni B.M.C. Durfee High School alumni Members of the Inter-American Dialogue