EPA Names Lynn Buhl Region 5 Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on July 21 announced the appointment of Lynn Buhl to serve as regional administrator for EPA Region 5, which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Bharat Mathur, EPA's acting regional administrator since May, will resume his position as deputy regional administrator.
"As an attorney and public servant for over 20 years, Lynn brings both leadership and experience in environmental regulation and enforcement to this position," said Johnson. "EPA is lucky to have Lynn, and I would like to thank Bharat for his continued service to the agency and the nation."
Since September 2006, Buhl has served as deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at EPA headquarters, where she advised the administrator on a wide range of environmental enforcement issues.
Previously, Buhl served as acting secretary of Maryland's Department of the Environment and deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. During her years of service in Maryland, she provided policy advice to Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. and was instrumental in reforming Maryland's contaminated site cleanup program.
She also has worked at Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality, Daimler Chrysler Corporation, and in EPA's Region 5 office as an assistant regional counsel.
A native of Missouri, Buhl holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, and a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law.
Mary Gade, the former regional administrator of Region 5, reportedly was asked to resign or be fired by June 1.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Gade believed her forced resignation was due to her efforts to push Dow Chemical Company to clean up dioxin contamination in Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron stemming from its Midland, Mich., plant.