Lynn Schenkman

Washington, D.C. -- President George W. Bush has named an acting administrator and acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Marianne Lamont Horinko, who currently serves as assistant administrator of the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, will be the acting administrator and Stephen Johnson, currently the assistant administrator in charge of the EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, will be the acting deputy administrator. Both appointments are temporary, and Horinko and Johnson take their new posts July 12.

Horinko has played key roles in environmental safeguarding measures following the Sept. 11. She supervised the health-risk assessment at the World Trade Centers and also supervised the decontamination efforts after anthrax was mailed to South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle’s Washington D.C. office. Johnson has been with the EPA for twenty years. Since 1997, he has managed the nation’s pesticide programs.