Russell Train (1920-2012)

We are saddened by the new of the death of Russell Train earlier today.  Mr. Train headed the Council on Environmental Quality under Nixon and later EPA under Ford.  He represented a happier time when environmental protection was a bipartisan goal.

Mr. Train’s father had served Herbert Hoover as an aide. He was a judge on the U.S. Tax Court when he resigned to head the Conservation Foundation. After that, he devoted himself to environmental protection.

The NY Times aptly summarizes his achievements;

Under Mr. Train, the E.P.A. banned four particularly toxic farm chemicals (aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor and chlordane) and instituted auto emission limits. He recruited economists to forecast the costs of environmental rules. And he established the agency’s scientific capacity to evaluate the health consequences of exposure to toxic compounds, the basis of the E.P.A.’s process for assessing the risks and benefits of its actions.

In 1991, President George Bush gave Mr. Train the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

We mourn Mr. Train’s passing and offer our sympathies to his family.

history of environmental law, Russell Train