Patty Limerick Protects the Environment

Robert E. Roberts, Region Administrator
USEPA Region VII, Denver, Colorado

Patty Limerick spoke to the senior leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC, on January 30. Included in the audience were Stephen Johnson, EPA Administrator; Marcus Peacock, EPA Deputy Administrator; and some seventy-five senior political and career EPA officials. I had the privilege of introducing her.

The EPA folks had gathered at this annual meeting to identify the issues on which we were going to concentrate for the next year and for the next two years. The smoke was still rising from the previous discussion when Patty stepped in. Her topic was how EPA got people to do things they should be doing; her presentation, which ranged across a wide field of topics, was fascinating, humorous, and thought provoking.

Patty forced us out of our narrow concerns and made us think of a broader range of issues. Increasing use of fossil fuels, for example, is often blamed for environmental degradation - but had we stopped to think that by vastly reducing the need for human muscle, it helped end slavery? That kind of provocative insight is a long way from worrying about budget, FTEs, and organizational goals and objectives, which is how we had been spending our time. She grabbed us all by the edge of our thoughts and gave them a good shaking.

In my introduction, I said, "I'll make you a promise. When you have forgotten most all of what we discuss in this day-and-a-half meeting, you will still remember Patty Limerick." After the meeting, people came up to me to say, "She's really something, isn't she."

She really is.