William K. Reilly
| William Reilly | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairperson of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling | |
| In office May 21, 2010 – January 11, 2011 Served with Bob Graham |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | |
| In office February 8, 1989 – December 31, 1992 |
|
| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Lee Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Carol Browner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 26, 1940 Decatur, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Yale University Harvard University Columbia University |
William K. Reilly (born January 26, 1940) was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush. He has served as president of World Wildlife Fund, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and on many boards of directors. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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[edit] Early life, military service and education
Born 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 Reillys moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, where he finished high school at Durfee High School.
He subsequently attended Yale University, where he earned a A.B. in history. During his Yale years, Reilly took advantage of the junior year abroad program to study in France. Reilly then earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, completing a thesis on land reform in Chile.
After law school, Reilly entered the United States Army and served a tour of duty during 1966 and 1967 as a captain[1] in Europe with an intelligence unit planning for the evacuation of U.S. troops from France. During that time, he married Elizabeth Buxton.
After completing military service, Reilly returned to school and received a masters degree in urban planning at Columbia University.
[edit] Early career
In 1968, fresh from planning school and a four-month project in Turkey, Reilly went to work for Urban America, Inc., where he worked to integrate century-old concerns for urban beautification, an issue which had been brought to the forefront of the American conscience by the civil rights movement - concerns which would grow into the environmental justice movement which he dealt with when he was at the EPA.
In 1970, during the Nixon Administration, Reilly became a senior staff member of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (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 (WWF) in 1985. After the merger, he served as President of World Wildlife Fund until taking over as administrator at the EPA in 1989.
[edit] EPA Administrator
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[edit] Later career
After leaving the EPA during the final days of 1992, Reilly returned to World Wildlife Fund.
Reilly is founding partner of Aqua International Partners, L.P., a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies engaged in water and renewable energy. AIP was formed in 1997 and is based in San Francisco.[2]
Reilly is a director of DuPont, ConocoPhillips, Royal Caribbean International, the National Geographic Society, and the Packard Foundation. He also serves as chairman of the board of the World Wildlife Fund, co-chair of the Energy Project formed by the Bipartisan Policy Center, and chair of the Advisory Board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. He has also been the Payne visiting professor at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.
Reilly is an advisor to TPG Capital, an international investment firm. He was a key player in the leveraged buyout by TPG and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) of Texas Utilities (TXU, now Energy Future Holdings Corporation) 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.
[edit] 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 and related issues of offshore drilling, with former Florida governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham, a Democrat, 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."[3] Appearing on the Diane Rehm Show the same day, congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) responded to the suggestion that an oil industry representative be appointed to the commission by pointing to Republican Reilly's position with Conoco. The suggestion had been forwarded by John Breaux, former Democratic U.S. senator from Louisiana and lobbyist more recently for among others Shell Oil Company.[4][5] Markey also opined that Congress ought to give sub poena power to the commission.[4]
In October, 2011, Reilly appeared with Graham at Climate One 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.[6] The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, which had hosted the Climate One event, broadcast the discussion on public radio nationally in early December.[7]
[edit] Awards
In November, 2011, Reilly received[8] the Vincent Scully Prize at the National Building Museum[9] for "his commitment to smart environmental planning, comprehensive land use and preservation of open space".[10]
[edit] References
- ^ EPA Profile
- ^ Aqua International Partners page, "Private Company Information:Detailed information", Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ "Obama Demands Thorough Probe From Oil Spill Panel", by the Associated Press, June 1, 2010, via The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Lobbying Increases with Oil Prices: Industry spent nearly 62 percent more between 2004 and 2007" by Bennett Roth, Houston Chronicle, via oilwatchdog.org, a project of Consumer Watchdog. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ Gerdes, Justin, "Beyond Petroleum: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico", Climate One webpage, 10/27/2011. Podcast. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ "KQED: December 9 "Beyond Petroleum", Commonwealth Club webpage. December 12, 2011 broadcast on MPBN: Listing and listener report. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ Sundt, Nick, "Former EPA Administrator William K. Reilly: On Climate Change, Cities May 'Save Us From the Ideological Gridlock in Washington'", World Wildlife blog, 11/11/2011 15:13. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ Trescott, Jacqueline, "The Vincent Scully Prize goes to William K. Reilly, the former EPA administrator", Washington Post blog, 10/31/2011 6:04 pm ET. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ "Vincent Scully Prize: William K. Reilly". National Building Museum. November 8, 2011. http://www.nbm.org/programs-lectures/programs/2011-programs/november-2011/vincent-scully-prize.html. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lee Thomas |
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 1989–1992 |
Succeeded by Carol Browner |
| Government offices | ||
| New office | Chairperson of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling 2010–2011 Served alongside: Bob Graham |
Position abolished |
|
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- 1940 births
- Administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Columbia University alumni
- Directors of DuPont
- George H. W. Bush administration personnel
- Harvard Law School alumni
- Living people
- People from Decatur, Illinois
- People from Fall River, Massachusetts
- Republicans (United States)
- United States Army officers
- Yale University alumni
