Douglas M. Costle
Encyclopedia
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
(EPA), and he served President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
as EPA Administrator
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States federal government's Environmental Protection Agency, and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The Administrator is...
from 1977 to 1981.
Early life and education
Costle was born in Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, but grew up in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. His early experiences there, including fishing, shaped his awareness of the need for environmental protections.
Costle received an B.A. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1961, and a J.D. from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Law School in 1964. He became a member of the bar in Washington, D.C. and in California.
Costle also served in the United States Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
, working in military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
.
He married his wife Elizabeth and the couple have two children.
Early career
During the summer of 1963, Costle worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI in Mississippi, photographing public records and interviewing witnesses in the early legal actions against the literacy testLiteracy test
A literacy test, in the context of United States political history, refers to the government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at the federal level, and potential voters at the state level. The federal government first employed literacy tests as part of the immigration process...
s used to disenfranchise blacks in the American South.
From 1964 to 1965, Costle was a trial attorney for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
.
From 1965 to 1967, he was an attorney for the Economic Development Administration
Economic Development Administration
The Economic Development Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants to economically distressed communities to generate new employment, help retain existing jobs and stimulate industrial and commercial growth.-History:The EDA was established under...
, U.S. Department of Commerce. In 1967, he was associate attorney for the law firm of Kelso, Cotton, Seligman and Ray in San Francisco, and from 1968 to 1969 was a senior associate at the San Francisco urban planning firm Marshall, Kaplan, Gans and Kahn.
Prior to the creation of the EPA in 1970, Costle headed the study which recommended its creation when he served as Senior Staff Associate, Environmental and Natural Resources, for the President's Advisory Council on Executive Organization.
In 1971, Costle was a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...
. From 1972 to 1975 he was Deputy Commissioner, then Commissioner, of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is a state agency of Connecticut. The department oversees the natural resources and environment of the state, as well as regulating public utilities and energy policy...
. During 1975 he was also a consultant to EPA on land use policies. From 1975 to 1977, he was Assistant Director for Natural Resources and Commerce at the Congressional Budget Office
Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides economic data to Congress....
.
EPA Administrator
In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed Costle as Administrator of the Environmental Protection AgencyAdministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States federal government's Environmental Protection Agency, and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The Administrator is...
, a position in which he served until 1981. As EPA administrator, Costle chaired the U.S. Regulatory Council and was President Carter's representative to NATO's Committee on the Challenges to a Modern Society and the United States chair of the U.S./U.S.S.R. Joint Committee on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection. He also served as the chair of the U.S./People's Republic of China Environmental Protection Protocol.
Subsequent career
Costle served as dean of the Vermont Law SchoolVermont Law School
Vermont Law School is a private, American Bar Association accredited law school located in South Royalton, Vermont . The Law School has one of the United States' leading programs in environmental law, and the Law School is currently ranked #1 in Environmental Law by U.S...
from 1987 to 1991. With Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Madeleine Kunin, he helped to found the Institute for Sustainable Communities
Institute for Sustainable Communities
The Institute for Sustainable Communities is an independent, tax-exempt, nonprofit organization whose primary work includes finding community-based solutions to reducing climate pollution in the U.S. and China, building the capacity of civil society in the Balkans, and helping communities along...
in 1991, a non-profit organization that builds environmental, economic and social infrastructure in existing and emerging democracies around the world.
Costle vied for Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
's Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nomination to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 1994, losing in a primary to Jan Backus
Jan Backus
Jan Backus served as a Vermont State Senator representing Windham County from 1989 to 1994 and Chittenden County from 1997 to 2000. A community activist, Backus served as a member of the Vermont Southeast Supervisory Union board for many years before making a run for the Vermont state Senate and...
.