F. Henry Habicht II
Biography
[EPA press release - May 19, 1989]
F. Henry ("Hank") Habicht II was confirmed May 18 by the U.S. Senate as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has been involved in environmental issues since 1981 at the U.S. Department of Justice and in private law practice.
EPA Administrator William K. Reilly said, "The President could not have made a better choice for EPA's Deputy Administrator than Hank Habicht. His strong commitment to enforcing the law and his resolve to improve EPA programs bodes well for this country's environment."
From 1981 to 1987, Habicht served in the U.S. Department of Justice, where, for the last four years, he was Assistant Attorney General. Habicht directed the land and Natural Resources Division, which handles all federal government litigation concerning environmental, energy and land and resources management matters. The number of civil and criminal environmental enforcement prosecutions more than doubled during this period. He had previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General from 1982 to 1983 and as special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1982.
As Assistant Attorney General, Habicht formed and chaired the National Environmental Enforcement Council which was established to promote coordination of federal and state environmental enforcement actions. He was involved in the legislative reauthorization of several important pollution-control laws.
Since 1987, he has been counsel to the Seattle law firm, Perkins Coie, and was Vice President of William D. Ruckelshaus Associates, Washington, D.C, with responsibility for counseling on environmental, natural resources and energy issues.
He served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Environmental Law Institute, served on a pro bono advisory panel for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and chaired the American Bar Association Toxic and Environmental Tort Committee. Habicht also provided policy advice on environmental and conservation issues to then Vice President Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign.
Habicht was an associate with the Washington, D.C. office of the Chicago law firm, Kirkland and Ellis, from 1978 to 1981.
He is an alumnus of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, where he was president of the Rugby Club, and holds a law degree from the University of Virginia.
Born on April 10, 1953, in Oak Park, Ill., he now resides in McLean, Va., with his wife, Wendy Wilson Habicht, and two daughters, Jennifer Alane Habicht and Caroline Lesher Habicht.